Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: NURSE! Edition Part 4 of 7

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's All Go To The Movies

NURSE! Edition

Part 4 of 7

Today, we have the fourth of a seven-part series of posts having all to do with films featuring nurses.

Nurses, those vital, in the trenches Florence Nightingales of the silver screen. Where would we be without them? Our bed pans full? Our elderly in need of a turn? Our temperatures taken and, at times, risen? Our Jello delivered?

Be they sexy, or conniving, whimsical or earnest, humanitarian or pure evil, candy striper or stripper... these nurses are there, in or out of uniform servicing their clientele with the best or worst of intentions. 

So, let's sit back and take a look at these visions in white, these caregivers and occasional life takers as enshrined for all eternity Hollywood-style.

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Registered Nurse

(1934)

(A nurse with a secret is pursued romantically by two rival doctors. Her secret? She's married to a mad man shut away in an asylum. To save her husband, she must reach out and trust the doctors - who are the only ones who can save her husbands sanity.)

(This pre-code drama was produced by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Directed by Robert Florey, it stars Bebe Daniels, Lyle Talbot, and John Halliday.)

(This marked the first feature film appearance for Swedish born professional wrestler Tor Johnson, later of Plan 9 From Outer Space fame.)

(This was Bebe Daniels final role for Warner Bros.)

(At the age of 14, Daniels was hired by comedy producer Hal Roach to star opposite Harold Lloyd in a series of one-reel comedies, Lloyd and Daniels eventually developed a romantic relationship which was well-publicized; they were known in Hollywood as 'The Boy' and 'The Girl.')

 (Daniels successfully made the transition from child to adult star in 1922, under contract with Paramount Pictures. In 1924, she played opposite Rudolph Valentino in Monsieur Beaucaire. She went on to become an established musical star; turned out she could sing! In addition to her screen work, she recorded a number of records for the RCA Victor label.)

Bebe Daniels

(By the end of the 1920's, musicals had fallen out of favor with the public. Daniels had become so associated with them, that her studio, Radio Pictures, did not renew her contract. Warner Bros., sensing an opportunity, felt she still possessed a great deal of box office appeal. They offered her a contract, recasting her as a dramatic leading lady. She did a total of six films for the studio. In 1935, she retired from Hollywood and moved to London where she enjoyed a successful radio, stage, and television career.)

Lyle Talbot

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Wife, Doctor and Nurse

(1937)

(A social butterfly marries a Park Avenue doctor and quickly comes to realize that her husband's nurse is in love with him. She understands that a physician is on call 24 hours a day, but given the number o hours he spends with his nurse, she begins to worry. In order to put an end to her fears, she takes his nurse to lunch. And while the nurse claims that love has never entered her mind and the doctor's wife is satisfied, it turns out all the wife has truly accomplished is putting the thought of love in the head of someone who'd never considered it. It's then that the nurse realizes that she is, indeed, in love with the doctor! Complications and hilarity ensue.)

(This romantic comedy was directed by Walter Lang and stars Loretta Young, Warner Baxter, Virginia Bruce, Jane Darwell and Sydney Blackmer.)

(Two years later, Young and Baxter would reteam for a sequel of sorts covering similar territory: 1939's Wife, Doctor And Friend.)

(Virginia Bruce was born in Minneapolis, MN. Early in her film career, she hastily married her co-star, actor John Gilbert. It was her first marriage, his fourth and baby soon followed. After divorcing him due to his alcoholism, Bruce went back to work, becoming a musical star. She introduced the Irving Berlin standard I've Got You Under My Skin in 1936's Born To Dance.)

(In the early sixties, Bruce retired from films, only to emerge from retirement in 1981 for a bizarre final screen appearance in an Andy Warhol production, portraying the title character in director Paul Morrissey's Madame Wang's.)

Virginia Bruce

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From Nurse To Worse

(1940)

(After a friend concocts a scheme where the Stooges to take out insurance on Curly and then Curly acts insane in order to collect, Moe and Larry put Curly on a leash and tell him to act like a dog. But their plan goes awry when the insurance doctor wants to perform a brain operation called a Cerebrum decapitation! The boys try to escaping - twice - leading to episode after episode of the Stooge's trademark brand of physical comedy.)

(This short subject comedy was directed by Jules White and stars The Three Stooges - Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard. It's the 49th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures, who released 190 shorts starring the delightful trio between 1934 and 1959.)

(The second escape from the hospital is primarily made with borrowed footage from the trio's 1937 offering, Dizzy Doctors.)

(The voice of the radio announcer, as heard by the dog catchers in their truck, was done by Moe Howard, using his natural voice, while the song on the dog-catcher's radio is the same one Curly Howard yodels to in 1940's Nutty But Nice.)

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What's Up Nurse!

(1977)

(When Dr. Robert 'Sweeney' Todd arrives for his first day at a new hospital, he's shocked to see the lengths the nurses go in order to 'care' for their patients. Fortunately, the good doc isn't a prude, and it isn't long before he's joining in on all the lusty, after-hours fun.)

(This British sex comedy was directed by Derek Ford and stars Nicholas Field, Felicity Devonshire and John Le Mesurier.)

(Felicity Devonshire was four months pregnant in the scene where she is thrown into the ice-cold North Sea, encased in concrete from the waist down!)

(A sequel, What's Up Superdoc!, was released the following year, with Christopher Mitchell replacing Nicholas Field as the infamous Doctor Todd.)

(Can be viewed on YouTube for free in it's entirety.)

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Death Nurse

 I and II

(1987, 1988)

(Part one: a heavy-set nurse and her brother run a medical clinic out of their suburban home. They've a bit of a scam going, taking in patients, murdering them, and continuing to bill the state for their care. But the jig is up when a nosy county inspector grows wise to the pair's scheme and  threatens to ruin this foul family business.)

(Part two, our favorite crazy killer nurse is at it again, as she continues to slay more and more of her clueless patients, turning them into rat food!)

(These budget slasher flicks were directed by Nick Millard and stars Priscilla Alden.)

(Millard got the idea for the story from a real-life incident in which a woman murdered pensioners, while continuing to collect and cash their checks at a boarding house she ran.)

(Both films feature the exact same Pepto Bismol-colored San Francisco house - director Millard's own home - most of the same actors from his previous films and the same aluminum foil-covered weapons for the close-up hacking/stabbing scenes.)

(Both films recycle scenes from the director's previous films: 1973's Criminally Insane and 1974's Satan's Black Wedding, passing the segments off as the title character's nightmares.)

(The second film contains very little new footage and runs at just under the 60 minute mark, while the first film is a little over 57 minutes long. Both can be viewed for free in their entirety on YouTube!)

(The title role was specifically written for Priscilla Alden to play. She can also be seen in the Criminally Insane films and was a popular stage actress on the San Francisco theatre scene.)

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next time...

Same place, same channel!

You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me - Bebe Daniels

from the 1933 musical motion picture 42nd Street

I've Got You Under My Skin - Virginia Bruce

from the 1936 musical motion picture Born To Dance