A tawdry and downright disturbing pre-code film that stars Barbara Stanwyck giving one hell of a ferocious performance.

Stanwyck plays the titular night nurse, assigned to care for the two small children of a negligent and drunken floozy. The children's' father is dead; the family chauffeur, played by a hateful Clark Gable, is running things, and he wants the children to die so that he can collect the trust money that was intended for them. Therefore, the children are wasting away from starvation while a useless maid dithers around and Stanwyck tries to get the hospital to intervene.

The film would probably be instantly forgettable if not for the fierce performance of Stanwyck, who throws herself (quite literally) into the role of savior, taking punches, getting thrown into a wall, all while dishing out some punches of her own. This is film-making of the sensational Warners variety, featuring lots of suggestive dialogue, shots of Stanwyck and her nurse buddy, the saucy Joan Blondell, in their underwear, and a world in which things like murder are o.k. as long as they're done for the right reason. The movie is certainly no masterpiece, but it does have that energy and sizzle that characterized Warners films from this time period, and it is effective on its own modest terms.

Grade: B+

One of Barbara Stanwyck's best early starring films is Night Nurse which essentially is two separate stories.

The first is young Barbara in training to be a nurse and teaming up with Joan Blondell, another would be nurse, in a typical Joan Blondell role. Stanwyck is a bit more dedicated to the profession, but she learns from Blondell how to take a more realistic attitude.

The second part of the film concerns Stanwyck being assigned as a private night nurse to some kids who are being slowly starved to death. Something is really wrong when you see malnourished kids in a purportedly wealthy home. Stanwyck suspects something amiss and she's quite right. The doctor Ralf Harolde and the chauffeur Clark Gable are in cahoots in a murderous scheme.

Stanwyck puts her own career on the line to bring some justice and compassion to her charges. In doing so she has to step on some medical toes and question the ethics of who she's working for.

Clark Gable was loaned out from MGM to play the murderous chauffeur and if he hadn't been discovered as a new kind of tough leading man, he would have had a grand career as a character actor playing all kinds of thugs who slug. And slug Stanwyck he does, right on the kisser.

Stanwyck gets some help from breezy bootlegger Ben Lyon who would soon be leaving for the UK with his wife Bebe Daniels where he would have his best success. Earlier in the film Stanwyck kind of winks at the rules where Lyon is concerned and she makes a friend who comes in real handy when dealing with Gable and Harolde.

Lyon is fine, but this seemed to be a part James Cagney would have been perfect for. And Cagney going up against Gable would really have made this a classic.

...and lingerie's of silk and satin...

Roommates Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Blondell get to show off their fine figures in this pre-code drama of sin discovered in the service world of nursing by a recent graduate of a hospital nursing school. Stanwyck seems to have luck on her side everywhere she goes; Rejected by the hard-nosed head nurse (Vera Lewis) on her way in, she bumps into chief of staff (Charles Winninger) on her way out, and before you know it, she's in training, oiling babies, assisting in surgeries and breaking curfew to have a night out on the town. Then, when she gets on her first case, it's as a private nurse to some mal-nutritioned children, victimized by a sinister chauffeur (a very young Clark Gable) and determined to expose the doctor on the case as a quack who shouldn't only loose his medical license, but end up in jail as well.

Stanwyck's tough persona was established early on in her career, and here, she's nobody to mess with. She slaps down mashers, gets right into Gable's face, and even risks loosing her career by standing up for what she believes is right. This has some delightfully tough dialog, with Stanwyck and Blondell trading some wonderful wisecracks, yet their friendship never suffering even with all the acid dripping. Blondell is a far cry from her matronly character actress days, an absolute delight as the best pal a tough-talking nurse could have, and the two ladies suit each other very well. Gable's character is even more amoral than any of the early roles he played over at MGM, while Charlotte Merriam as the drunken mother of the two exploited children and Blanche Friderici as the seemingly sinister housekeeper offer convincing performances as well. This is topped off by one of the most delightful pay-offs in pre-code, giving Stanwyck's love interest (Ben Lyon) a great exit line.