Night Nurse **** (1931, Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell, Clark Gable) – Classic Movie Review 10,798

‘Tells the Naked Truth About Happenings in the Dead of Night!’

Director William A Wellman’s 1931 Warner Bros black and white crime thriller Night Nurse stars young Barbara Stanwyck as the nocturnal angel Lora Hart, and she is on to a plot to murder her patient’s two children for financial gain, so she asks small-time crook Mortie (Ben Lyon) for help.

There is quite a cast, all on their best form (with a moustacheless Clark Gable cast against type as a nasty chauffeur Nick), and Wellman is just the director to keep this tough and amusing little thriller moving along sleekly and satisfyingly.

The movie is more than 90 years old but it doesn’t need any excuses.

Oliver H P Garrett and Charles Kenyon’s screenplay is based on the novel by Grace Perkins (writing as Dora Macy).

It is the last movie in which Gable plays a bad guy.

Runtime: 72 minutes. Budget: $260,000. It is shot between11 April 1931 and 6 May 1931 at Warner Brothers Burbank Studios, 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California.

Night Nurse (1931): Barbara Stanwyck.

Also in the cast are Joan Blondell, Charles Winninger, Vera Lewis, Blanche Friderici [Blanche Frederici], Charlotte Merriam, Edward J Nugent, Ralf Harolde, Walter McGrail, Jed Prouty, Bob Perry, Betty May, Allan Lane, Marcie Mae Jones, Mildred Harris, Betty Jane Graham, Willie Fung, Jim Farley, James Bradbury Jr and Robert Allen.

Night Nurse is directed by William A Wellman, runs 72 minutes, is made by Warner Bros Vitaphone Talking Picture, released by Warner Bros, is written by Oliver H P Garrett and Charles Kenyon, based on the novel by Grace Perkins (writing as Dora Macy), is shot in black and white by Barney McGill, is scored by Leo F Forbstein and is designed by Max Parker.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,798

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