Prison Nurse (1938)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

James Cruze

Writers:

Louis Berg (writer)
Adele S. Buffington (story)

Release Date:

1 March 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A state prison is threatened by approaching floods, an epidemic of typhoid fever breaks out among the inmates...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Typhoid | Flood | Nurse | Doctor

Cast

Henry Wilcoxon	...	Dale
Marian Marsh	...	Judy
Bernadene Hayes	...	Pepper Clancy
Ben Welden	...	Gaffney
Ray Mayer	...	Jackpot
John Arledge	...	Mousie
Addison Richards	...	Warden Benson
Frank Reicher	...	Doctor Hartman
Minerva Urecal	...	Sutherland
Selmer Jackson	...	Parker
Fred Kohler Jr.	...	Miller
Norman Willis	...	Deputy

Runtime:

67 min | USA:53 min (edited version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1939)

Company:

Republic Pictures (I)

Prison, Floods, Typhoid, Car Wreck -- and True Love

Floods are threatening a prison, typhoid breaks out among the inmates, no doctors are available to assist the regular prison physician, three brave nurses arrive to help administer vaccines, and group of prisoners are planning an escape! In the midst of all this chaos, the prison doctor falls ill, and a former doctor, now in prison, struggles to overcome his bitterness and put his past behind him.

Well, the first thing i want to say about this movie is that i saw only the EDITED version, 50-some minutes long. The editing is ghastly, and a real shame too, as i am well enough versed with B-movies and plot editing in general to realize that there was a much better film at the heart of this than what was shown on TV and has been preserved for presentation in DVD. This is a movie i liked enough, even in its chopped-up form, that i would seek out an uncut version -- but, given the cut-apart state of what i did see, i can only rank it with a measly "6". I would probably have given it an "8" if it had not been so butchered, because both the acting and the directing are excellent, and the screenplay is well above average.

What is *obviously* missing from the chopped DVD print? Oh, i suspect that old film buffs can fill in the blanks: There's probably the frustrated early courtship scene, the confession / revelation about Doctor Dale's past with accompanying declaration of mutual love, the introduction of the parole idea, some "second-couple" comedic affection between the 2nd nurse and Jackpot, which sets the scene for her later knowledge about his diary and his mother's picture, a few more bits leading up to Gaffney's escape plan., a comedic turn with Minerva Urecal as the hatchet-faced 3rd nurse (perhaps her giving a shot to some prisoner in a parody of a love scene?), a scene introducing Parker and explaining his role.

Its amazing how, when simple little building blocks like these get deleted from a film in order to fit it into a TV time-slot, what you're left with really doesn't hang together -- you keep watching with the sense that you must have missed something, but you know you didn't. It's pretty frustrating.

If a complete print does exist, i'd sure like to see it in order to check my guesses about the cut scenes versus the reality of it.