Four Girls in White (1939)

Director:

S. Sylvan Simon

Writers:

Endre Bohem (story)
Nathalie Bucknall (story)

Release Date:

27 January 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

When these girls take your pulse they capture your heart as well!

Plot Keywords:

Color In Title | Hospital | Insanity | Stern Nurse | Student Nurse

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Florence Rice	...	Norma Page
Una Merkel	...	Gertie Robbins
Ann Rutherford	...	Patricia 'Pat' Page
Mary Howard	...	Mary Forbes
Alan Marshal	...	Dr. Stephen 'Steve' Melford
Kent Taylor	...	Robert 'Bob' Maitland
Buddy Ebsen	...	Express, an Orderly
Jessie Ralph	...	Miss Tobias
Sara Haden	...	Miss Bennett
Phillip Terry	...	Dr. Sidney
Tom Neal	...	Dr. Phillips
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harry Tyler	...	Corey (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #5026) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Loew's

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Electrical Power (1938)

A Surprisingly Good MGM B-Picture

This is a typical medical melodrama -- minus Dr. Kildaire. But Simon does an unusually good job keeping it moving. And the cast is superb. (It even includes Tom Neal -- as a doctor, no less.) Florence Rice is the star. She's made up more glamorously than usual. She was an excellent actress who never really made it. Here she's very good as a girl who becomes a nurse in order to marry rich. She betrays a few people along the way, inadvertently, but redeems herself.

Also good is Ann Rutherford as her sister. She's in the same nursing class. Mary Howard is touching as another of their classmates.

The men take the back seat. Alan Marshall is good as the heartthrob on the staff. So is Kent Taylor as a playboy patient Rice sets her sights on.

For a period, it becomes a disaster movie. As such, it's very effective -- though it's best in its romantic parts.