No Time for Tears (1957)

Doctors and nurses of a children's hospital confront the challenges of their profession.

Director:

Cyril Frankel

Writers:

Anne Burnaby (screenplay), Anne Burnaby

Stars:

Anna Neagle, Anthony Quayle, Sylvia Syms

Cast

Credited cast:
Anna Neagle	...	Matron Eleanor Hammond
Anthony Quayle	...	Dr. Graham Seagrave
Sylvia Syms	...	Nurse Margaret Collier
George Baker	...	Dr. Nigel Barnes
Alan White	...	Dr. Hugh Storey
Daphne Anderson	...	Dr. Marian Cornish
Michael Hordern	...	The Surgeon
Flora Robson	...	Sister Birch
Joan Hickson	...	Sister Duckworth
Sophie Stewart	...	Sister Willis
Patricia Marmont	...	Sister Davies
Rosalie Crutchley	...	Theater Sister
Joan Sims	...	Sister O'Malley
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Angela Baddeley	...	Mrs. Harris
Heather Bennett

Storyline

Doctors and nurses of a children's hospital confront the challenges of their profession.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 1960 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Den einai ora gia dakrya

Filming Locations:

Seafield Children's Hospital, Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mysteriously, the face of the Theatre Sister, played by Rosalie Crutchley, is never fully revealed, half hidden by a surgical mask, even when out of the operating room.

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Soundtracks

Magic Carpet
Music and Lyrics by Paddy Roberts
Sung by Daphne Anderson

User Reviews

Good looking children's hospital procedural

Directed by Cyril Frankel from Anne Burnaby's screenplay, with an all-star cast of fine British players, several from the great English classic era, this is a good, and good-looking children's "hospital procedural". There are some extremely touching moments, some bordering on the sentimental, but in the best sense of that word – have several hankies ready. Basically plot less, the film's episodic story-telling follows the career of young novice nurse, Margaret, well played by the beautiful Sylvia Syms, as she tries to navigate the many trials and tribulations of her chosen, noble profession, in a somewhat idealized hospital setting (all in color!), with its staff of doctors, surgeons, "sisters" (nurses), and last but not least, the children. A romantic, but somewhat questionable, out-of-place plot element has young, inexperienced Syms unsuccessfully trying to snare handsome but confirmed bachelor doc, George Baker. The romance doesn't last long and is happily replaced by all the standard hospital dramas: children being brought in suffering from various traumas, battling various illnesses, desperate, anguished parents, very dedicated, sympathetic hospital staff.

The notable cast includes Anna Neagle, at 53, somewhat beyond her prime as perhaps England's most popular actress of the '30s into the '40s, but still beautiful, and wonderful as hospital matron, in one of the film's most moving scenes, as she rescues two children from an abusive mother. Flora Robson, as Sister Birch, delivers the films finest moment as she firmly, yet gently admonishes young Syms who is falling apart at the near death of one of her charges. Robson gets our vote as one of Britain's ten greatest actresses. The always fine Anthony Quayle, who is the kind and gentle hospital head doctor, was teamed with Syms in a very different film of the same year, the superb, mature and intelligent, "Woman in a Dressing Gown". Michael Hordern portrays the curmudgeonly-but-kindhearted head surgeon, and a young Joan Hickson, who plays the fussy, brooking-no-nonsense yet, humorous Sister Duckworth is remembered as TV's Miss Marple.