SPLENDID PICTURE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 302, 21 December 1931, Page 3

SPLENDID PICTURE.

From time to time talking films are brought out heavily billed as an exposure generally of some phase of American life. “Night Nurse,” which was given its premiere at the Regent Theatre cn Saturday night, is in this category, but with a difference. “ Night Nurse ” is more a eulogy than an exposure. The medic-al profession is generally regarded as one of the closest of corporations, where professional ethics reach their highest pitch. There are a multitude of things which a doctor is forbidden to do, not because he is bound down by any law, but because it would be against the high ethics of his profession. In this, the profession of nursing shares to the full, and “ Night Nurse ” is an exposition of the narrow path to which doctors must keep, and of the difficulties of keeping there. If there is any ‘ exposure ” about “ Night Nurse,” which had great success when Dora Macey published it as a novel, it is the exposure of quack medicine as it is practised in the United States. This theme is kept cleverly subdued, but nobody seeing the picture can fail to be impressed by the message it contains. The story itself is a splendid piece of praise for the nursing profession, not only of the United States, but of every Whglish-speaking country, where it has reached its highest standard. Nobody seeing it can fail to think of the times he has himself benefited from the attentions of the women to whom their code of ethics means everything. Probably no better selection for the part of the night nurse herself could have been made than Barbara Stanwyck. She comes to the screen too infrequently, but when she does come, it is with something good. This time she has something special, and makes a splendid showing in a part which might have been written specially for her. She has the ability in a quiet way to make a truly dramatic showing. Opposite her is Ben Lyon, whose performance is hardly less impressive. He takes the part of a successful bootlegger, and makes a splendid hero in a fine story. Joan Blondell and Clark Gable have subsidiary parts which they carry off with distinction. The rest of the programme is in keeping with the high standard set by the main film. Among the news pictures, an interesting and timely one is the christening of the car to be driven by “Wizard” Smith in an attempt on the world’s land speed record. There is also an exceptionally ingenious detective story, and other shorts of in-