Capital Celluloid 2026 — Day 23: Fri Jan 23

Night Nurse (Wellman, 1931): Cinema Museum, 7.30pm

Cinema Museum introduction:
Women and Cocaine Presents is a film night presented by curator Caroline Cassin at The Cinema Museum to celebrate the fierce and liberated women of Pre code cinema. From the period of 1930 to 1934, before the introduction of censorship, women were depicted in roles with a frankness and sex-positivity that remains rare even today. Each month we celebrate a different woman from that era. This month it's Barbara Stanwyck who, in one of her defining early roles, plays Lora Hart, an idealistic nurse who takes a job caring for two wealthy little kids kept in a state of mysterious ill health. As Lora works the night shift, she uncovers a sinister plot involving their menacing chauffeur, Nick (played by Clark Gable sans moustache).

Chicago Reader review:
A William Wellman curiosity done for Warners in 1931, this gritty thriller, a favorite of film critic Manny Farber, is of principal interest today for its juicy early performances by Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell, and Clark Gable. Hard as nails, with lots of spunk.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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