Review of Vigil in the Night

I use this film to discuss nursing history. It is pre-antibiotics, so there has to be good nursing care and sterile technique for folks to survive. Plus this movie has it all - terribly sick children, a hokey doctor-nurse romance, and several dramatic scenes you don't get these days, like a bus wreck! The scene in the operating room is pretty interesting too - it makes one realize that an appendectomy was once a life threatening procedure. Overall, it is always fun to have students watch it and learn from growth of the profession and the science. It is so sad that Carole Lombard died so young - she had the potential to be a magnificent dramatic actress. Peg Farrar