Review of The White Angel

It's very melodramatic, reminding me of Young Tom Edison. Every "tidbit" the average person knows about the famous person is included in the script, in the most saccharine-style possible. Months after she sits up all night with Billy Mauch when he's ill, he finds her sitting in the snow. "I'm taking care of you now," he says as he gives her his coat. There are countless scenes like that one, as costars who play coworkers of Florence Nightingale praise her selflessness and dedication to her patients. In another scene, she comes down with cholera, and rather than letting the medical staff carry her away on a stretcher, the soldiers in the trench insist on doing it. That's fine, but one soldier actually says, "We'll do it! Who cares about cholera?" Way too corny for my taste.

But, if that's why you're watching the movie, you might not mind the style. I minded, because I was hoping for a more historical approach as to why she became a nurse, rather than just scene after scene of her forgoing sleep in order to sit up with a sick patient. There's a little portion of the beginning that shows her decline a marriage proposal in favor of medical school, but it's not very explanatory. There is a large supporting cast, though, including Henry O'Neill, Ian Hunter, Halliwell Hobbes, Nigel Bruce, Donald Crisp, Donald Woods, Fay Holden, and E. E. Clive. Watch at your own risk, and only if you like dated biopics.