User Reviews

This is a very interesting film for several reasons. Once again, it reconfirms my recent discovery of Rosiland Russell, an actress I pretty much ignored for years, but now recognize as a very fine and underrated actress.

Interestingly, Alexander Knox, one of the costars of the film, was also one of the screenplay authors.

It's also interesting to see one of my favorite character actors in a co-starring role -- Dean Jagger...and with a full head of hair!# He does very nicely here.

Alexander Knox was a very fine actor who sort of always reminds e of the "little professor", which is probably why he never received the recognition he deserves. He does very nicely here.

In terms of the drama itself, this is a classic drama revolving around one professional (in this case Nurse Kenny) who is courageous enough to ignore the traditional experts and follow a new path...and find success...in this case in treating children with polio. There are aspects of it which remind me a bit about the film about "Stanleyk And Livingstone" starring Spencer Tracy...of course dealing with a different topic. One of the best scenes in the film is the ultimate confrontation between Nurse Kenny and Dr. Brack.

Another thing that I give this film credit for is that the characters, particularly Russell and Knox, age well throughout the film.

There are a number of fine supporting actors here, some of whom you will recognize.

My only complaint about this film I have is that it just doesn't feel like Australia. Now I've never been to Australia, but to be honest, except for a few accents, this seems like it's taking place in America.

As I was watching this film it occurred to me that if this same story was taking place today, most of us would reject Sister Kenny and her treatment. It gives one pause.

This is one of those films that was important (including because Rosiland Russell was nominated for an Academy Award for it), but not successful at the box office. I give it a very strong "7"; recommended.

The real Sister Elizabeth Kenny was one of the most remarkable women of the 20th Century. Born in Australia, she went into the nursing profession and served out in the very rural bush area of her country.

While there she encountered cases of infantile paralysis among several children and through trial and error developed her own methods of treatment that went counter to orthodox medical practice. The medical establishment in Australia and in other countries fought against her, but she persisted. In America, in Minneapolis she was allowed to open her own clinic at last during World War II.

The film was made in 1946. Six years later after Sister Kenny retired she died at her home in Toowoomba in the Queensland province of Australia.

I guess by telling you some of her the barebones facts of her real life, I may have given some spoilers and I apologize. The film sticks pretty close to the facts. What it does convey the struggle and sacrifice of this woman for an idea.

Sister is a term used for nurses in British Commonwealth countries and those not from there sometimes make the mistake that Sister Kenny was a nun. That she was not, but for the sacrifices she did make in her personal life and happiness, she might well have been. This is the film's greatest strength.

Rosalind Russell who up to this time had played mostly very chic and sophisticated women expands her range enormously. She got an Oscar nomination for this part and well deserved, but she lost the big prize to Olivia DeHavilland in To Each His Own. She looks somewhat like the real Sister Kenny, especially in the later scenes with the make up to age her appearance.

She gets good support from a competent group of players. And I don't believe there's an Aussie in the lot. The film was done by RKO not the most lavish studio in Hollywood. There were some Irish, English, and Scot's brogue sprinkled throughout the cast. But other than a very brief scene of Aussie Diggers marching off to World War II, singing Waltzing Matilda; the story might as well have taken place in North Dakota. I realize location shooting, especially in a place as far away as Australia, was not common then. Still and all it would have been nice if they put some effort into making it feel like we were in Australia.

I've noticed on the IMDb board that no other film has ever been made about Elizabeth Kenny, not even in Australia. Maybe the doctors there even now hold some resentments. It might be nice if an Australian film was made about her.

But we have this one and if you're not too particular about what RKO's idea of what Australia looked like, you'll be watching a very finely crafted drama.

My heart sank when I read the final credit on this; Dudley Nichols is someone I always associate with ponderous, heavy drama, with little or no light relief and my abiding impression is that he would be the perfect choice to adapt and direct Eugene O'Neill for the screen. He was, in the early days of Sound both prolific and popular though I tend to remember him for things like The Informer rather than, say, screwball comedy. In this case he makes a decent fist out of the story of a real person, Elizabeth Kenny, who stumbled on a method of treating children with symptoms of polio - a relatively obscure disease in the post Word War One years - and spent virtually the rest of her life in conflict with the degree-possessing members of the medical profession, indeed at one stage when she confronts her chief antagonist in mid-lecture there are shades of Inherit The Wind when the set-in-his-ways surgeon takes on the persona of William Jennings Bryan, who slavishly believed every word in the Bible no matter how risible just because it was IN the bible, and Elizabeth Kenny stands for the more reasonable Clarence Darrow. Rosalind Russell, a fine actress in both drama and comedy, went on to portray another real life person, equally strong-minded and forceful, the stage mother from hell Mama Rose in Gypsy and both portrayals were Oscar-worthy. This is a fine film that deserves to be much better known than it is.

Outstanding Rosalind Russell vehicle which gave her another Oscar nomination. True to form, Russell lost, but she gave her everything as the Australian nurse who dedicated her life for children stricken with infantile paralysis.

Also outstanding here were Philip Merivale, as Dr. Brack, the embodiment of medical ignorance, who refused to accept Kenny's theories and fought her for many years. Stubborn and resistant to change, Merivale was excellent and certainly warranted a best supporting actor nomination. Ditto for Alexander Knox,as the doctor who believed in what Kenny was trying to do.

Kenny dedicated her life to this cause and for this reason she did not marry.

Heartbreaking and inspiring, this film should not be missed.

Set during Field Marshal von Hindenburg's time, the story centres around a dedicated nurse, Rosalind Russell. She continually tries to help the suffering of paralyzed children but has to overcome the obstacles of a narrow minded, bureaucratic medical establishment which refuses to recognize her unique treatment for the children. In the absence of official sanction from the medical establishment, she is ridiculed and threatened with legal action if she continues using her treatment. All this she has endured instead of getting married and leading a happy normal life. One cannot help but admire her dedication and personal sacrifice. Justice triumphs in the end and the numerous children she has helped eventually wish her well on her birthday. This is the ultimate satisfying reward for 20 years of hardship, dedication and sacrifice. Actors Dean Jagger and Alexander Knox provide excellent character and depth to Russell's role. On a scale of 1 to 10 stars, I give this movie 8.

An inspiring story I've seen several times. Her unorthodox desire, as an independent Australian 'bush' nurse, to teach doctors how to effectively ameliorate the debilitating symptoms of polio, based on her own experimentation, was acutely felt as a threat to the authority of doctors, including specialists in polio. Her story much reminds me of the dramatized "Story of Louis Pasteur", who had the advantages of being male, and already known for his work with yeasts. She fought against the prevailing practice of immobilizing the affected limbs, claiming that the muscles weren't truly paralyzed. Rather, they needed to be 'reeducated' by correct stimulation to function as they should........ Of course, better sanitation, to reduce transmission, and an effective preventative vaccine were ultimate goals in reducing the prevalence of polio's debilitating symptoms. But before these were achieved, an effective method of treating those already afflicted was needed. Sister Kenny offered this. But it was not something that everyone could master, hence doubts persisted.........In my judgement, Rosalind Russell , as well as the other main characters, did a fine job in communicating Sister Kenny's persistence in trying to buck the system, when she was convinced the system was all wrong, and children, especially, were unnecessarily suffering. I think Rosalind deserved an academy award for her role, and the film, as a whole, also deserved an academy award.

This film has a singular importance. You may recall I spoke glowingly of women who ably supported determined, dedicated, striving men in their various endeavors. I spoke of a writer, a doctor, and an old time scientist in Ancient Greece. The personalities I described all benefited from divine intervention in the person of a woman. Now the cases I related enjoyed the support of loving wives.

What man has not sworn by having the 'love of a good woman' behind him from time to time? It is something of a clique' and asks women to assume a subordinate role to the man's purposes and goals. For some women this is not an imposition. They find fulfillment in helping and serving and creating a family. But there are many women who would find such a role conforming to a stereotype. One that blunts the edges of their personality and precludes growth and development towards embracing other callings.

Elizabeth Kenny is a natural healer. Played sensitively by Rosalind Russell, we see in the very first opening scenes that she derives her sense of identity from this more than anything else. That even includes being a nurse or a teacher. Like countless women before her, she meets an exigency with care and common sense and without necessarily meaning to, develops revolutionary ideas that advance the cause of healing throughout the world.

Elizabeth Kenny demonstrates with humility and compassion the virtues of a true revolutionary. The kind who changes the world with the force of ideas rather than the force of arms. She unexpectedly finds herself at loggerheads with the Medical Establishment. The truth is Sister Kenny tends to her patients with a mixture of personal empathy, communication between muscles as living things, and I believe, an advanced tactile sense which is part and parcel of a kinesiological genius that not everyone is privy to or permitted to enjoy. It marks one who is endowed to be a true healer.

She brings reports of half a dozen cases stricken with infantile paralysis to the attention of Dr. McDonnell as played by Alexander Knox. He is shocked to discover that she has achieved complete recovery in all these cases, when the 'standard' expectation is a more or less alleviation of the symptoms. He becomes a champion for her methods, but because of his formal medical training which at that time emphasized mechanics and structure and his psychological disposition, he does not attain the degree of success that is routine for Sister Kenny. There is a tinge of authoritarianism in his approach that seems to prevent the patient from placing the needed hope and faith in the practitioner to accomplish complete success, but this is mere speculation on my part from viewing that one scene in the film.

Throughout the decades, Sister Kenny, according to the film, finds herself in direct opposition with medical authority as mainly represented by a Dr. Brack. Phillip Merivale plays this role with distinction. She finds herself spearheading a cause and a crusade that puts healer and patient rapport before illness as a study in mechanics and the function of communication to re-educate muscles in spasm to flow before studies of structure. She thereafter finds herself married to her calling as a healer and her relationship with her fiancee, Kevin Connors, unfortunately recedes to the background.

This is a well written and well directed film by Dudley Nichols. Despite that, it nonetheless lost money here in the states and abroad elsewhere. Even in Australia where the titular character hailed from and claimed as her stomping grounds. Rosalind Russell did win a Golden Globe for her efforts. But what could have been done to make the satisfactions of genius more palatable for the commercial public, is a problem in aesthetics for another day.