In Night Nurse (1931), Barbara Stanwyck played Lora Hart, a trainee nurse who discovers that two young patients are being starved by a chauffeur in league with their guardian. Directed by William A. Wellman, the pre-Code drama gave Stanwyck a role that combined toughness with compassion.
Lora is a working woman who refuses to look away from danger, and Stanwyck played her with a direct, modern energy. The film’s hospital setting and its frank treatment of crime and neglect made it one of the more daring pictures of its year.
Night Nurse is an early showcase for Stanwyck’s screen presence: no sentimentality for its own sake, but a clear moral centre and a performer who could carry a story with conviction.