Nurse Edith Cavell (1939) User Reviews

Neagle at the top of her game

[malcolmgsw · 6/10 · 9 December 2018]

Having just finished the 2 pictures in which she played Queen Victoria, Neagle continued in the same vein with her portrayal of Nurse Edith Carell. This film was made by producer Herbert Wilcox in Hollywood at the studios of RKO Radio Pictures,as would other of her wartime films.She does an excellent job in this polished production with a good American cast

Nurse Edith Cavell

[henry8-3 · 6/10 · 10 February 2019]

Infamous tale of Cavell (Neagle) who helped soldiers get back to England during WW1.

Whilst the first two thirds of the film are fairly exciting as the Germans search out who is helping the soldiers, this is fairly unremarkable stuff. However, the final third once Cavell is caught and the subsequent battle to try to stop her being executed is well handled, tense and ultimately quite moving.

A saintlier woman never lived during World War One.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 21 December 2019]

The British Anglican nurse Edith Cavell deserve a lot more and then she has received in history. Two movies have been made about her life, a silent film and this British film made by RKO directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring his beautiful wife, Anna Neagle, probably the most popular British actress of the 1930's. Working in Brussels, Nurse Cavell dedicated her life to save in her patients, and when world war broke out, she devoted her time saving the injured prisoners-of-war who would seek her health, and then she would add them in escaping from German wrath. With the help of Countess Edna May Oliver, sweet May Robson and sardonic Zasu Pitts, Edith went out of her way to save as many lives as she could be regardless of their nationality. Because of that, she became an enemy of the German empire, and ended up on trial for treason.

Although this definitely has an American flavor about it, it is a British film, made with both British and American stars, and featuring solid performances and an excellent screenplay. George Sanders and H.B. Warner costar, with Sanders adding another imperious German to his stable of villains. Robson, who played characters both sweet and aggressive, is completely vulnerable in this part, a fart contrast to her usual array of feisty old ladies. Oliver, the premier grand dame of the late 1930's and early 1940's, shows once again that a seemingly sour disposition doesn't necessarily mean a sour heart. Pitts gets the most amusing lines, avoiding her figgity hand wringing and not once uttering "oh dear". There is also a very nice Christmas sequence at the very beginning where ailing children are visited by Santa.

As for the ending, it is quite disturbing, and even though there were other ways that the Germans could have dealt with nurse Edith, the punishment seems unnecessarily cruel and created an even more anti-German feeling during the first World War. Because of her constant casting as real life hero with women, I initially presume this and an eagle film should be another variation of a Florence Nightingale like heroine (whom she did play later on) but was impressed by the actual story. It deserves to be remade today to show the power of women doing the right thing during wartime, and obviously Dame Maggie Smith would be perfect in the Edna May Oliver role. The strength of nurse Edith as she faces her fate is quite profound, and needles performance is filled with subtleties that makes the film all the more touching.

Still makes me angry

[kristhebass · 9/10 · 27 January 2019]

It has been over 100 years since the Germans murdered Edith Cavell but every time I see this film I still get angry that this really happened. Despite being British she wasn't interned during the war but continued to work as a nurse caring for all nationalities. Despite this she was tried for treason whilst being a British citizen and not German then executed. The Americans tried to stop it, just not hard enough.

A moving story highlighting one of many atrocities undertaken by the then German army who murdered thousands of Belgian and French civilians for no good reason. A warning of things to come and could again if we are not careful.

Anna Negale was well known for playing historical figures and despite being some 15 years younger than Cavell puts in a fine performance. Also a mention for George Sanders as the stiff Prussian officer tasked with bringing Cavell and her organisation down.

Previous reviewers have complained about the quality, well if you didn't know it has been beautifully remastered, Talking Pictures have shown it recently and it is also available on DVD

Deeply moving

[Charlot47 · 18 May 2011]

Deeply moving dramatisation of the heroism of the English nurse Edith Cavell and her Belgian supporters, who smuggled about 200 Allied soldiers and airmen out of German-occupied Belgium until she was caught, tried and on 12 October 1915 shot at dawn. Notable for the immense restraint and dignity shown by Anna Neagle in the title role, caring equally for wounded German troops and completely unafraid of blustering German officers. A devout Anglican, above her duty to her country she placed the overriding duty of saving life.

Diplomats at the Brussels embassy of the neutral USA made huge efforts to save her life once captured but the Germans were implacable. After the war, her disinterred remains were given a state funeral in Westminster Abbey and then reburied at Norwich Cathedral. This film came out as sacrifices were again being asked from English women, while the USA watched Belgium being crushed a second time by an even more vicious German regime.

Where's the suspense?

[HotToastyRag · 4/10 · 16 February 2022]

If you're savvy enough during the opening credits, when the producers thank the family and assistants of the real Nurse Cavell for helping with the historical records, you can figure out how this movie ends. It really kills all suspense, and I wish the thank-you note had been included at the end.

Because I was able to guess how it all turned out, there was zero suspense during what was supposed to be a tense war drama. The story followed the title character as she worked in a hospital in Brussels during German occupation in WWI. Because of one personal connection to a young soldier, she helps the boy sneak out of the country when he escapes from a POW camp and returns home for shelter. With the help of her friends, May Robson, Edna May Oliver, and Zazu Pitts, she successfully saves the boy's life right under German soldiers' noses.

One leads to another, and soon the four women have an underground operation. Anna Neagle stars as the famed nurse, but her energy is extremely low, and her unenthusiastic whispered delivery of each line made it very hard to get involved in her character or her plight. She was so unlikable, I found myself not really caring whether she'd get caught or not. She didn't seem to care either - either that, or she had a fresh Botox injection on her forehead and was unable to make any expressions.

I was looking forward to the supporting cast, which is why I rented it. But the only one among them who was given anything to do was George Sanders, who played a German officer. His accent was very good, but hardly made the movie worth watching. Try Edge of Darkness for a truly exciting underground operation.

Edith Cavell 1865-1915, A Nurse First

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 3 May 2012]

Anna Neagle who had previously played Queen Victoria plays the title role in Nurse Edith Cavell, a woman who became a symbol for British feminism and patriotism with her death a martyr to the Allied cause in World War I. Later on Neagle would also play Florence Nightingale the woman who created the nursing service in the British Empire as a profession for women. In a sense Cavell owed the life she led and her death to Florence Nightingale.

We only see Cavell's life in those last couple of years. She was a British subject and was living in Belgium where she was on a mission, creating a female nursing service in that country when war broke out.

For reasons I don't understand as an open British subject she should have been summarily interred when war was declared. But the Germans did not do that, instead they let her work in their hospitals where she tended both German and Allied wounded. By all accounts her conduct was exemplary, she was a nurse first. Later on she organized a group that helped Allied prisoners who escaped get to neutral Netherlands or unoccupied France. It took some doing but with Captain George Sanders of German Intelligence Cavell was apprehended.

Shooting her shocked the world however and doing it on a charge of treason was highly dubious since she wasn't a German subject. The American minister to Belgium tried to intervene, but the Germans were intransigent on the death penalty. Cavell was shot by a firing squad and became a British heroine.

Cavell was 50 when she was killed and Anna Neagle was way too young for the part. But throughout the film she carries herself with restraint and dignity and her portrait is superb. She is nicely assisted by such players as Edna May Oliver, May Robson, and Zasu Pitts all coming from America for this film. Sanders as usual is the perfect ruthless and inhuman hun. The film in America was released by RKO and on September 1, 1939 just as the war in Europe broke out. There was more than an inkling that this war would be against a Germany light years more ruthless than the Wilhelmine Monarchy ever was.

The copy I saw and rented from Amazon is in sad need of restoration. It should be as a tribute to a British heroine portrayed by one of the United Kingdom's greatest cinema stars.

Surprisingly well done bio-pic

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 24 December 2008]

I was very surprised when I watched this biography because so often these sort of films are so inaccurate and overdone. I can't help but immediately think of some wretched films about Abraham Lincoln or Cole Porter--films that bore little similarity to the actual lives of those supposedly being portrayed and abounding in false sentimentality. Considering that this film was made around the same time WWII began, I would have expected the film to be even more inaccurate and jingoistic than normal--making the real life Edith Cavell into some sort of saint and the Germans brutal monsters. However, the film turned out to be a very accurate portrait of her life during WWI--free of the overwrought aspects I assumed would be present throughout the film. To verify just how close the film stuck to the facts, I checked on the internet and found an amazingly comprehensive site on Ms. Cavell--and the film seemed very close to her actual life (http://www.edithcavell.org.uk/).

The story begins just as World War One is about to commence. Edith Cavell is a highly respected nurse in Belgium. However, after the Belgians are quickly dispatched by the German army, she must live and work in occupied Belgium--during which time she took care of wounded German soldiers. However, when Allied soldiers stumbled into the hospital looking for assistance, Ms. Cavell agreed to shelter them and eventually help them escape to neutral Holland. Eventually the number of soldiers she helped reached about 200 before she was captured and executed by the Germans. At the end of the film, you cut to 1919 and you see her being re-buried back in England with full honors for her brave humanitarian work. I thought this was Westminster Abbey, though it turned out (according to the web site) to be Norwich Cathedral.

While this isn't the most exciting film I have ever seen, as far as 1930s and 40s bio-pics go, it's one of the best. Not only does it stick close to the facts, but Anna Neagle's performance is understated and free of the usual shrill theatrics of biographical films. Well made throughout and my only complaints are not the fault of the original production (the print was in absolutely horrid shape--with terrible sound and lots of rough film).

No wonder the Germans lost the war

[clanciai · 9/10 · 29 June 2022]

This is a shocking account of war directly from reality, telling the story of the indefatigable effort of a nurse to work against it, by simply nursing wounded soldiers and helping them back to life - and to go on fighting. For that she is ultimately prosecuted by the Germans and promptly executed, despite the fact that she is a woman and a nurse at that, who has saved many lives and only worked idealistically for humanitarianism. It is also the story of other brave women who assisted her, like Dame Edna May Oliver in one of her formidable roles, and her fellow nurses, who never gave up on her. The film is upsetting but overwhelming in its uncompromising realism and deals a definite stamp of inhumanity on the always absurd business of any war, that never in any circumstances made any sense.

A lesson in Hun diplomacy

[mail-671 · 25 November 2005]

Before her popular "London Suite" escapism of the late 40s Anna Neagle achieved early fame for her biopics - Nell Gwyn, Queen Victoria & Amy Johnson portrayed with dignity & feeling,when necessary. This was even more evident in Edith Cavell under the sincere & sympathetic direction of husband,Herbert Wilcox. Her martyrdom & heroism to both her calling & beliefs that "patriotism is not enough" was commemorated after WW1 with the erection of a famed statue in London's Charing X Road,still there, so in the film the ending was never in doubt. Wilcox repeated his 1928 "Dawn" with Sybil Thorndyke without histrionics or dramatics and a bunch of popular stars in more untypical reserved roles except George Sanders who was getting into his stride after "Lancer Spy" as the stiff,autocratic Hun determined to uphold the intransigency of the "rules of war" & expediency irrespective of pleadings of British diplomats up to the very last and the decision of the court-martial against this dignified British nurse - all of which Kubrick later reflected so vividly in "Paths Of Glory". It is interesting to compare the Hun his descendant/counterpart, the Nazi and his downfall - each had their degrees of corporate conquest & world domination whatever the cost. The basic tale of Nurse Cavell running her small Belgian underground escape route for soldiers & fliers under the noses of the enemy is narrated in brief factual episodes. The short closing scenes of her arrest,brief imprisonment,quick execution & memorial service in Westminster Abbey are moving & dignified as directed by Wilcox, a name in high regard among British filmgoers for almost 20 years irrespective of their unfortunate later bankruptcy. By this time Anna Neagle's figure & appearance as a dancer had changed noticeably since her earlier buxom parts in such as "The 3 Maxims"(Later remade as "Trapeze")doing very realistically what Betty Hutton did very realistically later for de Mille. Regrettably, many copies of this rarely seen film have deteriorated especially the sound track which can be muffled & inaudible. Happily,my video copy was taped before it reached this state.

Beautifully filmed - and what a cast of characters!

[Poppysma · 8/10 · 10 March 2022]

Beautifully shot (if you find decent print) and reasonably accurate - unlike Cinderella Man, Quills, Hurricane and other despicable "biography" junk. What is the most surprising that the story is not "sexed up": the main heroes are mostly middle-aged or elderly women - Edna May Olivier as the Countess steals the whole show!

British nurse in Belgium becomes a martyr

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 24 February 2022]

NURSE EDITH CAVELL (1939) was made by RKO prior to U. S. involvement in the second world war. It is a fantastic motion picture.

Since the title is in the public domain, most copies that exist online are old syndicated prints. These prints tend to be inferior in visual quality. Fortunately, the British Film Institute recently did a digital restoration and if you can find a copy of that print, please do. You will not be disappointed.

Anna Neagle does a brilliant job as the British nurse who goes to Belgium and later becomes a martyr. We see her tending to the sick on all sides. She provides diligent care for wounded Belgians, French, British and Germans. Her goal was to alleviate suffering for all humankind. How ironic that she suffered a terrible fate, death before a firing squad.

Nurse Cavell was convicted of treason by the Germans in late 1915, a situation that generated much interest internationally. Her sentence was quickly carried out and she was executed shortly after her trial. This film spends the last half hour covering the trial, various appeals for mercy, and the death scene itself plus a coda that takes place in Britain after the war has ended where she receives a national funeral.

The first hour of the film shows how she gradually becomes a part of an underground movement to help prisoners of war escape the German manhunts and flee to safety. The story begins with an introductory preface at Christmas before WWI breaks out, then it flashes ahead six months where we see her become involved with various individuals needing medical care and political refuge. Aiding Edith Cavell in these efforts is an interesting group of older women who form a delightfully rebellious cohort.

The nurse's cronies are played by Edna May Oliver as an aristocrat who becomes less self-centered after learning of atrocities committed by the German military on her own land; ZaSu Pitts in a slightly comic role as a woman who helps smuggle POWs across the border; and May Robson as an elderly store owner who first seeks out Cavell's help when her own grandson is wanted by the German police. Together these women save over 200 men.

The script and performances are all quite sharp, and Herbert Wilcox's direction is superb. Wilcox had previously produced a silent version of the story a decade earlier in his native Britain with Sybil Thorndike. Off screen Wilcox and Neagle were romantically involved and would marry a few years later. He produced her starring vehicles from the late 1930s into the 1950s.

I do feel as if Neagle deserved an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. She skillfully underplays the horrors that her medical character faces, and the execution scene is played with remarkable grace and dignity. George Sanders has a supporting role as a German officer determined to bring Nurse Cavell to "justice" and in some ways he reminds me of Inspector Javert from Les Miserables. As for the trio of character actresses that support Miss Neagle throughout much of the picture, I would say that all are equally good though May Robson steals a courtroom scene during the trial when she has a very critical outburst.