Secrets of a Nurse

"A STARTLING CONFESSION THAT COULD SAVE THE MAN SHE LOVED...BUT HER PROFESSIONAL PLEDGE SWORE HER TO SILENCE!"

Dec 2 1938 Approved 1h 15m
Drama, Mystery, Sport

This Universal programmer was based on a Collier's Magazine story by journalist Quentin Reynolds. This story in turn was ostensibly based on a true incident, in which a gangster "returned from the dead" to save an innocent young man from the electric chair. The nurse of the film's title is Katharine McDonald, who falls in love with her prizefighter-patient Lee Burke as he recovers from a beating received in a fixed prizefight. Katharine must fend off the advances of criminal attorney John Dodge, another patient who also loves her and becomes jealous of Lee. But when Lee is framed for the murder of his disgruntled manager, Slice, by a henchman of the fight-fix leader, Joe Largo, Dodge takes on his defense and works with Katherine to discover the real killer. Convicted and sentenced to death, Burke is about to walk the "last mile", as Katharine encourages mortally wounded Largo to a deathbed confession.

Plot

When battered prize-fighter Lee Burke is taken to the West Side hospital, nurse Katherine MacDonald leaves her romantically-inclined patient, wealthy attorney John Dodge to take care of Burke. She discovers that Burke was doped by his handler, Churchill, on instructions from gambler Joe Largo so the latter can win a $5000 bet from Burke's manager Slice Cavanaugh. Largo orders henchman Larry Carson to bump off Churchill to keep him from talking. Katherine talks Burke into quitting the ring and Dodge belittles the ex-boxer by getting him a job as a bellhop. Cavanaugh, desperate for money, calls Burke yellow and when Burke happens upon the scene where another Largo henchman, Smiley, has killed the manager, Burke is tried for the murder.

Written by

Lester Cole, Thomas Lennon, Quentin Reynolds

Directed by

Arthur Lubin

Cast

Edmund Lowe, Helen Mack, Dick Foran

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

Universal Pictures

Languages

English

Awards

N/A

Scores
# of Votes
24
Average Rating
6.9 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA