Women in War

Women in War
Women in War
	Film poster
Directed by	John H. Auer
Written by	Doris Anderson; F. Hugh Herbert
Produced by	Sol C. Siegel
Starring	Wendy Barrie; Elsie Janis
Cinematography	Jack A. Marta
Music by	Cy Feuer
Distributed by	Republic Pictures
Release date	June 6, 1940;
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Women in War is a 1940 American war film about the nurses of the British Voluntary Aid Detachment during the Battle of France. Directed by John H. Auer and starring Wendy Barrie, Elsie Janis and Patric Knowles, it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects (Howard Lydecker, William Bradford, Ellis J. Thackery, Herbert Norsch).^[1]^[2]

Plot

Socialite Pamela Starr meets Mr Tedford, an older man in a London night club. After he escorts her home he tries to enter her flat feeling he has deserved the right to sleep with her as he has paid for her entertainment. Pamela thrusts a £5 note in his hands as reimbursement and attempts to enter her room but Tedford will not let her. The spirited Pamela strikes the drunken Tedford sending him across the landing where he crashes through a railing over the stairwell sending Tedford to his death.

The ensuing court case does not go well for Pamela as her playgirl lifestyle is paraded as evidence against her, and to Pamela's surprise, Mr. Tedford was actually a British Army captain on leave from the war front. Watching the trial is Matron O'Neil, who was formerly Pamela's mother until she divorced her husband and left to go nursing around the troubled world to help those in need. Pamela had never known her mother and her late libertine father had denied her moral leadership and discipline in raising her. O'Neil and Pamela's defence solicitor concoct an arrangement where Pamela will not be charged with Tedford's death if she volunteers to be an Army nurse in France. Pamela is assigned to a VAD Detachment led by Matron O'Neil with Pamela still unaware that O'Neil is her mother.

Pamela's infamous reputation precedes her and furthermore the fiancée of one of her fellow nurses, Flt. Lt. Larry Hall of the RAF falls in love with Pamela. The tensions of the nurses continue as their detachment is sent to a dangerous area of the battle line.

Cast

Elsie Janis as Matron O'Neil, formerly Mrs. Starr
Wendy Barrie as Pamela Starr
Patric Knowles as Flt Lt. Larry Hall
Mae Clarke as Gail Halliday
Dennie Moore as Ginger
Dorothy Peterson as Sister Frances
Billy Gilbert as Pierre, the Cobbler
Colin Tapley as Capt. Tedford, the Masher
Stanley Logan as Col. Starr
Barbara Pepper as Millie, Irish Nurse
Pamela Randell as Phyllis Grant, Nurse
Lawrence Grant as Sir Gordon, Defense Attorney
Lester Matthews as Sir Humphrey, Prosecuting attorney
Holmes Herbert as Chief Justice
Peter Cushing as Capt. Evans

References

^ "The 13th Academy Awards (1941) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved June 21, 2013.
^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:..Women at War

External links

Women in War at IMDb

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[Oscars1941-1] "The 13th Academy Awards (1941) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved June 21, 2013.

[2] The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:..Women at War

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