The Army Nurse (United States War Office, 1945)

Released in the closing months of the Second World War, this film explores the work of the army nurse in part from the perspective of a wounded soldier. Intended to be shown to a variety of audiences including servicemen, nurses, and potential recruits to nursing, it has a reassuring message about the skill and effectiveness of the army nursing service. It also comforts its audiences with a story about the therapeutic uses of femininity. The film opens with a soldier wounded in action. Coming out of delirium, the first person he sees is a female army nurse, who smiles and winks at him. This therapeutic wink is the start of his road to recovery, and provides a cue for the narrator to talk about the uses of femininity in the healing process. The narrators explains that women mean safety, comfort, and home to the wounded man: the nurse’s touch and her voice instill hope. Learn more about this film and search its transcript at NLM Digital Collections: http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9437337 Learn more about the National Library of Medicine's historical audiovisuals program at: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/collections/films.html