She dared to disrupt a man's world, stepping in to change the ways hospitals were run, and testing her own inner strength which she claims came from a divine calling. Changing from her life as a great lady in a wealthy family of British nobles to the legendary lady with the lamp who cleaned up military hospitals and changed the way that patients are cared for. I've seen the underrated 1936 film, "The White Angel", which starred Kay Francis, but yet have to find the 1951 British film, "The Lady with the Lamp" starring Anna Neagle. This lavish version stars Jaclyn Smith who will win your heart as the beautiful lady who realized that true beauty comes from within and is not fulfilled until one becomes completely unselfish.
This really covers the ground of the struggles she went through in finding her way in the profession of nursing, showing the squalor of what it was before. The old hags who interview her for the position of hospital administrator are obviously jealous, and many of the doctors she encounters maliciously sexist. But the minute she's with the ailing soldiers, you can feel the peace she brings them. Then, there's her discovery of something rotting under the hospital which has made it into the water supply, and it really is just beyond disgusting.
While at first glance, Smith isn't the perfectly ideal Florence, but she delivers the goods. Timothy Dalton plays her longtime suitor who loses her to her calling, and Claire Bloom and Jeremy Brett are her shocked parents, horrified by her desire to change her station, yet eventually proud. Carol Gillies is the vindictive nurse whose venom of jealousy spills out with hatred. Think of her as a combination of Gladys Cooper's envious nun in "The Song of Bernadette" and "Downton Abbey's" O'Brien. The narration throws the film off a bit, but the lavishness, detail and most of all, its big heart will completely win you over.
This really covers the ground of the struggles she went through in finding her way in the profession of nursing, showing the squalor of what it was before. The old hags who interview her for the position of hospital administrator are obviously jealous, and many of the doctors she encounters maliciously sexist. But the minute she's with the ailing soldiers, you can feel the peace she brings them. Then, there's her discovery of something rotting under the hospital which has made it into the water supply, and it really is just beyond disgusting.
While at first glance, Smith isn't the perfectly ideal Florence, but she delivers the goods. Timothy Dalton plays her longtime suitor who loses her to her calling, and Claire Bloom and Jeremy Brett are her shocked parents, horrified by her desire to change her station, yet eventually proud. Carol Gillies is the vindictive nurse whose venom of jealousy spills out with hatred. Think of her as a combination of Gladys Cooper's envious nun in "The Song of Bernadette" and "Downton Abbey's" O'Brien. The narration throws the film off a bit, but the lavishness, detail and most of all, its big heart will completely win you over.