1956 British film
The Feminine Touch is a 1956 colour British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring George Baker, Belinda Lee and Delphi Lawrence.[1] In 1957 it was released as A Lamp Is Heavy in Canada, and The Gentle Touch in the United States.
Plot
The film follows five very different student nurses during their first year of training at a fictional NHS hospital in London called St. Augustine's Hospital, where they live in a dormitory. However, of the five, the main focus is Susan.
Susan is reliable and sensible; Pat is flighty and open; Maureen is Irish and loud; Ann is a former public school girl; and Liz comes from a working class background. As they get to know each other, they bond in spite of their differences.
Susan falls in love with Dr Jim Alcott. She is tempted to leave nursing to go with Jim to Canada but decides not to go after helping a patient who tried to commit suicide. However, after a talk with the matron, she decides to join Jim in Canada.
When it is revealed that one of the group stayed out all night to be with one of the doctors, she faces instant dismissal until it is revealed that she has been married for a month. Although also against the rules, the nurses convince the matron that that is morally better than unmarried nurses sneaking out and having affairs, which is tolerated.
Production
The film was based on a 1950 book, The Lamp is Heavy by Canadian Sheila Russell, who worked as a nurse in Edmonton, Alberta[2] and married a doctor in 1947. The novel was published in the Commonwealth in 1954[3] and sold 75,000 copies over five years.[4] "I'm not surprised that there is a change in title", said Russell. "After all, in England the 'lamp' is still pretty heavy for nurses."[5]
Michael Balcon of Ealing Studios wanted to make a hospital film but Sir John Davis of Rank was reluctant; eventually Balcon managed to get approval for this movie.[6]
It was the first Ealing movie directed by Pat Jackson, who had made an earlier film about nursing, White Corridors (1951). It was one of the last pair of films made at Ealing Studios, which had been sold to the BBC, and one of the last Ealing movies under the nine-year relationship between Rank and Ealing. (Ealing would move to MGM studios, make several more movies, then be wound up.)[7][8][9]
It was an early star role for Belinda Lee,[10] one of several "sensible girl" parts she played for Rank.[11]
Film rights were bought by Rank in early 1955. Filming began in late June 1955 at Pinewood Studios[12] and on location at Guy's Hospital.
Reception
Variety called the film "worthwhile, and as a piece of romantic entertainment, it is more than adequate. Pic has valuable exploitation angles which should help returns in the domestic market ... yarn has few comedy touches as well as strong dramatic angles ... Cast is competent .without being standout. Miss Lee, a handsome blonde, is rapidly improving as an actress."[13]
The Monthly Film Bulletin said "this latest example of nurse recruitment by film adds little to what has been said by previous productions of this kind."[14]
The Observer said it was "not very good drama, I'm afraid."[15]
Leslie Halliwell reviewed the film as: "Portmanteau soap opera of no absorbing interest".[16]
David Quinlan wrote "Episodic tribute to nursing profession has too much soft soap, not enough meat. Very good colour camerawork though."[17]
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