Passes the Bechdel test
Night Nurse
1931. Directed by William A. Wellman, written by Grace Perkins and Oliver H.P. Garrett and Charles Kenyon.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 5. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Lora Hart manages to land a job in a hospital as a trainee nurse. Upon completion of her training she goes to work as a night nurse for two small children who seem to be very sick, but something much more sinister is going on.
- Released
- 08 Aug 1931
- Genres
- Comedy, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- Passed
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Awards
- 3 wins total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Lora 71 lines, woman
- Mortie 43 lines, man
- Maloney 33 lines, woman
- Dr. Bell 22 lines, man
- Miss Dillon 11 lines, woman
- Mrs. Maxwell 11 lines, woman
- Lor 10 lines
- Nick 8 lines, man
- Lors 7 lines, woman
- Desney 6 lines, woman
Full cast, 22 people
- Barbara Stanwyck as Lora Hart
- Ben Lyon as Mortie
- Joan Blondell as Maloney
- Clark Gable as Nick
- Blanche Friderici as Mrs. Maxwell
- Charlotte Merriam as Mrs. Ritchey
- Charles Winninger as Dr. Bell
- Edward Nugent as Eagan
- Vera Lewis as Miss Dillon
- Ralf Harolde as Dr. Milton Ranger
- Walter McGrail as The Drunk
- Betty Jane Graham as Desney Ritchey (uncredited)
- Marcia Mae Jones as Nanny Ritchey (uncredited)
- Robert Allen as Party Guest (uncredited)
- James Bradbury Jr. as Wounded Prisoner (uncredited)
- Jim Farley as Policeman (uncredited)
- Willie Fung as Hospital Patient (uncredited)
- Allan Lane as Intern (uncredited)
- Betty May as Nurse Bryan (uncredited)
- Bob Perry as Mortie's Pal (uncredited)
- Jed Prouty as Archie - Father-to-be (uncredited)
- Lucille Ward as Woman Wanting Screen for Son's Bed (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 23% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 5
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 1 | 8 | 4 |
| 2 to 2 | 4 | 5 |
| 3 to 3 | 94 | 44 |
| 4 to 4 | 42 | 28 |
| 5 to 5 | 4 | 7 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
MALONEY: Good lvek, kid. She exits into hail, closing door behind her, MRS. MAXWELL: . . Why won't you try a milk bath?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 63 are women's.
152 lines from women, 88 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 13 men in the cast. 7 women and 8 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 12 of 313.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 11 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 71% of the words (4,973), men 29% (2,050). Women have 63% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
18
Two men
3
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 6 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 6% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- William A. Wellman (man)
- Written by
- Oliver H.P. Garrett (man)
- From the novel by
- Grace Perkins (woman)
- Shot by
- Barney McGill (man)
- Edited by
- Edward M. McDermott (man)
- Costumes by
- Earl Luick (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
1 women, 1 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 33 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Barbara Stanwyck 24, Joan Blondell 24, Charlotte Merriam 28, Blanche Friderici 57, Vera Lewis 58
Men
Edward Nugent 27, Ben Lyon 30, Clark Gable 30, Ralf Harolde 32, Charles Winninger 47
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 5 scenes and 313 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
