Tonight's Movie: Four Girls in White (1939)

FOUR GIRLS IN WHITE (1939) is a very diverting MGM "B" picture about four young ladies -- Florence Rice, Ann Rutherford, Mary Howard, and Una Merkel -- embarking on a three-year course in nursing. The three years whiz by in under an hour and 15 minutes, as the girls encounter romance, tragedy, and a train disaster along with their nursing training.

The world depicted in this film, when nurses lived in hospital dormitories and found love with handsome doctors and patients -- played in this case by Alan Marshal and Kent Taylor -- reminds me very much of the classic Harlequin romances by Betty Neels, though Neels' books were invariably set in England or Holland rather than the U.S.

The supporting cast includes Buddy Ebsen, Sara Haden, and Jessie Ralph.

FOUR GIRLS IN WHITE is part of the Turner Classic Movies library. It is not currently available on video or DVD.