Sister Kenny *** (1946, Rosalind Russell, Alexander Knox, Dean Jagger, Philip Merivale, Beulah Bondi) – Classic Movie Review 7262

A well cast Rosalind Russell was Oscar nominated for her dedicated acting as Sister Elizabeth Kenny in director Dudley Nichols’s stirring 1946 biopic based on Mary Kenny’s own story And They Shall Walk (written with Martha Ostenso) illustrating the Australian nurse’s clash with the medical authorities over her polio treatment pioneering. In particular, she battles the stubborn orthopedic specialist Dr Brack (Philip Merivale).

Sister Kenny is a beautifully crafted and very moving movie, though the pace seems a bit ponderous now and the 116 minute running time rather long, as though co-writer/ producer/ director Nichols was weighed down by the weight of his responsibility. But it is notable as a quality example of the kind of honourable, good-hearted movie that hardly gets made any more.

Also in the cast are Alexander Knox, Dean Jagger, Beulah Bondi, Dorothy Peterson, Charles Dingle, John Litel, Doreen McCann, Fay Helm, Charles Kemper, Gloria Holden, Virginia Brissac, Frank Reicher, Paul Stanton, Charles Halton, Alan Lee, Lloyd Ingraham, Ellen Corby, Nan Leslie, Doris Lloyd, Egon Brecher, Lumsden Hare and Regis Toomey.

James Burke and Teddy Infuhr had their scenes deleted.

Surprisingly, Sister Kenny was not a hit for RKO Radio Pictures, resulting in a loss of $660,000, more than half of its $1,200,000 budget – even disappointing in Australia.

Contrary to the film, the real Sister Kenny had no formal nursing training and was not a registered nurse. Supported by a letter from a doctor saying she had experience working in a bush hospital, she enlisted as a nurse in the army in World War One, and was given the title Sister by the army.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7262

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