Once to Every Woman

While not as racy as some pre-code films, this randomly-titled medical drama has the pre-code virtues of fast pacing and credible characters with realistic personal problems.

I've joined the Fay Wray cult, something I never expected. Too bad her talents were underutilized in so many "scream queen" epics. I find her more convincing than standouts like Barbara Stanwyck and Kay Francis when playing the woman torn between career and romance typical of so many films of that era. Maybe she was one of the first to realize that talkies called for a more understated acting style than silent films or Victorian melodramas. Her good looks, attractive speaking voice and clear diction are all pluses too.

Here she plays a dead serious by-the-book head nurse infatuated with a doctor who's the hospital's chief Romeo, with predictable consequences mixed in with the usual sort of medical drama including a subplot about an aging surgeon facing his diminished skills.

Nothing earth-shaking here, just a solid plot with good performances all around, especially Fay Wray's.