The Lady with a Lamp

British film-favorite Anna Neagle, having previously played such great historical personages as Queen Victoria and Edith Cavell, tackles the role of Florence Nightingale in LADY WITH THE LAMP. Based on a play by Reginald Berkeley, the film traces the indefatigable Nightingale's efforts to minister to the thousands of casualties of the Crimean War. Opposed in the uppermost circles of British government because she is "merely" a woman, Nightingale is championed by the Hon. Sidney Herbert (Michael Wilding), minister of war. Herbert pulls strings to allow Nightingale and her nursing staff access to battlefield hospitals, and in so doing changes the course of medical history. LADY WITH THE LAMP was, as usual, produced and directed by Anna Neagle's husband Herbert Wilcox.