British nurse Edith Cavell runs a convalescent home in Brussels during World War I. After helping the grandson of a patient evade the occupying Germans, she finds a higher calling aiding escaped prisoners of war. With the assistance of her like-minded staff, Edith organizes an underground network to help injured French and British officers flee to Holland. As the war rages, Edith gets over 200 wounded soldiers to safety. Unbeknownst to all, they harbor a traitor in their midst -- a German lieutenant disguised as a British POW. Edith is brought before a German military tribunal and sentenced to death. As the world recoils in horror at the news of this injustice, Edith chooses to face her fate with dignity, uttering with her dying breath, "Patriotism is not enough!" Nurse Edith Cavell is based on the true story of an English nurse killed by a German firing squad during World War I. Edith Cavell's tragic death, which shocked the world in 1915, had already been depicted several times on screen during the silent era. Previous movies included The Martyrdom of Nurse Cavell (1916) and The Woman the Germans Shot (1918). The most recent film of the story, Dawn (1928), had been made by British director Herbert Wilcox. In 1939, he came to Hollywood with his wife, actress Anna Neagle, to make a sound version. This was Neagle's first film in America, but she and her husband would make several more there, including Irene(1940), No, No, Nanette (1940) and Forever and a Day (1943). George Sanders saw his profile greatly raised by appearing in Nurse Edith Cavell. Shortly after its release, he went from starring in "The Saint" B-pictures to working with Alfred Hitchcock at the Master of Suspense request (Sanders would have supporting roles in both Rebecca and Foreign Correspondent.) The National Council for the Prevention of War initially opposed Nurse Edith Cavell's release, worrying that it would be seen as hostile to Germany. Ironically, Germany invaded Poland a week after the film's November 1939 premiere, starting World War II. Anthony Collins' score was nominated for an Academy Award.
