The Student Nurses (1970)
** (out of 4)
When Roger Corman broke away from AIP he formed New World Pictures and this low-budget film ended up being a huge hit and got the company off to a great start. The film is pretty simple as we're introduced to four nurses in their final year of schooling and we see their personal dramas, a lot of which surrounds sex. THE STUDENT NURSES was the first of what would end up being a five film series and it's pretty funny to see that this film really isn't all that naughty. Today the movie is sold as an exploitation picture but when you take a step back and actually watch the film you'll notice that it's more melodrama than exploitation. The one selling point of the film is that all four nurses are incredibly beautiful and there are several scenes that feature them naked. I'm willing to bet that people flocked to drive-ins because of the nudity and not because of the stories. The stories themselves are all pretty simple. One woman gets knocked up by a deadbeat. Another struggles with her affection for a doctor. Another falls for a patient. None of these stories are all that interesting but there are some pretty weird moments in the film. One such case is a very bizarre abortion sequence, which has to be seen to be believed. There's also a weird musical sequence that I'm not quite sure what to make of. Elaine Giftos, Brioni Farrell, Barbara Leigh and Karen Carlson play the nurses and all of them are extremely cute but also manage to deliver better than expected performances. THE STUDENT NURSES certainly isn't a great film but it's far from being awful. Fans of the 70's drive-in films should get enough entertainment out of this to make it worth viewing at least once.
