Lupino Lane is basically a human pretzel in Good Night Nurse (1929)

Is it worth the 20 minutes?

Honestly, yeah. If you like old-school slapstick where people treat their bodies like crash test dummies, you'll have a good time.

But if you can't stand silent movies or get annoyed by people overacting with their eyebrows, maybe just skip it and watch something else. 🤷‍♂️

The Man with No Bones

Lupino Lane is the star here and the guy is just... elastic. I don't know how else to put it.

He plays this guy who's clearly had too much to drink, and his wife is fed up. So, he ends up at this clinic called 'The Quiet Home' which is a total lie because it's the loudest silent movie I've ever seen.

There is this one bit where he’s trying to get into bed and he just sort of folds into himself. It’s not even a stunt, really, just him being weirdly flexible.

I found myself rewinding that part twice just to see where his legs actually went. It reminds me a bit of the physical energy in The Strong Man, but Lane feels more like a cartoon character come to life.

The Sanitarium from Hell

The whole place feels like a fever dream. The nurses are intense and the doctor looks like he’s never seen a medical license in his life.

There’s a scene with an operating table that is just pure chaos. They use a literal bicycle pump on a patient. 🚲

It’s stupid. It’s really stupid. But I laughed out loud because the timing is so perfect.

The way the patient swells up is such a weird visual gag for 1929. You can tell they were just having fun with the camera tricks back then.

Small Things I Noticed

• The nurse’s hat is comically tall. Like, why? It kept distracting me from the actual jokes.
• Wallace Lupino (Lupino’s brother) is in this too. They have this shorthand that makes the stunts look easy, even though they’re probably bruising.
• There is a very strange moment with a shower that goes on a bit too long. It stops being funny, then gets funny again, then just gets wet.
• The sets look like they’re made of cardboard, which adds to the charm, I guess.

It’s definitely better than some of the other shorts from that era, like Pop Tuttle's Tac Tics, which feels a bit more dated in its humor.

Lane has this way of looking at the camera that makes you feel like you're in on the joke. He isn't just performing; he's complaining to us with his eyes.

The Ending is a Mess

The movie kind of just... ends? It’s a bit of a chase and then it’s over. 🏃‍♂️

It feels like they ran out of film or maybe the actors were just too tired from falling down the stairs. I didn't mind it though because the energy was so high the whole time.

If you've seen something like A Virgin Paradise, you know how these old movies can sometimes drag in the middle. This one doesn't drag.

It just moves at 100 miles per hour until it hits a wall. Literally.

"I think Lupino Lane might be made of rubber and spite."

Anyway, it’s a fun little slice of history. It's not deep. It's not going to change your life. But watching a man struggle with a folding bed for five minutes is strangely therapeutic.

Check it out if you're bored on a Sunday afternoon. It's way better than scrolling through TikTok for the same amount of time. 📺