Yes Nurse! No Nurse! (2002)

The plot is goofy and delightful, the musical numbers are implausible and silly (just like any other musical) and it hardly matters at all that the whole thing is in German with subtitles. In fact, the subtitles for the song lyrics are either terrible translations or else the lyrics are just awful to begin with. But who cares? The tunes are upbeat and happy and the dancing is fun and nicely staged with little touches one would never see in a Hollywood film. The Gay bits are light weight but fittingly move the plot along providing a villain and a love interest. Put your brain in PARK; no thinking is required; just let the whole thing wash over you like a dream that makes you laugh out loud. You'll want to own this to watch again and to spring it on special friends.

Maybe you won't get to experience a full Castro Theater singing along with the star of the movie, but I think you'll enjoy it almost as much as I did! And while it played in the 27th San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, it isn't really a Gay film. It's just a movie that has a special appeal to a Gay audience. I doubt that most of the audience speaks Dutch. I doubt that most of the audience had ever heard any of the songs. I had no idea that this movie had its origins in a long lost '60s Dutch TV series. None of this mattered. The movie was silly and just plain fun. The characters burst out in song and start dancing. There were bits and pieces that reminded me of '60s American musical and others that reminded me of British sit-coms. There were heroes and villains. There is growth and change. The Dutch Queen even comes to visit. Yes Nurse, No Nurse could never have been made in the US. And that's a good thing.

Today the DVD version of the movie was released in Holland and as a big fan I've just run through the DVD.A simple, yet effective story line combined with the outstanding music and strong character play makes this an excellent movie for children. A funny trivia about the movie is, that the movie almost had to be canceled, because the Red Cross organization was not happy with the use of the red cross on the clothing of the main character, Zuster Klivia. Luckily this dispute could be settled and you can see the Zuster with a retouched blue cross cap."Ja Zuster, Nee Zuster" originally was a series that ran in the mid sixties in Holland. It depended heavily on the excellent songs and certainly not on intriguing story lines. Because film tapes were expensive in the 60's, other material was recorded over it and for a long time all film material was believed to be lost. Yet in recent years some of the original material was rediscovered.From this original material 15 songs were selected and added as a bonus to this DVD, making this DVD also a must have for older generations.

Only two years, at the end of the sixties, Dutch national tv featured the tv-series Ja zuster, Nee zuster. Intended as a children's programme, writer Annie MG Schmidt added so much refinement to the script that adults (parents or not) were equally keen to watch the adventures of the tenants in a nursing home. Following some misplaced economies, most of the series was not kept for future generations. All this added to the myth of Ja zuster, Nee zuster, a myth that was not entirely shared by Annie Schmidt herself. (BTW The brilliant combination with composer Harry Bannink produced a number of songs, that are still being sung today, 35 years later.) On one hand the movie closely resembles the original tv-series. The characters are similar, and with great care the songs have been re-styled and visualised. The story line has been adapted, hence the greater emphasis on some characters. Again, the movie is full of innuendo, which needs not restrain anyone from viewing. Nowhere it is vulgar. The visualization is brilliant, as are the choreographies. The cast is very well composed, and all characters are played in a very natural way. This might be the first movie in all my life I will go and see more than once in the cinema, before acquiring the DVD for home viewing. Needless to say that this movie deserves the highest acclaim and recommendations.