Like many older Englishwomen, I grew up with the story of Florence. And the one thing this movie does is strike me as distinctly unrealistic.There is, of course, some truth in the story itself, although even that is prettified. However the production values are simply ridiculous. Everything is too neat, too clean, too pretty. To include white lace on Florence's costume - and, for that matter, mascara on her face and clean white sheets on her bed - is simply nonsensical. Even the very wealthy with countless servants in those days were lucky to have such luxury. Florence was a desperately hard working and very practical woman in the middle of a war zone with no luxuries whatsoever; her primary battle was to obtain beds for her patients, preferably ones away from cess pits, rather than keep her lace spotless.

It is difficult to put the entire story of a legend of History on any screen. Television makes it even more difficult with the size & time & budget constrictions put upon that production. This is a good effort to do it, but only a piece of the story.Jaclyn Smith is an appropriate person to play Florence Nightingale here in a story which brings across a story of her not often told. It gets past the legend and presents one facet of her own inner conflict. That story is of Nightingale choosing the path she believed God intended for her over the other path of becoming a rich married woman with a family. God intends for her to be a healer as this story goes. Considering actual events, she chose wisely putting others before herself.She spurns the love and marriage of Timothy Dalton's nobleman, and winds up in the British-Russian war of 1855 becoming a Saint. She is presented here as one of the early women pushing women's rights more than a century before a modern movement in the 1960's & 70's would finally breach that wall, more than 50 years before women ever could even vote in the US.The performance of Jeremy Brett & Claire Bloom which are more intrinsic than Dalton after the first half of the film are grand and the scenery is well done. The one reflection that you get it was made for television is you can sense where the commercial breaks are when watching the DVD. Glad it was brought to this version, as this is too long & commercials would take away some of the wallop. It is a little weak in the second half after Dalton is gone, but still a good effort overall.

This is one of the better TV movies of the 1980s definitely.I watched this movie knowing practically nothing about Florence Nightingale and I came away realizing what an important person she was in the world of medicine and patient care.What I recall of the movie was this captain (or an army doctor, I can't recall exactly) in the makeshift hospital was yelling at his badly wounded soldier. It was a terrible way to treat these badly wounded men in a very dirty environment. Soldiers died quickly of their wounds due from infection and bad care before Florence Nightingale entered the picture. Florence Nightingale bought a whole bunch of women to the war zone and trained them to be nurses. Together, they cleaned up the "hospital" and revolutionized the care of patients.Jacklyn Smith is very lovely. In whatever role she's in, she's always the elegant Jacklyn Smith. I don't buy her as Florence Nightingale, but she puts on some decent acting. I believed her compassion for people and she had me rooting for her throughout the movie.It's a nice introduction to Florence Nightingale and I think it is a good movie to show to high school students who are interested in the nursing profession. It's a good drama and it doesn't hit you over the head with too much moralizing.I don't know if this movie will ever come out on DVD, but it's a good movie for people who like costume dramas, Jacklyn Smith, or interested in Florence Nightingale.

CAUTION: SPOILERS POSSIBLEI watched this movie in full the other day and really liked it. I had not known even the basics of the story of Florence Nightengale, but I think this TV movie did fine with at least being informative. I'm sure much of it was dramatized, maybe even romanticized. Jaclyn Smith is a beautiful woman with a silky, sensual voice, but it's this very voice that I thought made her portayal beautiful. So compassionate and soft and comforting while reading Scriptures to wounded/dying soldiers. I do not agree with one reviewer who says Smith's acting is lousy. I don't see any lousy acting, only perhaps romanticized. Maybe the real Flo wasn't as beautiful. Maybe her voice wasn't as soft. But the point is, she dedicated her life to nursing. I would to God I could be that kind of nurse. She worked herself nearly to death during the Crimean War, that's how dedicated she was. There are reports now that the Founder of modern Nursing might have been bipolar, which may explain why she would rather make rounds with a lamp and make sure the men were comfortable and safe rather than sleep. At any rate, Smith's portrayal of the Lady with the Lamp was wonderful. The attention to period detail is terrific. I love the clothing and sunbonnets and nurses' uniforms. Timothy Dalton was a great character because he supported Florence and loved her as a friend and believed in what she was doing, even though they did not end up having a life together. I give it an A+++++