Finishing School

Another girls' school pranks-to-pregnancy picture stemming from the successes of MAEDCHEN IN UNIFORM (1932) and EIGHT GIRLS IN A BOAT (1934), with comedy, pathos, bathos, and a few songs. This one bombed badly at the time of its release despite a strong cast and the presence of Rogers who, as the sophisticated, wise-cracking roommate of poor-little-rich-girl heroine Dee, got the scene-stealing role and played it brilliantly. Rogers' espoused philosophy--get away with whatever you can, just don't get caught--attunes well with that of the principal of the exclusive school, Bondi, and her pedantic minions, who wish above all else to avoid scandal. Dee's unhappiness--she contemplates suicide--is justified in conventional sociological terms by the inept foster-parenting of the snobbish school's staff and by her relative abandonment by her indifferent father, Halliday, and her social-climbing mother, Burke. Dee's depression is allayed somewhat by the jolly camaraderie of her schoolmates and by her interest in Cabot, a hospital intern and part-time waiter, and an unlikely choice as the juvenile. (He might have been either hero or heavy from his appearance and charisma in virtually any role he played.) Following the romance and the mandatory pregnancy, all ends well, with Dee wedding the poor-but-honest Cabot and finding a chance for middle-class happiness. (texte officiel du distributeur)