Synopsis
Virginia, who studies at a boarding school for upper-class girls, falls in love with a medical intern who works as a waiter for a living. Both the director of the school and her mother oppose such a relationship.
1934 Directed by George Nichols Jr., Wanda Tuchock
Virginia, who studies at a boarding school for upper-class girls, falls in love with a medical intern who works as a waiter for a living. Both the director of the school and her mother oppose such a relationship.
Frances Dee Billie Burke Ginger Rogers Bruce Cabot John Halliday Beulah Bondi Sara Haden Helen Freeman Marjorie Lytell Adalyn Doyle Anne Shirley Irene Franklin Ann Cameron Rose Coghlan Caroline Rankin Margaret Armstrong Eddie Baker Joan Barclay Jane Darwell Arnold Gray Theresa Harris John David Horsley Claire Meyers Frank Mills Jack Norton Susanne Thompson Edith Vale Ellinor Vanderveer
Las rebeldes del internado, Escola de Elegância, Filles d'Amérique, Educande d'America, När livet lockar, 女子精修学校
Finishing School is the unusual film that takes its teenage characters and their feelings seriously, consistently framing them as valid and refusing to pass judgment, or dismiss them as the foolishness of youth or not worthy of consideration. In fact, it's the villains of the picture — the representatives of proper society and its expectations — who take this attitude, and it's them who finds their views and emotions cast aside as unworthy of serious consideration.
Centered upon Virgina (the lovely Frances Dee), a rich, proper girl — "of the New York Radcliffs" — the movie finds her at a crucial juncture in her life. Deposited at the finishing school her mother attended (since the woman is played by Billie…
"A girl must be protected from people who don't belong. Especially nowadays, when the purchase of a dress suit automatically makes a man a gentleman."
Finishing School is a film so special to me that on two occasions I have given the Warner Archive DVD as a gift. (I have the disc myself, but haven't been able to find it for a while.) It has the distinction of having been banned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, so for all you pre-Code buffs out there, that’s how you know for sure that it’s worth your time. Additionally, for those who are interested in the histories of pioneering female directors, Finishing School is notable for being co-directed by Wanda Tuchock (alongside…
GOD I would give anything for ginger rogers to be my best friend and to be able to talk shit with her and for her to spit shower water on me and to comfort me when I cry about my stupid useless boyfriend
“If you took all the hair off their combined chests, you couldn’t make a wig for a grape!” Ginger Rogers has THE BEST lines in this.
A great comedy in the guise of a melodrama, even the film's most melodramatic turn has a comic edge to it (the move is inspired by a totally inadequate and hilarious second-hand summary of Anna Karenina, and the subsequent dramatic zoom into Frances Dee's face undermines the moment's potential portent through light exaggeration). This is not to say the film is dramatically weak, or that the comedy is meant as a parodic counterpoint to the dominant, dramatic narrative; it's all of a piece. I like, for example, how Dee's transition from goody two shoes to troublemaker develops from her sincere sense of right and wrong, and rather than position her as merely a countercultural rebel (which would be fun anyway)…
A rather good Pre-Code feature in which Virginia (Frances Dee) is dropped off at a swanky school by her twittery mother (Billie Burke), soon falling into bad habits with her room-mate Pony (Ginger Rogers), and falling for a penniless medical student Mac (Bruce Cabot).
Because it shows young girls smoking and drinking, and spending time unchaperoned in boathouses with young men, it was roundly condemned by the Legion of Decency, especially given its message of 'do what you like but don't get caught'.
Dee is excellent as the naive girl who finds herself giving in to temptation, while Rogers is at her wisecracking best when she is on screen.
Co-directed by Wanda Tuchock with George Nicholls Jr, this film has a distinct lack of moral tone and a plotline which would disappear within the next year or so.
Look out for Beulah Bondi and Jane Darwell in a good supporting cast.
Frances Dee is a good actress who is probably best known for being Joel McCrea's wife. She's also quite lovely. This is a good cast with Ginger Rogers, Anne Shirley, Beulah Bondi, Bruce Cabot and more.
I think this movie has aged quite well. Some things are just universal, no matter when they happened.
Teen romance 1930s style when you had to wait for your lover to respond to your telegrams after a hookup.
Ginger Rogers is great and it's all way more fun than I was expecting.
Wanda Tuchock and George Nichols Jr.’s drama. Teenage Virginia (Frances Dee) is so unhappy at her finishing school that she even contemplates suicide. With Billie Burke and Ginger Rogers.
When her mother (Billie Burke) refers her to boarding school, Virginia (Frances Dee) finds out it’s alright not to keep track of the rules, as long as you don't get spotted.
Persuaded by her revolutionary roommate, Cecilia ‘Pony’ Ferris (Ginger Rogers), the girls make their way to New York for a weekend away.
While there, Virginia encounters and falls in love with an impoverished man, Ralph McFarland (Bruce Cabot). Headmistress Van Alystne (Beulah Bondi) impedes the affair, but the young couple declines to thwart seeing one another.
Frances Dee gives a…
In this proscribed pre-code has Frances Dee as Virginia a demure young lady being dropped off at a prissy finishing school by her staunch socialite mother Billie Burke ...but never mind where the spoon or fork goes, this was more like a liberated sorority house and Virginia gets an intense crash course on the meaning of life that’ll make her head spin...Ginger Rogers was a riot as ‘Pony’ and the leader of her socially adept clique and banging out the wisecracks one after another...Bruce Cabot does well as an Intern earning his way as a waiter...and Jane Darwell sure gets your attention as the gruffy head nurse Maude...and I didn’t recognize a young Anne Shirley as the scrawny teenager trying to fit in with Pony’s…