Reform School Girl (1957)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Donna is a girl who got in with the wrong crowd; so much so that a car she was a passenger in kills an unlucky pedestrian. The driver, a young hoodlum acquaintance of hers, escapes justice and loyal Donna takes the rap, refusing to implicate him she is sent to a reformatory school.Reform School Girl was released by the B-movie kings AIP in the high days of the drive-in, when the baby boomers were getting old enough to create a large market for teen exploitation schlock. This one was one of the movies that looked at the dangers that those teens faced if they pursued wayward directions in life. It's a juvenile delinquency melodrama that is an early example of a women in prison film. From the late 60's onwards, these types of pictures became staples of the sexploitation genre. Reform School Girl, obviously is considerably tamer than those given it was released in the more innocent 50's. All we get here are a few cat fights, implied lesbianism and a little bit of moderate violence such as an arm stabbed by scissors and a girl smacked on the head by flying baseball bat. But in the main, it's very understated by subsequent standards of the genre; although admittedly the heroine does have to put up with the borderline incestual advances of her aunt's boyfriend earlier on in the movie.Once the plot-line kicks in, it focuses on the code of silence practiced in the school, with Donna being the victim of group bullying as a result of them wrongly thinking that she is a police informer. It's a pretty serviceable story-line with a reasonable amount of drama. It does end in a somewhat rushed manner though, with Donna escaping a beating by her antagonists on account of them merely being unable to find the right key! The film ties up the loose ends of the plot immediately afterwards in an abrupt and not especially impressive way. But hey ho, it was good while it lasted. The only actor on show that I recognised was Luana Anders, who played one of Donna's tormentors, she appeared a few years later to great effect in Francis Ford Coppola's debut feature Dementia 13.

I was expecting some cheesy, low budget, morality infomercial, but this movie was very touching and did a great job of making me care about the main characters, especially Donna. I think Gloria Castillo was a good choice to play Donna. She came across as an all-American girl who found herself in bad situations that became overwhelming. Plus, she was very pretty and easy to look at. This role was similar to her part as Ruby in Night of the Hunter, where she was a lost, teenage orphan that needed to be loved. Anyway, Gloria Castillo's performance really sucked me into Donna's world and made me care about her.Was this film perfect? No, of course not. Some of the problems I had with it: 1) Why would Donna's uncle be afraid of some young punk - not very realistic? 2) I found the "code of silence" thing to be very frustrating. It was acceptable up to a point, but when you are facing possible death, self-preservation would kick-in and make you say or do anything to stay alive. I couldn't believe that Donna or her friend didn't "squeal" after having a baseball bat thrown at them by Jethrine (Sally Kellerman - boy, did she look AWFUL!). Again, not very realistic. 3) The newspaper article that said Donna was the one who informed the authorities about the blond girl being involved with certain crimes is ridiculous! Think about it - a person tries to be a good citizen and reports a crime and then the newspapers tell the whole world you're an informant! I wasn't alive in 1957, but I seriously doubt this would happen. What would Joe Friday say about that!?!

I expected a really bad film. The cheesy photograph in the cover of the DVD package didn't announce any great findings. Obviously, the film is low-budget, but this time it didn't equal with terribly bad.I liked the script. The film had good rhythm, the characters were either extremely good or bad, the action was interesting, there were touches at the psychology of the girls... Many scenes take place at the reform school, but Donna's flat, the courtroom, the flat of Vince's girlfriend, there is even a very short scene at the workplace of the aunt's boyfriend... make it more varied for my taste. I also liked outdoors scenes: the run-over, Vince asking for directions when he's after Jack... I liked them because I don't usually appreciate films which look like theatre plays and all the action happens in just one location.It's an interesting and probably an underestimated film, which in fact I liked. I didn't know the director, the script-writer, the main actress (Gloria del Castillo, which sadly didn't have much success in Hollywood), but some other actresses would become well-known with time, Luana Anders and especially Sally Kellerman. Maybe they are not at their best here, because they were just beginning their careers, and they'd become much better but everybody has to begin somewhere, and this was a flick to be proud of.

Low-budget crud with a great, campy title and a marvelously-designed graphic poster, instantly calling up nostalgic memories for baby-boomers of the drive-in movie era. Sleazy, hilariously awful melodrama from A.I.P. stars Gloria Castillo as a harried young woman, pawed at by all men, who gets sent to a girls' home where she fights with the other teenagers. Edward Byrnes, 'Kookie' to his "77 Sunset Strip" fans, is odious as a windbreaker-wearing delinquent, although a very green Sally Kellerman (in her debut) isn't too bad as one of the inmates (watch out for those scissors!). Supporting players Jack Kruschen and Luana Anders look properly embarrassed. Remade (sort of) in 1994 for cable TV. *1/2 from ****