Girls Dormitory (1936)

the audience applauded

Crappy film

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

A May-December romance may not be to modern tastes, but there can't be many young women who wouldn't fall for a man like Herbert Marshall if he was their headmaster. He's devastatingly attractive here in an oblivious-to-his-own-charms, mild and scholarly kind of a way, with that legendary voice.The film is what it is in terms of being a product of its era. The rhythm of the scenes is different from what we are used to today. The social mores are obviously of another era. There's no way a schoolgirl of today would face an intrusive inquisition by the entire teaching staff for something as trivial as an unsent love letter, you can hear the 21st century lawsuits flying.But this was a different era, and it's a strange delight to just step back in time and absorb it all.Simone Simon is absolutely luminous on screen. The love scene is exquisite: from Marshall's rain-wet hair falling over his forehead to Simon's declaration that shakes him to the core.It's a sad film too. You can't help but feel for Ruth Chatterton, and even half wish he'd change his mind and discover his love for her instead of Simon, who is surely young and beautiful enough to love again. Apparently there's a 1931 German film where the headmaster does end up with this colleague. But here he doesn't, and is reunited with Simon in what feels like a somewhat rushed ending.Girls' Dormitory is only 66 minutes long: there's room for a better ending. More screen time and a subplot for Tyrone Power could have been interesting. Films have become longer each decade, but the average movie in the 1930s by one analysis I found was 96 minutes - half an hour longer. I'm not film historian enough to know why Girls' Dormitory is so short, but perhaps we may feel that its brevity adds to its charm.Anyway, this is one to enjoy and not agonise too deeply over. Simone Simon's character is 19 after all, and this is from an era where a girl would expect to marry soon after finishing school.

Girl's school professor Herbert Marshall is stunned to find out he is the recipient of love from one of his young students (Simone Simon). Ruth Chatterton is his friend who must help them defend themselves in this soap opera made during 20th Century Fox's first year after the merger of William Fox's studio and Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures. It was a secondary role for Ruth Chatterton in her last major year as a Hollywood star. The same year, she scored a major triumph as the selfish wife in "Dodsworth" (and an Oscar Nomination), and appeared in a fine now forgotten women's film, "Lady of Secrets". After two little seen British films, she was never once again on the big screen, making only sporadic appearances on TV years later. Herbert Marshall, a fine romantic actor, is supposed to be in his 30's here, but is obviously a bit older. It is a bit concerting to see Simone Simon chasing him and for him to fall prey to her charms. (Reverse that with Chatterton going after a much younger man, and in 1936, you'd truly have the Hays code going bonkers.) I was happy though that Simon was presented as sensitive and beautiful as the young innocent Marie, and was not at all cloying in her part. I thought with her voice, she would begin to grate after a while, but I was surprised that she didn't.Constance Collier, hit by a rock from a slingshot, later a pillow, which causes her skirt to fall down while searching for her glasses, faces all sorts of deserved indignities here. J. Edward Bromberg deserves more than the slap he gets from Ruth Chatterton. He is appropriately despicable, but gets his share of come-uppance from two other teachers who accuse him of taking out his own family aggressions on his pupils. Tyrone Power, whose DVD box set this title appears under, only has a cameo towards the end, and isn't even billed in the opening credits. It's basically a screen test that confirmed his chemistry with the camera. If you can get past the uncomfortableness of the story between Marshall and Ms. Simon, you might find this enjoyable. It is beautifully filmed and gives director Irving Cummings a chance to do something other than the musicals he would mainly be remembered for.

This is a film that is mostly enjoyable and engaging until late in the film, when it becomes very, very creepy indeed! In fact, it's May-December romance is much more disturbing and creepy than the famous Ronald Reagan turkey, THAT HAGAN GIRL. How Herbert Marshall and the rest were able to get away with producing such a ridiculously flawed film is beyond me.The film starts off very well and a lot could have been made of the story. It all begins at a private girls high school in Austria, of all places. Marshall is the beloved head master of the school and practically all the young ladies are infatuated with him. One in particular, Simone Simon, is REALLY infatuated and it's pretty obvious to the audience though inexplicably Marshall and the rest are in the dark about this. Simone's infatuation is so great that she even writes love letters but doesn't send them. When a very prudish and self-righteous teacher finds one of the letters, they want to make an example of her--though she really hasn't really done anything and they have no idea the object of the letters is Marshall. In this inquisitorial climate, Marshall and some of the staff stand up to two vindictive teachers who seem to be on their own private witch hunt, of sorts.So far, all this is great entertainment. I can't see Marshall as being THAT sexy but this certainly wasn't a major issue, as he was very kind and possessed one of the most beautiful voices in film. However, completely out of the blue, the film falls off the deep end into very creepy territory. Although there was no indication whatsoever that Marshall would reciprocate, when he found out that Simone's letters were fantasy letters about him, he instantly declared his love for her!! This out of the blue declaration made no sense and coming from both a much older man AND one of her teachers really made my skin crawl. I am a male teacher about the same age as Marshall and I teach at a high school. I can assure you that NO ONE would find my declaring my undying love for any of students to be romantic or right in any moral sense. Heck, I'd likely make the TV news! Now I know times have changed and perhaps society might not have taken quite as strong a view about this back then, but even in the 1930s this is really, really weird and must have nauseated the audiences. In the final love scene that occurs just as the film is ending, many must have felt really annoyed or sickened. I know I couldn't enjoy this and saw Marshall's character as a bit of a pedophile.The only reason I could recommend this film at all is an early appearance by Tyrone Power near the very end. Power fans will no doubt want to see him, but I can assure them that his performance is bland and too short to satisfy.Finally, I can say only one more thing about the film----Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

Herbert Marshall does his best with a foolish character and a melodramatic script. Simone is electric on the screen but the chemistry between she and Ruth Chatterton is far more compelling than between Marshall and either one of his leading ladies. I LOVED this movie when I was young, but cannot remember why. Seeing it now just makes me feel very, very old because the mores and standards promulgated are just so outdated.