La collégienne en folie

I'm not much of a fan of Hollywood musicals (especially the bloated 50s variety--you can keep Kiss Me Kate, thank you) but there is something riveting about this film that is rather hard to explain. The script is sharply written and the songs are reasonably good, but the capper for me are the production numbers. Watching Gene Nelson bound around a gymnasium is a truly thrilling experience. If you think this is merely another one of President Ronnie's bad films, think again. With its candy cane Technicolor, snappy dialogue, and big productions, it's almost a pre-rock The Girl Can't Help It--and that can only be a good thing!

Imbibition Technicolor, the most perfect method of adding color to film, was at its glorious apotheosis when the Warner Bros. musical "She's Working Her Way Through College," came along in 1952. Let the words of one of the men who worked on the process, Don Berry, inform us:

"The results were striking. No other color process – notably the cheap processes of Eastman Kodak – could even come remotely close to achieving the vibrant, saturated look of IB (imbibition) Technicolor."

With musical films, especially, looking for a prism through which to display their charms, the wedding of Technicolor and "She's Working Her Way Through College" was a match made in cinematic heaven.

Elsewhere, you may read that this musical was an inferior version of the Warner Bros. 1942 drama (in black and white), "The Male Animal." The names of James Thurber and Elliott Nugent, writers of the 1942 movie, do appear in the credits of "She's Working…" but the musical uses only a few of the former film's lines. . . and it has a great foundation, hummable tunes, and that wonderful Technicolor going for it.

Briefly: "She's Working Her Way Through College" starring Virginia Mayo, Ronald Reagan, and Gene Nelson, is a delight from the first scene on. Reagan plays John Palmer, a college professor who's doing dramatic research; and at one of the theaters he visits, he sees a rousing and colorful production number starring a burlesque queen (played winningly by the beautiful Ms. Mayo). Reagan doesn't remember her at first, but she remembers him as her high school teacher. They meet in her dressing room and she learns that her former teacher is now a professor at a small college, Midwest State. Ms. Mayo decides to quit the theater and enroll in his college.

Once at Midwest State, Ms. Mayo receives a lot of wolf whistles from the male students, but responds only with smiles. She meets Don Weston (Gene Nelson), who is quarterback of the football team, but is also a terrific singer and dancer. Together they co-write a musical play for the school to present at one of the better theaters in town, and give their classmates a sneak performance right in their classroom. Professor Palmer has no objections, and is in fact drawn into the performance. The Mayo-Nelson routine is a winner, to the song "I'll be Loving You" by Sammy Cahn and Vernon Duke.

In all, the production of "She's Working Her Way Through College" is a delight. And those who criticize it as an inferior "The Male Animal" need to look again. The two films are ages apart… and "The Male Animal," whatever its virtues, lacks the effervescent and vivid hues afforded by the Technicolor palette.

By Dan Navarro -- daneldorado93@yahoo.com.

This is a color musical remake of Warners' classic "The Male Animal". In this version, Henry Fonda is replaced by everyone's favorite future President, Ronald Reagan. Reagan is again cast as a college professor, after his brilliant performance in "Bedtime for Bonzo". Musical-comedy was certainly not Reagan's strong point, but he is not embarrassing at all in this splashy color remake. And Bonzo is nowhere in sight. The "I'll Be Loving You" number, written by expert songwriters Vernon Duke and Sammy Cahn, is a standout. I find it hilarious that Virginia Mayo's singing is dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams, Gene Nelson's singing is done by Hal Derwin, but the Pres sings his one line in the number for himself. I believe it is Reagan's only performance in a full production musical number. Thank goodness he was not asked to dance! Mayo and Nelson do that very well on their own. It is surprising that none of the Duke-Cahn songs from this film became standards. Their songs in this film, as well as Warner's "April in Paris" are first rate.

I thought this movie was good. I was on vacation and I was staying one night in Zurich, and this just happened to be on TV. I couldn't stop watching it. It was really good, I never knew Ronald Reagan was such a good actor, I just thought of him as a president, nothing else, go figure.

Anyway, if ever you are bored and looking for an amusing movie, this one will do you good. Even though it takes place in the early 1950s it is still really good. I didn't see the very beginning of the movie though, but everything I saw I liked, so thats that.

This film may be seen as a rather slight offering in the musical genre of the early 50's; however, it's been a favorite film of mine since I first saw it years ago. Virginia Mayo sparkles as Angela, a sincere girl who wants to attend college, but has to work in burlesque as "Hot Garters Gertie" to earn the money. Ronald Reagan is her professor, and thankfully, the film is less concerned with his career woes (being passed over for promotions at the college, a rivalry with the football coach, etc.) than it is with the college kids and the musical numbers. Gene Nelson is handsome and an excellent dancer, and Patrice Wymore has the right degree of archness as "Poison Ivy". The musical numbers are a lot of fun, especially "With Plenty of Money and You" (Virginia, clad in gold fringe, pulls out the stops for her burlesque number), "I'll Still Be Loving You" (Virginia and Gene sing the cute romantic number in class), and the title song. It's a film I can enjoy watching again and again.