That Brennan Girl

That Brennan Girl was restored as part of Martin Scorcese's project to restore worthy films. It is rare that a low-budget movie from Republic studios would get this treatment, and I was pleased to see it screened at the Wexner Center in February.

Part family drama, part crime film, part romance, the film begins in flashback with Mona Freeman as a young girl on Mother's Day disappointed that her own mother writes her off as her sister so she can project youth to snag a rich man. As she grows up, she learns her own tricks to survival as a woman and hardens into a free-wheeling gold digger. James Dunn, a con-man with a soft spot for his Irish mother, takes a shine to her and tries to win her over, but she keeps him at arm's length. Then she meets a soldier on leave, and while she starts off cold against him, his earnestness softens her.

A solid film that keeps us entertained an engaged in spite of its many twists and turns, That Brennan Girl features a solid cast and competent direction by Alfred Santell, who was disillusioned by the producers and retired after this film.

I saw this film last night on Youtube and it's remarkably good. Mona Freeman gives a stunning performance as Ziggy, the young and troubled heroine of the movie.

This is the kind of part that somebody like Jean Simmons or even Audrey Hepburn might have fitted well into. And Mona Freeman's acting here stands up to anything they might have done in the part. The rest of the cast are equally fine. Had this movie been made by one of the bigger studios of the day it would,I think, have been better none. It certainly deserves to be better none as it's definitely more than a B picture.

Raised by a flamboyant and irresponsible mother, Ziggy Brennan (played by Mona Freeman) gets involved in hustling men at a young age. She hangs around with a wild crowd and learns gets her "street smarts" first from her mother (who wants everyone to think they are sisters) then from an older man. He starts teaching her his tricks of the trade and she falls right in line with his crooked ways. Then one night she meets a tall, handsome, honest farmer boy who's a soldier and they fall in love. While he's away fighting the war, she discovers she's pregnant.

I won't say more so as not to spoil it. But I found the ethics that this film teaches to be something sorely missing in our films nowadays. Suffice it to say that even though she goes through some heartbreaking experiences, she reforms her ways and there is a happy ending.

Probably not a film that most young people would enjoy. Not any action and some parts drag a bit, but it's Frank Capra type of message left me with a good feeling. Baby-boomers will most likely love it.

This is an odd film, coming as it does from Republic Pictures, a studio not noted for taking chances on serious psychological subjects. The film is inhibited by the censorship of the time and lack of real courage by Republic. The studio washed over the troubled upbringing and its obvious repercussions on the character of a young woman brought up by a slatternly mother. Mona Freeman, young as she was, is the best actor here. She is quite believable (most of time) despite the erratic and often improbable plotting. Great effort is made throughout the film to make the seedy characters who inhabit such a world likable and sympathetic. James Dunne, for example, is first introduced as a cunning crooked gangster, but, as he loves his corn beef and cabbage mom, he turns out okay. After being sent to prison for crimes we never learn about, he suddenly sets out to redeem himself. Why? Many of the characters are badly written, or badly acted. English actress, June Duprez has no idea what her tough lady dialogue means and is totally miscast. William Marshall, Mona's husband, is dreadful and not particularly attractive. He, too, seems to be reading lines he doesn't understand. Director Alfred Santell does a workman like job of staging an enormity of scenes with the usual Republic shooting schedule and budget, but the complexity of the relationships is beyond his modest talents. There was the possibility of a great movie here. Look at MILDRED PIERCE in the hands of Michael Curtiz, and imagine what a better director and superior cast might have done with this interesting human story.

The title role in That Brennan Girl is played by Mona Freeman who learned early and hard to be a cynic. This was a loan out role for Freeman for this Republic production because at her home studio of Paramount she was normallyy playing sweet young ingenues.

Freeman has a great example set to her by her mother June Duprez who says land a man with a bank account and hang on tight. Still she's a romantic sort and does fall for sailor William Marshall.

It all ends tragically for her when Marshall is killed during the war. But he's left something behind and that forces an attitude readjustment.

Top billed however in That Brennan Girl is James Dunn who was a lead in the 30s with Fox but who gradually fell out of top tier parts and studios due to a drinking problem. But winning an Oscar for A Tree Grows In Brooklyn the previous year gave his career a temporary rebound.

He's an Irish-American gangster who's between Duprez's and Freeman's age sparks an interest in both. He too undergoes a change in life as only a stretch in the joint might affect some. In many ways this is similar to the part he played in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.

Freeman is the real revelation here. You won't find her in too many roles like this one.