Grand Old Girl

This is far from May Robson's best movie. But it has its appeal. She is a school principal -- and a more caring one than I ever had. She's also meddling and a bit of a prig. But so were the ones I did have and they didn't show the interest in their students that her character does.

Living alone with her cat, Robson gives all her energy over to her young charges. She helps a young football player not only pass his math exam but also learn that he's not so stupid as has been thought.

She's also on a crusade to shut down a gambling parlor behind a soda shop. It's called the Back Room. Very racy for small town 1935, I'd think. As to the time, I have to wonder if a high school at that time would have a black student accepted as a member of his peer group. The exact location of the town is never specified but it appears to be the Midwest, New York, or New England. (In other words: No Southern accents.) There he is, though -- a black boy named Neptune who hangs out with the other kids.

Fred MacMurray is implausibly cast in a small role and does nothing one way or the other to the movie.

I like May Robson and she was in some truly bad movies. This is not bad. It just isn't good. And she puts her heart into the role.

May Robson, two years after her Academy Award nominated performance in Lady for a Day, got roped into doing this film about a school principal in small town USA.

The premise is actually an interesting one and you can follow the concept from a film like Grand Old Girl right up to a television series like Boston Public. She's a school principal 24 hours a day and takes an interest in all that goes on in her small town.

The problem was that the script just had so many saccharine characters in it who in the end don't really turn out to be as bad as they first seem that it gets ridiculous. Alan Hale who runs a malt shop, but who has a back room where gambling and liquor are available to the kids, is one of her foes. In the end however he feels sorry for the old gal and turns out to be her rescuer. This is after she attempted to run him out of business.

Mary Carlisle in the next generation would be labeled a high school hellcat. At first she is one spoiled rich kid tramp and then she breaks down and cry when the town fathers led by her father put Robson out to pasture.

Among Robson's former pupils is a man who became an unnamed mythical President of the United States who makes a dramatic appearance in his home town. It can't be FDR since the president's face is never shown. Sort of like how Jesus was portrayed in films like The Big Fisherman or Ben-Hur later. Also the president is walking unaided which FDR could not do. But Gavin Gordon who plays the president has an FDR like mellifluous voice.

Fred MacMurray here is wasted, none of his gifts of comedy are utilized and that's a shame. He's a delivery man who Carlisle has a yen for.

Cecil B. DeMille made a controversial film two years earlier called This Day and Age about high school kids fighting corruption in their small town. Some of the same elements are here in Grand Old Girl, but the scriptwriters I believe were trapped by the persistent mythology of small town America and the good people in it. So the film got watered down to nothingness.

Sad to say, but there's nothing of any real interest in Grand Old Girl.

Grand Old Girl (1935)

** (out of 4)

May Robson plays a college principle who gives her life to make sure her students get their education and stays out of trouble. All of this is at risk when a local ice cream shop starts an illegal gambling house in one of its back rooms so Robson must go out of her way to get it shut down. This is one of the earliest "teachers doing good" films that I've seen and it's amazing that they even followed familiar turf way back then. The film offers no surprises and plays everything pretty straight without ever trying to be real or serious. The way Robson finally brings down the gambling house is incredibly stupid and the ending, which is meant to be emotional, falls flat on its face. The supporting cast incudes a good performance by Fred MacMurray and a small role from Edward Van Sloan.

Don't let the poor reviews here and the low score scare you away from this heart-warming tear-jerker. The cast, led by May Robson, does a fine job. I won't give much away, but this is a story about a decent human being (a school principal) who has devoted her life to guiding children, then has a bad break, but is "rescued" at the end by a wonderful surprise. It is a beautiful morality tale, and I enjoyed it despite some unlikely happenings. The story is so decent and ably presented that it is not so hard to "suspend disbelief" at times, and to tolerate a racial stereotype. The filming in such olden times adds a special glow to the movie, and lets us accept the implausibilities in the story, in fact makes us wistful for those times.