La provinciale

Small Town Girl (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Charming Cinderella type story about a poor farm girl (Janet Gaynor) who goes out with a rich playboy (Robert Taylor) and after getting drunk the two are married. When they sober up they realize the mistake they've made but agree to stay married for six months so that the scandal won't ruin his career. Director Wellman handles the rather sappy story very well and the two stars really shine, which is the main reason this film works. Gaynor is very charming here and quite believable as the poor girl who gets caught up in something she didn't expect. Taylor is equally impressive and is able to be charming yet a jerk at the same time. The strong supporting cast includes Lewis Stone, Binnie Barnes, Andy Devine and James Stewart. The film runs a tad bit too long and is quite predictable but there's no denying the charm between the cast.

For most of her career Janet Gaynor did nothing, but play small town girls, the best known being Esther Blodgett. But I've seen her in films like State Fair and Three Loves Has Nancy and it's the same part, the girl from the tiny hamlet who conquers the big city and the men in it. With a title like this, there was only one casting possibility.

Janet's a girl who's thoroughly stuck in a rut in her New England hamlet and yearns for a little adventure. She finds it in the person of Robert Taylor, a young doctor who comes from a wealthy Boston family. After a night's carousing Gaynor and Taylor are married, to the chagrin of his fiancé, Binnie Barnes and her boyfriend James Stewart.

Remember this is Boston so Taylor's father Lewis Stone prevails on Taylor to give the marriage a few months trial. Of course this is where the balance of the story comes in. In many ways this plot seems like a harbinger of The Way We Were.

Taylor's career was now in full swing as Small Town Girl was the next film after his breakout performance in Magnificent Obsession. Remember in that film he was a playboy who became a doctor. Here's he's a doctor who doubles as a playboy. Never mind though, feminine hearts all over the English speaking world were fluttering over MGM's latest heartthrob. My mother who was a juvenile at this time told me that Taylor's appeal back in these days was just about the same as Elvis's.

James Stewart was at the beginning of his career as well as MGM had him in about seven features in 1936, mostly in support. Interesting though with worse career management, he could have gone on playing hick roles like Elmer the boyfriend. But it was also obvious there was a spark of stardom with him as well.

Gaynor would leave the screen a few years later, Taylor was at the beginning of his career. He'd have better acting roles in his future, but for now Small Town Girl is a great example of the screen heartthrob he was at the beginning of his stardom. Fans of both stars will like what they see in Small Town Girl.

I'm always leery of any film in which a couple marry when they are drunk and then can't remember what happened later when they are sober. That is partially the premise in this film; it is Robert Taylor who is the drunkard and he recalls what happened with great difficulty. Janet Gaynor had been drinking, but she knew what she was doing and took the opportunity to get out of her small-town humdrum life. To me, the situation is virtually impossible, and what J.P. would marry a man who is that pie-eyed? Still, once the event happens, I found myself rather enjoying most of the rest of the movie despite its predictability. Only the yacht trip dragged a little.

I confess I was never a Taylor or Gaynor fan when I say that the best one in the film is 8th-billed James Stewart, playing Gaynor's home-town boyfriend. It wasn't too much longer when his star shone much brighter than either of the two stars in this film.

Traffic sends the rich crowd attending the Yale-Harvard football game to drive through a small town. Local guy Elmer Clampett (James Stewart) likes small town girl Kay Brannan (Janet Gaynor) but she doesn't feel the same. She encounters rich Boston doctor Bob Dakin (Robert Taylor) asking for directions. A drunken Dakin marries Kay who only wants to leave her small town. He's supposed to marry girlfriend Priscilla Hyde in two weeks. He wants an annulment but his father refuses to give him the easy way out for many reasons.

This is very early in Jimmy Stewart's career so it's reasonable that he's not the leading man. It doesn't stop me from wondering if he would be the better one to lead in this movie. That's not to say that Robert Taylor is a nobody. He's definitely a leading man of his era and he fits a little better as the rich playboy. It's to his credit that he is able to maintain some sympathies despite what the character could have been. As it stands, the rooting interest is still for Kay to go with Elmer. Jimmy is quite a catch.

Small Town Girl is a very predictable movie along the lines of "Boy Meets Girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back" type sappy soap opera. The main reason to see this movie is if you are a James Stewart ( Elmer) or Robert Taylor ( Robert Dakin) completist. The best one in the movie ( by far) is the eighth credited Stewart ( although he was in the movie for only a couple of scenes). It is amazing that MGM really had no idea what to do with him ( even after he became a star with Frank Capra) which is why most of his best films were at other studios ( especially Universal). Taylor like in most of his early films really does nothing for me ( only when he did westerns later in his career did he excel). The girl in the movie Kay Brannan ( Janet Gaynor) was basically ho hum and again did nothing for me. What is most shocking is who directed this movie: William Wellman who is one of the all-time greats. He won an Oscar for A Star Is Born ( with Gaynor), and worked with some of the legends: Gary Cooper, James Cagney, Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, John Wayne, Edward G. Robinson, Gregory Peck, Jean Harlow and even Clint Eastwood to name a few. He did work later on with Taylor in one of Taylor's best films Westward The Women, but here anyone could have directed this film. I give it 5/10 stars ( all for Stewart in his five minutes of the film).