High School Girl

High School Girl (1934)

** (out of 4)

Beth (Cecilia Parker) is a good girl whose parents have made her grow up the right way. Pretty soon she falls in love with a young man but when her mom takes back her promise of letting her go to a dance with him, Beth decides to sneak out. This leads to a sexual relationship and she winds up pregnant because she wasn't made aware of what could possibly happen with sex.

HIGH SCHOOL GIRL is one of those old exploitation movies that were sold to the public because of their daring messages. Of course, a lot of times these films were passed off as educational movies so that they could get around the censors but the big thing here is the fact that this is basically a drama with zero bits of exploitation. I say that because the word pregnant is never even brought up and if you blink you'll even miss the fact that Beth has sex! If you're a fan of these old moral tales then this is still recommended as there's no question that it's a lot better made than most of its type. If you're expecting something sleazy like SEX MADNESS then you'll be disappointed because this is a pretty straight forward and tame tale of a mother who is to blame for not educating her daughter. The message is hit home several times throughout the 55-minute running time so if you miss it at first just hang in there because it's coming again.

Most will remember Parker as playing the maid in James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN and she turns in a fairly good performance here. Obviously it's not Oscar-worthy but at the same time it's a lot better than what we typically expect. Director Crane Wilbur also shows up in the cast playing the high school teacher who gets fired for trying to teach the kids.

High School Girl is a decent drama about a girl who gets pregnant (although that word never gets mentioned) because her mother never bothered to tell her about the dangers of going out with boys (and what can happen on dates). The only help the girl gets is from her brother and a biology teacher who tried to tell the kids of the dangers of "the human body" (unfortunately for Beth a little too late).

When I saw the movie it reminded me somewhat of the mother-daughter relationship in 'Carrie' and they would make an interesting double bill. Though nowadays a lot of the older movies have become somewhat dated, High School Girl still remains fresh and very watchable. Though sometimes the movie could have done without some morality teachings, it stays a movie you like to watch. However, I can't repeat the things I started to shout against the mother. And if you start shouting at a screen, there must be something good about the movie.

Cute-as-a-button Cecilia Parker is feeling all sorts of urges for classmate Noel Warwick, and needs to talk about them with someone, but mother Helen MacKellar is too busy with her association telling parents how to raise their children. So she gives in to those urges and falls pregnant. She breaks down in class when biology teacher Crane Wilbur (who also directed) starts to give a guarded lecture about sex education. Still too frightened to tell her parents, she confides in her brother, Carlyle Moore Jr. He in turn, lets the situation slip when he goes to offer his commiseration as Miss MacKellar and her friends getting Wilbur fired. Saddened, he helps get Miss Parker to a hospital in another town.

It's more a series of lectures on the needs for sex education in school and for parents to be frank with their children than a story film, but within those confines, it offers its messages honestly, with Wilbur occasionally falling into declamatory mode. He was, after all, the grandson of the original Tyrone Power, forebear of the acting family that is still at work. Wilbur performed on stage from 1902-1930, and made his movie debut in 1910; his biggest hit was as the male lead in THE PERILS OF PAULINE, then it was largely back to the theater. His return to the movies began in 1930, and continued into the 1960s. He died in 1973 at the age of 86.