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Knew this would be a good film because it was directed by William A. Wellman who is a famous director. This story deals with a young girl named Kay Brannan, (Janet Gaynor) who lives in a small town and Kay is getting tired of the same people and the same things that they talk about and also having to marry the same type of man everyone else does. On night she is walking around her town and she meets up with Dr. Bob Dakin, (Robert Taylor) who takes her to a bar and they both get rather smashed. They wind up going to a justice of the peace in the middle of the morning and get married and you can just imagine what happens the next morning when they both wake up. There is plenty of comedy and a very cute love story which will warm your heart. Enjoy.

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.

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 (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.

"Small Town Girl" is a light, entertaining piece starring Janet Gaynor and Robert Taylor. Gaynor is a young woman sick of her humdrum life. When she meets playboy Robert Taylor, she's enchanted by him, as most women of the '30s were. While they're together, he gets smashed and proposes. Thinking of her family and what she's got to go back to, she accepts. He's engaged already, so his family encourages him to wait six months before divorcing the stranger he married. You can figure out the rest.

The two stars are very appealing. Gaynor always had a sweet, charming, and innocent demeanor; Taylor is elegant and handsome. James Stewart plays a neighborhood boy who likes Gaynor. He doesn't have much of a part and very little function in the movie, but he's cute. Seeing him in some of the early films and realizing what a mega-star he became, it's hard to believe he was ever subjected to these tiny roles, but he was. He has more to do in "Murder Man," which is actually earlier than this film. MGM seemed to just stick him where they needed him, as they did Spencer Tracy in his early years. You can't argue with their formula, as it yielded two great stars.