Margie

Nostalgic fluff about a 1920s schoolgirl (Jeanne Crain) with a crush on her handsome French teacher (Glenn Langan) and the trials and tribulations of growing up during the flapper age of "Flaming Youth". A charming musical delight with some lively performances from Barbara Lawrence (in her usual fast girl role), Lynn Bari, Alan Young and Conrad Janis.

Jeanne Crain was a popular star at Fox when this was made and her appeal was never more apparent than as the sweetly innocent heroine who gradually emerges as a woman unafraid of her convictions. Her beauty is the refreshing kind that looks so good in technicolor and the story is just the sort of vehicle she needed to showcase her natural charm and ability.

Tastefully photographed with some nice period music and well directed by Henry King, it became one of the most popular films of 1946. It has lost none of its charm. Well worth viewing.

I saw this movie for the first time in 1987 on a cable channel. I love this classic because it has great actors such as Jeanne Crain. It is a coming of age story that deals with the same things that teens encounter today such as popularity in high school, morals, sense of humor, crushes, different family structures and modesty. I think this film was entertaining in every aspect.

My children watched it when they were five. Now they are 15 and still adore watching the embarrassing and funny things this young teenage girl experiences. This movie is for young and old alike. There is also no worrying about foul language or obscene scenes. I only wish that the movie would be released on a DVD. My video tape is about to wear away from all the playing!

Margie is my most favorite movie ever. I first saw this movie about 5 years ago and instantly fell in love with it. This movie is so funny, entertaining, and Jeanne Crain is so adorable in it! I know that there are some people out there that are looking for copies of this movie, since "Margie" is not available on video. I found a very gracious person who makes copies of lots of movies, including "Margie". That is how I was able to get my very own copy of the movie. And I can't stop watching it!

Mr. Cavanaugh had a long career, but rarely did he distinguish himself as in his role of the heroine's father in "Margie". His normal roles were of quiet little men, frequently henpecked or bossed about. Here he is a town businessman who rarely communicates with his daughter.

Most of the film deals with small town growing up in the roaring twenties (I notice that the writing credits state the original story is by Ruth McKinney, author of the stories that became "My Sister Eileen" which is about the misadventures of two small town girls trying to make it in New York City in the 1930s). Margie's main tribulations are which of three boy friends (one the school French teacher) she will end up with. That part of the film is justly considered charming, and Jeanne Peters, Alan Young, Conrad Janis, Frank Langan and the rest of the cast do very well here. But it is the part of Mr. Cavanaugh as the father that is the real treat.

Margie has to take part in a debate, and when she mentions this at home her father finally sees an opportunity to get closer to his daughter by helping her. So what is the subject? Should the Coolidge administration keep sending American marines to fight Sandino? Mr. Cavanaugh was expecting some simple topic, like are the old virtues the best. Instead he is forced to ask what Margie is talking about. It seems that in this film (set in 1926) President Coolidge is involved in one of a series of "police actions" that flared up between the Spanish-American War and (say) 1941 in Latin America. This one is in Nicaragua, and involves a popular local "bandit" leader Sandino who is trying to get rid of a corrupt government under a man named Somoza (the father of the Somoza most of us recall from the 1970s). Unfortunately, Somoza is close to American business interests in Nicaragua, so the Coolidge administration is sending Marines in to help catch Sandino.

Cavanaugh has no conception of the background of this, and is amazed to discover this police action is three years old. For the rest of the film whenever we see Cavanaugh he is studying old newspapers, and slowly learning the ugly side of the Monroe Doctrine. And it is riling him. Not only is this un-American imperialism (he's a bit naive there), but there have been injuries and fatalities in this illegal, undeclared war. He becomes a critic of the government policies...an outspoken critic. Finally a respected critic. At the end of the film we learn that Cavanaugh eventually became the Ambassador to Nicaragua.

Would that it could have been that simple, but I note this film is the only one I am aware of (except for the two versions of "Torrid Zone", first with Cagney and then with Reagan - and both are fictionalized versions) that tackle the story of Sandino. He was killed in a government ambush in the early 1930s, but (as we know) his cause survived him. Taken over by left wingers, who called themselves "Sandinistas", they ruled Nicaragua for a number of years in the 1980s, and even now are not out of that country's political system. This then is the only film that actually gets involved in the seed of the problem that helped lead to the "Iran Contra Affair". I cannot think of any other likable little comedy that manages to open up such a curious historical trail. And in doing so it gave Mr. Cavanaugh his big moment to shine on screen.

It is a real shame that this film is not available on video. I taped it from AMC a while back for my mother, and later made another copy for myself. I've watched it often enough that I'm afraid the tape will wear out.

Jeanne Crain is terrific, as is the rest of the cast. The story is adorable, and one really feels for Margie in her teenage angst. All in all, it is a wonderful movie; one which I could watch over and over.