Filles d'Amérique

Original title: Finishing School

1934
Passed
1h 13m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Ginger Rogers, Bruce Cabot, and Frances Dee in Filles d'Amérique (1934)

The trials and tribulations in a snobbish private girls' school.The trials and tribulations in a snobbish private girls' school.The trials and tribulations in a snobbish private girls' school.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

708

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins total

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This movie was placed on the Catholic Church's "condemned" film list in 1934.

Goofs
The top square pin on Virginia's outfit keeps changing positions between shots in the opening scenes of her first day at the school.

Quotes
Billie: Would you loan me one of your brassieres?
Pony: What for?
Billie: Well you see, I haven't got one and I thought seeing as it's Christmas and everything, and I'm going on a house party and, well, when the maid unpacks my bag and finds I haven't got one, how do you think I'm going to feel?
Pony: It's like putting a saddle on a pekingese but here it is.

Crazy credits
Opening credits: Listed as the last of the cast credits is And the Snob Played by CROCKETT HALL

Connections
Featured in Stars of the Silver Screen: Ginger Rogers (2013)

Soundtracks
Virginia's Gonna Get Fried
(uncredited)
(Sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell")
Sung a cappella by Ginger Rogers and others

Helen Radcliff (Billie Burke) wants her daughter to attend the same finishing school that she did when she was young, so Virginia (Frances Dee) packs her bags and enters a new life of refinement. Miss Van Alstyne (Beulah Bondi) is a no-nonsense kind of a woman who briefs Virginia on the rules of the school and warns her not to step outside of the lines. Virginia agrees, but she never reckoned on having Cecilia (Ginger Rogers) for a room mate. Cecilia makes it impossible not to break the rules, and Virginia takes the heat for it. It doesn't help that Virginia falls for a poor medical school student (Bruce Cabot).

This film starts out strong and ends strong, but the middle leaves a little to be desired. However, this is pure entertainment and escapism, just like the teen movies of modern times. There isn't a whole lot that is shocking about this film except the ending which is the reason why the film was condemned by the Catholic Church. By today's standards, it is nothing, and the twist is so ambiguous that a trained pre-code fan might be the only one that understands it.