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.