Coups de théâtre

Dramatic School is a kind of French version of Morning Glory with Luise Rainer as a continental version of Katharine Hepburn's Eva Lovelace. Luise sacrifices all for a career, going to the prestigious Paris School of Drama and working the night shift at a factory to make ends meet. She doesn't want fellow students like Paulette Goddard, Lana Turner, Virginia Grey, and Ann Rutherford to know what she's doing so she makes up stories about a more interesting life Luise wishes she were leading.

One day during class when a very strict acting coach Gale Sondergaard is giving a lesson she passes out and then tells the whopper of all time about going out with a well known man about Paris town in Alan Marshal. That sets off a nice chain of events that culminates in an ending typical of all backstage stories, I need not spell it out for you.

This was the last film Luise Rainer did under her MGM contract, it was dissolved by mutual consent between Luise and Louis B. Mayer. What Luise wanted and might have gotten at another studio were roles that were more challenging for her talent. She wanted what Greta Garbo had over at MGM and for Mayer there was only room for one Garbo on the lot. If Irving Thalberg had lived things might have been different, but who can say. In any event she and the rest of the cast acquit themselves admirably.

If anyone stands out though, for me it's Gale Sondergaard. She has a great part as a great actress who also teaches and is jealous of all the young ones coming through the school, especially Rainer. The acting profession is especially unkind to older women and Sondergaard channels a lot of resentment into her part.

Dramatic School was not a bad film for Luise to leave MGM on. It's not Camille or Ninotchka, but L.B. Mayer made it clear only one actress gets those parts on his lot.

Luise Rainer feels herself an actress at heart. She is very serious at her studies and at being the best she can be. But, unfortunately, she is very poor and needs to work at a factory at night to make money. Therefore, she sometimes falls asleep in class. At work, she meets some rich society people and an stage actress, Genevieve Tobin, who is doing research for a role. Enter Alan Marshal, who is intrigued by Luise, when she refuses jewelry. (Long story! Watch the movie!)

Luise Rainer is the central character at this dramatic school, but there are lots of other recognizable faces in this movie. Other students are played by Paulette Goddard, Lana Turner, Virginia Grey, Hans Conried, Ann Rutherford and Rand Brooks. The latter two are both from "Gone with the Wind," Ann being Scarlet's sister and Rand, as Scarlet's husband who ultimately dies from scarlet fever in the civil war.

Gale Sondergaard, Margaret Dumont, and Henry Stephenson are the staff, with Gale being great as usual, especially as Juliet in her interpretation in class. Melville Cooper and Erik Rhodes (from Fred/Ginger movies with an accent, but here with absolutely none - shocking) round out the rest of the cast.

If you've never seen Luise Rainer before, this is nice little film that I have always liked for personal reasons, and she has the most serious eyes I've ever seen. Her strong demeanor yet fragile frame sets her apart from other actresses. I love the scene where she says to teacher Margaret Dumont, "Marie Antoinette was a queen. So she would walk like a queen."

Most of the other girls seem to be superficial or silly, like Lana, who's given practically nothing to do and Virginia Grey. Both Lana and Virginia would be in four other films together. Paulette Goddard who's known to have some spirit and fire about her is put to good use and comes across as three-dimensional. Besides Paulette and Luise, the only one who really shines is Ann Rutherford as Rand's girlfriend, who's only there because he thinks he can act, like his father and grandfather before him.

Ann Rutherford's character is happy to just be wherever he is and she is shown to great advantage. Ann Rutherford was a very beautiful actress, who always embodied to me a kind of quiet purity mixed in with sweetness.

So, spend some time with some pretty young ladies in a dramatic school. And, just be happy wherever you are!

Unlike other posters, I found this film delightful and entertaining. But what was most fun was seeing all these stars as incredibly young people: Lana Turner, Paulette Goddard, Virginia Grey, Hans Conried. Luise Rainer was at her luminescent best with her big, soulful eyes, gorgeous bone structure, and beautiful speaking voice.

The story takes place in France, with those dissolves that translate French into English right away. It concerns a young dramatic school student whose fantasies become real due to a series of happy accidents. The end is particularly delightful.

I don't understand the backlash against Luise Rainer. She was a beautiful, principled actress who was discovered by Max Reinhardt, escaped Hitler, and came afoul of another dictator, Louis B. Mayer, who would not give her roles befitting the status of an actress who had won two Oscars.

After an unhappy marriage to Clifford Odets, she found happiness in a marriage and left the U. S. She's still alive and works occasionally. You can't say that about many people born in 1910 or anyone in this film, including Ann Rutherford, who is still with us as of this writing.

Luise Rainer wrapped up her Hollywood career with this minor B movie that also served as an early showcase for Lana Turner and Ann Rutherford.

The Viennese Teardrop isn't bad but her habit of staring soulfully skyward comes across as a bit affected.

Paulette Goddard co-stars but she was in a transitional phase. After having recently been elevated from the ranks by Chaplin and featured in Modern Times she was a bit ahead of the other girls career wise but this was still before her period as a top star although that was right around the corner.

An interesting contrast can be made between the two other future stars featured. MGM was still experimenting with Lana and her look, her hair is still red not her signature blonde, her makeup is slightly different from scene to scene and her part is small although she is prominently billed. Ann Rutherford on the other hand who was at about the same point in her career already has her screen persona down. Of course she was always the girl next door so retained more of her natural attributes while by the time Lana reached the top there was little if anything girlish about her.

The picture itself moves at a decent clip and is mildly entertaining but has several large reality gaps in its story line. It's filled with familiar faces though to distract you from the holes in the script with Genevieve Tobin and Marie Blake both adding nice touches in small roles.

DRAMATIC SCHOOL was obviously designed as a star vehicle for LUISE RAINER, the European actress whose career fizzled after winning two Oscars in the mid-'30s. Her acting here is even more mannered than usual, aside from seeming eccentric as compared to the more natural acting styles of others in the cast. And it's quite a cast--a whole bevy of up-and-coming young stars on the Metro lot.

PAULETTE GODDARD gets most of the footage as a glamorous and scheming bad girl while LANA TURNER, VIRGINIA GREY and ANN RUTHERFORD play more conventional types.

But oddly enough, in a film concentrating on its young female talent, the picture is stolen by ALAN MARSHAL in the film's only substantial male role--elegant, debonair, sophisticated and as handsome as any matinee idol. And the other scene stealer is none other than GALE SONDERGAARD as a drama instructor who lets jealousy get the upper hand in dealing with her students.

It's all formula stuff, interesting only for the cast and offering very little in the way of a credible plot. LUISE RAINER's "magic" as a performer eludes me. I never cared for her artificial poses and her Joan of Arc sequence is ludicrous.

Worth noting is RAND BROOKS (he was Charles Hamilton in GWTW) as a young actor who can't act. A clever bit of typecasting.