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Girls on Probation (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Extremely silly but highly entertaining crime picture from Warner is "B" movie from start to finish. A good girl (Jane Bryan) gets arrested after her bad girl friend (Sheila Bromley) steals a dress and blames her. The girl gets off due to a insurance inspector (Ronald Reagan) but a little while later is arrested for conspiracy to commit robbery with the same bad girl and her now boyfriend. Once again, innocent but in the wrong place, the girl gets put on probation but soon her past catches up with her as she's now about to marry Reagan's character and is afraid of what he'll think about having a girl on probation. It's amazing how much "story" gets packed into this 65-minute movie but there's quite a bit and it never slows down. I must admit that the movie kept me entertained from start to finish but the biggest reason as to why I can't give this a higher rating is because Bryan's character has got to be the dumbest in screen history. This is coming from someone who watches over a thousand movies a year but this is without question the dumbest character I've seen in any movie. Bryan's character gets herself into so much trouble and it's all because of her doing dumb things and of course all of this blame goes to screenwriter Crane Wilbur who also directed many shorts for Warner. With that said, the performances are all pretty good with Bryan turning in fine work but the picture certainly belongs to Bromley who is perfect as the bad girl. Reagan is fine in his supporting role and early on it's Susan Hayward playing his girlfriend. The ending is downright stupid and brought me to laughs but that's just part of the entertainment to this thing. Fans of "B" movies will certainly want to check it out. Others beware.

With a slippery friend like Hilda, a dad like a steaming pot, plus a Cinderella dress that could send her to jail, what's poor sweet Connie to do. Well, we find out over a rather mild 60-minutes. It's a 1930's crime programmer from WB, with the usual WB elements-- a brassy blonde (Hilda), gunplay action, and a righteous hand of the law. Here, however, the sweetness of actress Bryan's Connie overshadows these gritty parts. The likable girl's caught up in a vortex of connivance and plain bad luck, that lands her in jail. At the same time, Connie's radiant close-ups, even at the worst moments, amount to a personal showcase that focuses away from the storyline. Anyway, my favorite part is the women's jail. There's real spark in those scenes, and note how similar the girls look, all slim, young, and attractive, like the result of a casting call.

Frankly, the storyline's a big stretch, particularly Hilda and Connie's enduring relationship, and that's despite Hilda's frequent betrayals. In fact, the relationship even overshadows Connie's clichéd romance with amiable attorney Neil (Reagan). (Catch Reagan's 1938 film credits-I'm surprised he ever slept.) All in all, the flick's pretty loosely put together, the elements too wobbly to achieve real impact. Nonetheless, probation comes off looking like a pretty humane idea, which I guess is the movie's main purpose.

To go out partying, sweet Jane Bryan (as Connie Heath) borrows an evening dress from sassy Sheila Bromley (as Hilda Engstrom). The dress turns out to be stolen (from smartly attired Susan Hayward, in an early appearance). Thus, innocent Ms. Bryan is guilty by association with Ms. Bromley, a "wench" who answers job priority queries with, "Boys are my work."

Soon, Bryan becomes one of many "Girls on Probation". Consequently, she loses her job, and sees her "criminal past" jeopardizing her romance with Ronald Reagan (as Neil Dillon). Veterans Elisabeth Risdon & Sig Ruman (as Roger and Kate Heath) and handsome Anthony Averill (as Tony Rand) help make this cheap tale of degradation fun to watch. Bromley is an irresistibly trashy "bad girl".

**** Girls on Probation (1938) William McGann ~ Jane Bryan, Ronald Reagan, Sheila Bromley

Despite the title, like something for National Enquirer Studios, "Girls on Probation" is quite good.

Being from Warner Brothers, naturally the cast is first rate. As was so common, there were great actors such as John Hamilton in small uncredited roles.

Jane Bryan, as Connie Heath, is the star, and what a lovely young woman she is here. And what a shame she retired from motion picture making so early. She died almost two months before this writing, 8 April 2009, and as actress and as human being and as American citizen her death is a great loss.

Sheila Bromley plays the ... uh, "friend" who gets Connie into trouble, not on purpose but just by being irresponsible.

She is perhaps familiar to Western fans as Sheila Mannors, the last name being spelled at least three different ways.

She got the last line here in a moving scene.

Reagan's character was one of his most sympathetic and likable, probably much like him in real life, according to friends.

It's easy enough to be cynical about Warner "B" movies, but for those of us who understand the context, and those of us who can see the sense of life, this is a good movie.

Just another one of those Warner Bros. B-films from the '30s where, if the truth were told from the beginning, the whole sorry story could have been cleared up without all the melodramatic fuss rendered here by the fast talking and very dated screenplay.

But then we'd have no excuse to see RONALD REAGAN in one of his apprentice roles as an insurance inspector, JANE BRYAN as an "innocent" girl who just happens to get mixed up with bank robbers, and a whole cast of stereotyped actors from the Warner stock company going through the usual paces.

Aside from Reagan and Bryan, SUSAN HAYWARD has a small role as a girl who reports a stolen dress to the authorities and starts the whole story about a girl (Bryan) who's unfortunate enough to be caught up in a chain of circumstances involving friendship with a "bad" girlfriend. Both of them end up serving time for a bank robbery, but it's only a matter of time before even more bad breaks put Bryan into the kind of situations that only Ronald Reagan can rescue her from.

Done in the brisk Warner style with some tough dialog. After the final shootout, the fatally wounded bad girl says, "I'm on my way to see the boss." Although the plot is silly, JANE BRYAN gives a sensitive performance as the unfortunate girl while Reagan has so little to do he might as well have stayed home. Susan Hayward looks pretty but has only a bit part. Bad girl SHEILA BROMLEY is a nasty piece of goods in a very overwritten role as a spiteful young woman who makes life hell for Bryan.

Okay for a vehicle that played the lower half of double bills in 1938.