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Dramatic School

1938, Movie, NR, 78 mins

Dramatic School: Review

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Star-studded attempt to get the same audience that attended 1937's STAGE DOOR. This one flops on several levels. The story did not translate well from the original Hungarian play and it seems to splay in several directions as it tries to encompass too many tales. Rainer is a young student-actress in an acting school in Paris. Her life is dedicated to her work; she is forced to work at night as a factory serf to pay for her schooling. When the other students wonder why she is yawning and dozing, she invents a story about an affair with a nobleman. Her lie is soon uncovered, and her classmates gleefully arrange a meeting between her and the marquis, fully expecting her to be embarrassed once the truth is out. But Marshal is all chivalry and goes along with the gag. Later, he falls for her and puts her in a posh flat with an allowance, and she quickly moves from extreme poverty to a life of ease. Marshal has a short attention span and eventually dumps her in favor of another. Rainer returns to the school, gets the title role in "Joan Of Arc," and throws everyone for a loop with her abilities. Marshal returns but she gives him the air as she realizes that she has no time in her life for men, just the continuing quest for stardom. In reality, this could be the story of several real-life actresses who strove for stardom, achieved it, and woke up at the age of fifty to realize that it was all illusion. Ironically, this is exactly what happened to Rainer; following this film her career went into a fast eclipse. Turner plays a jealous student with relish. She is a witch par excellence. Dumont is a pantomime teacher in one of her rare non-Marx Brothers pictures. But someone must have felt she was nude without a Marx near her, so Maxine Marx, Chico's daughter, was given a small role as one of the students. Look for Dick Haymes in a bit part, as well as Edward Arnold Jr., and Ann Rutherford. This was LeRoy's first film for MGM after a string of successes for Warner Bros. leave a comment
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