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Girls' Dormitory

1936, Movie, NR, 65 mins

Girls' Dormitory: Review

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Gene Markey's sharp, romantic script introduced Simone Simon to American audiences after several successful films in France. It also served to bolster young Tyrone Power's career. Simon is a student at an Alpine finishing school which has a reputation as a no-nonsense institution. Marshall is the headmaster, and Simon falls tete over sabots for him, even though he's almost twenty years her senior. She attends the spring fete and asks him to dance with her, but he declines and she is embarrassed. A bit later, Marshall and his comely assistant, Chatterton, discover a love letter that was written to him anonymously, and they seek to learn who wrote it. Once Simon is discovered as having been the author of the steamy missive, she laughs it off and says it was merely a letter to a sweetheart who existed only in her mind. She didn't intend to ever let it get to Marshall, and she tells this to Chatterton, without knowing that Chatterton is also in love with Marshall. Because of the school's strict rules, a faculty committee censures Simon for the note, and, when they contact her mother, Simon races off to a sheer precipice known as Lover's Leap. Marshall finds Simon there, contemplating a jump into oblivion, and he realizes that what he thought was avuncular affection has now metamorphosed into love. Later, he tells Chatterton that he and Simon intend to get married. This stuns Chatterton, who responds by quitting her job. Now Simon understands that Chatterton has yearned for Marshall for many years. Simon decides that the only decent thing to do is pretend that her love for Marshall is of the puppy variety, so she stays away from him until the day she is to graduate. Power, a handsome young count, arrives and takes her away at the graduation dance. Marshall is heartsick and runs after Simon, only to be informed that she doesn't want to see him. Marshall goes back to Chatterton and asks her to stay on. She says she'll do that, and it is presumed they will eventually get together once Marshall rids himself of the passion for Simon. Marshall was a bit awkward in the role that James Mason did in LOLITA, that of an older man with a teenage love. Simon was breathtaking and demonstrated a wide range of acting ability. Power was in the film only as a counterpoint, but his screen persona registered so strongly that Darryl F. Zanuck gave him larger roles in the next few months, and he was soon one of Fox's leading actors. All he said in GIRLS' DORMITORY was, "Can I have this dance?" but the preview cards mentioned him above everyone else in the picture. Such is the power of stardom. leave a comment
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