Collegiate (1936)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Ralph Murphy

Writers:

Walter DeLeon (writer)
Francis Martin (writer)

Release Date:

22 January 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Musical

Tagline:

A line of beauty...a backfield of comics in a girls' school with Oakie and Penner giving 100 gals Lessons in Love!

Plot:

A Broadway playboy inherits an almost bankrupt girls' school and tries to save it by a big show. |

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Remake | College

Cast

Joe Penner	...	Joe
Jack Oakie	...	Jerry Craig
Ned Sparks	...	'Scoop' Oakland
Frances Langford	...	Miss Hay
Betty Grable	...	Dorothy
Lynne Overman	...	Sour-Puss
Betty Jane Cooper	...	Dance Instructress
Mack Gordon	...	Mack Gordon
Harry Revel	...	Harry Revel
Julius Tannen	...	Detective Browning
Nora Cecil	...	Miss Curtiss
Henry Kolker	...	Mr. MacGregor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Helen Brown	...	Dance Teacher
Albert Conti	...	Headwaiter
Bob Crosby	...	Chorus Boy
Donald Gallaher	...	Thomas J. Bloodgood
David Sharpe
Guy Usher	...	Lawyer

Also Known As:

Charm School (UK)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

Juliet Hay: Mr Craig is engaged. The young lady he's going to marry is...
Jerry Craig: Very beautiful.
Juliet Hay: ...a very beautiful girl...
Jerry Craig: Talented.
Juliet Hay: ...talented...
Jerry Craig: With a heart of gold.
Juliet Hay: ...with a heart of gold. And her name is...
Jerry Craig: Juliet Hay.
Juliet Hay: Juliet H-? Why, that's me!
Jerry Craig: Nobody else. Excuse me folks.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Remake of Sweetie (1929)

Soundtrack:

Who Am I

Frances Langford saves the day!

This is a regrettably forgettable movie, for the most part. Joe Penner was very popular in the 30's but his type of humor doesn't translate well into our era. I imagine audiences back then were rolling in the aisles with laughter at his antics. Today, we merely roll our eyes and wait for the scene to change. Sorry Joe! What is very interesting is the appearance of the famous song writing duo of Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. They weren't as good actors as they were song writers but they weren't bad either. Jack Oakie is a plus, adding his considerable talent and his timing is excellent. What makes this movie memorable and collectible worthy and worth 6 stars, is the wonderful, delightful songbird, Frances Langford. Frances creates a wonderful character here, shy, vulnerable but with a real determination. Several years before her "makeover" Frances is cute, sweet and oh that voice! She is irresistible as always. "You Hit the Spot" may not be a great song but in the throat of Frances Langford it is pure gold. Mack Gordon and Harry Revel also wrote "Will I Ever Know" the song that inspired me to write my fantasy time-travel romance novel about Frances Langford. The words 'the moment that I see him I will know him, no matter how impossible it seems. I know just what he'll do, I know just what he'll say. We have met before in dreams." Those words inspired, in my book, Frances and my fictional character, Chad Henson to find each other through the corridors of time. Powerful words indeed. Thank you guys! See this movie if you can. It's worth sitting through all of its warts to experience the greatness of Frances Langford.