Small Town Girl (1936)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Ben Ames Williams (novel)
John Lee Mahin (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 April 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Kay is a girl living in a small rural town whose life is just too dull and repetitious to bear. One night...

Plot Keywords:

Small Town | Boston Massachusetts | Drunkenness | American Football | Honeymoon

Cast

Janet Gaynor	...	Katherine 'Kay' Brannan
Robert Taylor	...	Dr. Robert 'Bob' Dakin
Binnie Barnes	...	Priscilla Hyde
Andy Devine	...	George Brannan
Lewis Stone	...	Doctor Dakin
Elizabeth Patterson	...	Ma Brannan
Frank Craven	...	Will 'Pa' Brannan
James Stewart	...	Elmer Clampett
Isabel Jewell	...	Emily 'Em' Brannan
Charley Grapewin	...	Dr. Ned Fabre
Nella Walker	...	Mrs. Dakin
Robert Greig	...	Childers, Dakin's Butler
Edgar Kennedy	...	Captain Mack
Willie Fung	...	So-So

Also Known As:

One Horse Town (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #132)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Was originally set to star Jean Harlow as Kay and Robert Montgomery as Bob.

Quotes:

Dr. Robert 'Bob' Dakin: The telephone is a marvelous invention but you should never use one while standing in a bathtub.

Movie Connections:

References The Merry Widow (1934)

Soundtrack:

Wedding March

small town girl weds into old money

An interesting film with a playful seduction, which it does everything to avoid throughout, between a rich, young Boston doctor (Robert Taylor) from an old money family who's out carousing around in his convertible roadster after the "Big" Harvard-Yale game and by chance picks up a dissatisfied "small town girl" (Janet Gaynor) who's out aimlessly walking the streets in her little town. The socio-economic strata between old money wealth and idyllic small town middle class America (Andy Devine and James Stewart) is bridged by a love (you can't help but think it's his position and money she's after, though the film tries in just about every scene to make you believe it's real). After a few drinks at a nearby roadhouse, they stumble upon a justice of the peace in the middle of the night and (from Taylor's perspective) just for the heck of it, get married, a marriage that he must maintain for six months in light of his position in Boston society, which we see snippets of, the best one being a gala dance in Boston after they've been married for five months or so, and Taylor's original fiancé (Binnie Barnes), makes her move to reclaim him . Taylor is probably the best part in the film, though the story could have been sharper.