Wise Girl (1937)

Director:

Leigh Jason

Writers:

Allan Scott (story) and
Charles Norman (story) ...

Release Date:

31 December 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Snooty heiress decides to track down her dead sister's kids, who are living a Bohemian life with their uncle in Greenwich Village...

Plot Keywords:

Bohemian | Heiress | Salesman | Employment Dismissal | Lawyer

Cast

Miriam Hopkins	...	Susan 'Susie' Fletcher
Ray Milland	...	John O'Halloran
Walter Abel	...	Karl Stevens
Henry Stephenson	...	Mr. Simon Fletcher
Alec Craig	...	Dermot O'Neil
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	...	Mike Malloy (the sculptor / boxer) (as Guinn Williams)
Betty Philson	...	Joan O'Halloran
Marianna Strelby	...	Katie O'Halloran
Margaret Dumont	...	Mrs. Bell-Rivington
Jean De Briac	...	George (an artist) (as Jean deBriac)
Ivan Lebedeff	...	Prince Michael
Rafael Storm	...	Prince Ivan
Gregory Gaye	...	Prince Leopold
Richard Lane	...	1st Detective
Tom Kennedy	...	2nd Detective

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #3727)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Legion Stadium - Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

In Feb. 1938, this film was being shown on a double bill with Penitentiary (1938).

Quotes:

Susan 'Susie' Fletcher: I'm going down to Greenwich Village and get those children somehow.
Mr. Simon Fletcher: But you can't handle this man! Why, he's an artist; he's lived abroad, in Paris, on the Left Bank. You don't know the kind of thing that goes on on the Left Bank! You haven't had enough experience!
Susan 'Susie' Fletcher: You forget I was a senior at Vassar.

The Great Miriam Hopkins

Of all the major 30s star actresses, Miriam Hopkins has been the most bizarrely overlooked and underrated. Her string of excellent 30s and 40s films is quite impressive but she is often referred to as stagy or brittle. Yet she had a great sense of humor and was memorable in several comedies, including this film, Old Acquaintance (with Bette Davis), and The Smiling Lieutenant (with Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert). Hopkins was famous for her dislike of Hollywood, and the results has been a bad rep--undeserved.

In Wise Girl she play an heiress trying to rescue the children of her dead sister from their guardian--the sister's brother-in-law (Ray Milland). The film offers several hilarious scene such as Hopkins taking a bath is a storeroom, Hopkins joining Milland and Guinn Williams in a Greenwich Village restaurant for $3 apiece to act as "bohemians," and Hopkins going ringside during one of Williams' fights. Milland is also excellent and very funny.

Hopkins and Milland make a great couple. The film also boasts solid support from Williams, Walter Abel, Henry Stephenson, James Finlayson, Margaret Dumont, Grace Hayle, Leonid Kinskey, and Inez Palange. The two girls are OK.

But Hopkins, drunk on a "slice of wine" and wearing a pinned-together dress that is twice her size is hilarious as she blows at stray hairs while smoking.... A scream.