"She's Working Her Way Through College" is a bizarro version of college life--where students wear perfectly coordinated outfits, the average age of a co-ed if 30 and everyone breaks into song in giant choreographed numbers on a college set that is obviously a sound stage! It's very glossy but also very trivial--the sort of forgettable film you see once and soon forget.
The film begins with a college professor (Ronald Reagan) stopping by to watch a burlesque show. Now 'burlesque' is the term they use, but for burlesque, the show shows an amazingly small amount of skin--practically none! Well, it turns out that the leading lady of this show (Virginia Mayo) is an ex-student of Reagan--he taught her years ago in high school. They have a nice but brief little reunion. Afterwords, she decides that the dancing life sucks and she should go back to college to improve her writing ability--as she's written a play and wants to polish it.
Naturally, when Mayo comes to campus she finds a room to rent with Reagan and his wife! You know this will cause some friction, but bookish Ronnie doesn't seem to anticipate this. What he is focused on are two things--how unfair it is that the football team gets all the funding and how he does not look forward to producing another dull Shakespearian play as their annual fund-raiser. Virginia, however, convinces him to try something new and different--and Ronnie thinks they should put on her play--after, of course, adding a lot of singing and dancing to the script. Sadly, while all the ensuing songs are pleasant enough, they really are pretty forgettable.
So, can good Professor Reagan manage to pull off a hit AND finally show up that accursed football team (headed by fat-headed Don DeFore)? If you care, see for yourself.
Although it's hard to recognize, Warner Brothers took one of their old scripts ("The Male Animal") and re-worked the story into "She's Working Her Way Through College". It's very different but the conflict between Ronnie and DeFore as well as DeFore's interest in the Professor's wife is exactly the same one in "The Male Animal"--with Reagan and DeFore filling in for Henry Fonda and Jack Carson. My advice? See "The Male Animal"--it's a much better film. While it lacks all the songs and burlesque queen plot (thank goodness), it has a nice infusion of humor--something curiously lacking in "She's Working Her Way Through College".
Forgettable and a bit silly.
silly musical numbers reworking of The Male Animal.
The film begins with a college professor (Ronald Reagan) stopping by to watch a burlesque show. Now 'burlesque' is the term they use, but for burlesque, the show shows an amazingly small amount of skin--practically none! Well, it turns out that the leading lady of this show (Virginia Mayo) is an ex-student of Reagan--he taught her years ago in high school. They have a nice but brief little reunion. Afterwords, she decides that the dancing life sucks and she should go back to college to improve her writing ability--as she's written a play and wants to polish it.
Naturally, when Mayo comes to campus she finds a room to rent with Reagan and his wife! You know this will cause some friction, but bookish Ronnie doesn't seem to anticipate this. What he is focused on are two things--how unfair it is that the football team gets all the funding and how he does not look forward to producing another dull Shakespearian play as their annual fund-raiser. Virginia, however, convinces him to try something new and different--and Ronnie thinks they should put on her play--after, of course, adding a lot of singing and dancing to the script. Sadly, while all the ensuing songs are pleasant enough, they really are pretty forgettable.
So, can good Professor Reagan manage to pull off a hit AND finally show up that accursed football team (headed by fat-headed Don DeFore)? If you care, see for yourself.
Although it's hard to recognize, Warner Brothers took one of their old scripts ("The Male Animal") and re-worked the story into "She's Working Her Way Through College". It's very different but the conflict between Ronnie and DeFore as well as DeFore's interest in the Professor's wife is exactly the same one in "The Male Animal"--with Reagan and DeFore filling in for Henry Fonda and Jack Carson. My advice? See "The Male Animal"--it's a much better film. While it lacks all the songs and burlesque queen plot (thank goodness), it has a nice infusion of humor--something curiously lacking in "She's Working Her Way Through College".
Forgettable and a bit silly.
silly musical numbers reworking of The Male Animal.