This is a very entertaining film and I enjoyed it very much, though I am quick to admit that it was far from sophisticated or polished. In so many ways, this is a wonderful example of a so-called "pre-Code" style of film--since it features story lines and dialog that would have been forbidden in Hollywood just a few years later thanks to pressure to actually enforce a rigid code of conduct and standards in film. Much of this pressure was not just from civic groups, but also due to flagging ticket sales, as the often explicit pre-Code films did well in urban areas but alienated so many other viewers. By today's standards, this film is relatively tame, but it's jaded views on marriage and sex may catch many today by surprise due to its frankness!
The film starts with the younger sister (Margie) seeing her older sister get married and set off on the perfect life. However, soon afterwords, her father dies and she and her mother are forced to move to a low-rent apartment and life is a struggle. A bit later, her happy older sister and her husband and baby arrive--apparently the husband is really a lazy good-for-nothing and married life for sis is a living hell! In fact, throughout the first half of the movie, Margie is bombarded with so many messages that being a "nice girl" just doesn't pay and the way to get ahead is to sleep your way out of poverty! Granted that most times there is a friend or co-worker or boyfriend Jimmy who insists that in the long run this isn't true, but this view is definitely hard to believe based on how happy and successful the "bad girls" all seem to be! So, eventually, Margie feels compelled to try her hand at being bad--or at least by being a bit bad--by chasing rich playboy, Raymond Harding. Harding appears to be a very rich lecher and he seems so smitten with Margie that she seems sure to get the $200 she needs for her sister to divorce her rotten husband.
The end of the movie is very satisfying to watch on one level but intellectually it seems like it was all very contrived. In other words, in the last few minutes of the film, the viewer was bombarded with a ton of wonderful endings that wrapped everything up too well to be believed. Few of these elements could rationally be believed, but for EVERYTHING to work out perfectly is a bit hard to accept. Plus, the final message of "nice girls really DO finish first" is muddled, as for so many bad girls in the film, they really did seem to end up better than the average nice lady!
By the way, despite the title, there is no indication from the film that Margie or anyone else is underage and committing some sin! While Marian Marsh ("Margie") does look young, she seems to be playing a woman about 18 (her actual age at the time) and there's no mention of her being underage. I think the title was applied rather randomly--just in a jaded effort to encourage ticket sales due to salacious expectations by the audience! Also, Ms. Marsh just died last November--at the ripe old age of 93. Her older sister in the film, Anita Page, from what I can determine is still alive and as of 1/07, is in her 96th year!
The film starts with the younger sister (Margie) seeing her older sister get married and set off on the perfect life. However, soon afterwords, her father dies and she and her mother are forced to move to a low-rent apartment and life is a struggle. A bit later, her happy older sister and her husband and baby arrive--apparently the husband is really a lazy good-for-nothing and married life for sis is a living hell! In fact, throughout the first half of the movie, Margie is bombarded with so many messages that being a "nice girl" just doesn't pay and the way to get ahead is to sleep your way out of poverty! Granted that most times there is a friend or co-worker or boyfriend Jimmy who insists that in the long run this isn't true, but this view is definitely hard to believe based on how happy and successful the "bad girls" all seem to be! So, eventually, Margie feels compelled to try her hand at being bad--or at least by being a bit bad--by chasing rich playboy, Raymond Harding. Harding appears to be a very rich lecher and he seems so smitten with Margie that she seems sure to get the $200 she needs for her sister to divorce her rotten husband.
The end of the movie is very satisfying to watch on one level but intellectually it seems like it was all very contrived. In other words, in the last few minutes of the film, the viewer was bombarded with a ton of wonderful endings that wrapped everything up too well to be believed. Few of these elements could rationally be believed, but for EVERYTHING to work out perfectly is a bit hard to accept. Plus, the final message of "nice girls really DO finish first" is muddled, as for so many bad girls in the film, they really did seem to end up better than the average nice lady!
By the way, despite the title, there is no indication from the film that Margie or anyone else is underage and committing some sin! While Marian Marsh ("Margie") does look young, she seems to be playing a woman about 18 (her actual age at the time) and there's no mention of her being underage. I think the title was applied rather randomly--just in a jaded effort to encourage ticket sales due to salacious expectations by the audience! Also, Ms. Marsh just died last November--at the ripe old age of 93. Her older sister in the film, Anita Page, from what I can determine is still alive and as of 1/07, is in her 96th year!