This is a Monogram film and that qualifies it less as a B-film than a C-film. Gale Storm had been dropped by RKO after a short stint and Monogram grabbed her. They tried to make her their own little star but ultimately it was television in the fifties that finally established Ms. Storm. Not that she wasn't without talent at this early stage in her career, but the association with drab sets and third-rate actors, writing and direction that came with Monogram certainly kept a dim spotlight on her appearances. In this one she plays a wannabe singer who is, as the title states, of a certain age, and unable to get singing work. She ends up getting shunted around, first to a job with a bookmaker that quickly lands her in trouble, then to a singing/dancing academy that only takes students between the ages 8 and 14. Quick as a flash, and as fast as you can say "rip-off of 'The Major and The Minor'"(from 1942--the year before) our little Stormy is play-acting a fourteen-year old in order to get into the academy. Complications, of course, ensue. At least Storm, unlike Ginger Rogers in Billy Wilder's film, is passably convincing as a younger teen, but the stakes and transformation aren't very much. Storm's character is really only making herself a couple of years younger and only to get a little voice and dance training. It appears the filmmakers watched 'Major and The Minor' and used the central idea, but neglected to use the strong comical complications that the idea offers. Still, it's not bad for a Monogram film, being more watchable than most of them.
Review of Nearly Eighteen
