Sound familial advice, indeed, but what I find most interesting about FINISHING SCHOOL is the contrasting character study it gives us between roommates Virginia (Frances Dee) and Pony (Ginger Rogers). Though quickly establishing a close friendship, they possess almost polar opposite personalities. Virginia is extremely high strung, as can be seen almost immediately. She spasmodically breaks a liqueur bottle to avoid breaking school rules even at the price of alienating her new schoolmates. When her boyfriend Mac (Bruce Cabot) is rudely turned away from a Sunday Tea at Crockett Hall, Vergie explodes rather unfairly at a young man to whom she's introduced at the social function. Later at her Christmas rendezvous with Mac, she tearfully asks him, no, she begs him to reassure her that she's really a "good" girl no matter what her teachers (Beulah Bondi) say. And at the end, her predicament drives Virginia to the verge of suicide. She's a girl who takes things very seriously, often too seriously for her own good.
Her friend Pony, on the other hand, shows a devil-may-care attitude towards anything she encounters. School rules to her are not only made to be broken, this is actually the expected behavior from the girls. During their wild weekend in New York, Pony confidently tells her friend to "make the rules" and the football player will listen to them. It's no doubt true of Pony herself, but her innocent friend is completely at sea as to how to handle this aggressive young man (btw, exactly what has happened to Pony when Virginia is molested by the guy?). Much the same happens at the end when Virginia becomes frantic and hysterical at not hearing from Mac for a week while Pony immediately does the obvious and sensible thing by calling Mac on the telephone to explain to him the situation. It's not that Virginia isn't bright enough, it's that she's the kind to let her feelings overwhelm her, something that Pony would never do.
Spoiler alert: I was rather embarrassed my first viewing of this film when I didn't figure out that Virginia was pregnant until she refused to be examined by the doctor (or was she just a nurse?). I understood that she'd slept with Mac in the boathouse that night, but I was thinking that Virginia's rising hysteria was just an overreaction to his apparently dumping her afterwards. Reading a few reviews of the movie told me that quite a few people never do pick up on the fact that she was pregnant. I still feel foolish, but perhaps a touch less so.
It's a little strange to see Bruce Cabot in such a sympathetic role. He does well with it, though the character itself might be described as a bit too good to be true. Ginger Rogers is perfect as the sassy, somewhat rebellious schoolgirl, and is aided by having most of the best lines (though Billie Burke as Virginia's mother gets a few zingers as well), but the movie belongs to Frances Dee, who gives an exceptionally sensitive performance as an emotionally vulnerable adolescent going about the business of growing up. It's an interesting film from near the end of the Pre-Code era.
Her friend Pony, on the other hand, shows a devil-may-care attitude towards anything she encounters. School rules to her are not only made to be broken, this is actually the expected behavior from the girls. During their wild weekend in New York, Pony confidently tells her friend to "make the rules" and the football player will listen to them. It's no doubt true of Pony herself, but her innocent friend is completely at sea as to how to handle this aggressive young man (btw, exactly what has happened to Pony when Virginia is molested by the guy?). Much the same happens at the end when Virginia becomes frantic and hysterical at not hearing from Mac for a week while Pony immediately does the obvious and sensible thing by calling Mac on the telephone to explain to him the situation. It's not that Virginia isn't bright enough, it's that she's the kind to let her feelings overwhelm her, something that Pony would never do.
Spoiler alert: I was rather embarrassed my first viewing of this film when I didn't figure out that Virginia was pregnant until she refused to be examined by the doctor (or was she just a nurse?). I understood that she'd slept with Mac in the boathouse that night, but I was thinking that Virginia's rising hysteria was just an overreaction to his apparently dumping her afterwards. Reading a few reviews of the movie told me that quite a few people never do pick up on the fact that she was pregnant. I still feel foolish, but perhaps a touch less so.
It's a little strange to see Bruce Cabot in such a sympathetic role. He does well with it, though the character itself might be described as a bit too good to be true. Ginger Rogers is perfect as the sassy, somewhat rebellious schoolgirl, and is aided by having most of the best lines (though Billie Burke as Virginia's mother gets a few zingers as well), but the movie belongs to Frances Dee, who gives an exceptionally sensitive performance as an emotionally vulnerable adolescent going about the business of growing up. It's an interesting film from near the end of the Pre-Code era.