A mixture of light comedy and serious social commentary, These Glamour Girls stands as a very unique film and a fascinating look at America in 1939. It is true that not all the elements come perfectly together here and sometimes the flow between serious and comic feels abrupt. Despite this though the comedy is legitimately funny, and for what starts as a very light comedy, the serious moments are actually very powerful. The parts may at times work better than the whole, but the parts are so good that I can't help but highly recommend this movie to all my fellow fans of old movies.
The basic plot of this movie is that a drunken socialite (Lew Ayres) invites a woman (Lana Turner) who dances with men for money to his college dance. She is excited to meet with the upper-crust and feels that this is a great opportunity for her. However she soon discovers that despite all their money and so called glamour, these upper-crust college students are in reality extremely shallow, petty, cruel and unhappy.
One of the most fascinating parts of this movie, especially for modern day viewers is the scenes involving Betty (Marsha Hunt), a 23 year old woman who is still attending these college dance parties for her 5th year. The follow dance attendees all consider her an old maid and a pathetic case. They all make fun of her behind her back for still acting like a college kid and not moving on with her life and getting married and having children. What none of them know is that she overhears this and is more deeply hurt than they can imagine. She puts on a happy playful face (which just makes their opinion of her lower), but deep inside she is unbearably hurt. This all leads to the darkest, most shocking, and uncomfortable scenes in the movie. It is also one of the most powerful and will stick in your mind long after the picture is finished. Of course this subplot is also one that gives us a not very happy peak into life in 1939. Today no woman at the age of 23 would be considered an old maid for not being married. After all today not getting married until your 30's is a common life choice for many young people, and at 23 many people are partying even harder than anything seen in this movie (or really anything the censors would have allowed in 1939). While many Hollywood films of this era leave people today yearning for the simpler time period in which they were created, this film and especially these scenes have the opposite effect. The show a dark side to life at this time that many of us would have never even thought about. However these scenes still hit us today powerfully because even though society has changed in many ways, the way people are has not changed that much, and even if it is not for the same exact reasons similar bullying goes on today with similarly tragic results.
When this film gets recognized today, it is mostly for the early starring role of Lana Turner. Her acting career had just begun two years earlier, and she was only 18 by the this movie was released. Earlier that year she had also acted alongside Lew Ayers in another movie entitled, Calling Dr. Kildare. This was the second film in the extremely popular series in which Ayers played the title character. In These Glamour Girls, Turner is already showing her full star power. She is incredible here, and her presence commands the screen each time she is on.
This film was directed by S. Sylvan Simon. He was not a major director by any means. However film buffs today might know him for directing Abbott and Costello in Rio Rita and Bud Abbott ad Lou Costello in Hollywood, as well as the second Lassie movie, Son of Lassie.
To read an original review in the Motion Picture Herald click here. To read another review for the same magazine click here. To see an exhibitors review in Box office Magazine click here.
This film was not successful at the Boxoffice and lost $33,000.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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