Girls Dormitory (1936)

A May-December romance may not be to modern tastes, but there can't be many young women who wouldn't fall for a man like Herbert Marshall if he was their headmaster. He's devastatingly attractive here in an oblivious-to-his-own-charms, mild and scholarly kind of a way, with that legendary voice.The film is what it is in terms of being a product of its era. The rhythm of the scenes is different from what we are used to today. The social mores are obviously of another era. There's no way a schoolgirl of today would face an intrusive inquisition by the entire teaching staff for something as trivial as an unsent love letter, you can hear the 21st century lawsuits flying.But this was a different era, and it's a strange delight to just step back in time and absorb it all.Simone Simon is absolutely luminous on screen. The love scene is exquisite: from Marshall's rain-wet hair falling over his forehead to Simon's declaration that shakes him to the core.It's a sad film too. You can't help but feel for Ruth Chatterton, and even half wish he'd change his mind and discover his love for her instead of Simon, who is surely young and beautiful enough to love again. Apparently there's a 1931 German film where the headmaster does end up with this colleague. But here he doesn't, and is reunited with Simon in what feels like a somewhat rushed ending.Girls' Dormitory is only 66 minutes long: there's room for a better ending. More screen time and a subplot for Tyrone Power could have been interesting. Films have become longer each decade, but the average movie in the 1930s by one analysis I found was 96 minutes - half an hour longer. I'm not film historian enough to know why Girls' Dormitory is so short, but perhaps we may feel that its brevity adds to its charm.Anyway, this is one to enjoy and not agonise too deeply over. Simone Simon's character is 19 after all, and this is from an era where a girl would expect to marry soon after finishing school.

Girl's school professor Herbert Marshall is stunned to find out he is the recipient of love from one of his young students (Simone Simon). Ruth Chatterton is his friend who must help them defend themselves in this soap opera made during 20th Century Fox's first year after the merger of William Fox's studio and Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures. It was a secondary role for Ruth Chatterton in her last major year as a Hollywood star. The same year, she scored a major triumph as the selfish wife in "Dodsworth" (and an Oscar Nomination), and appeared in a fine now forgotten women's film, "Lady of Secrets". After two little seen British films, she was never once again on the big screen, making only sporadic appearances on TV years later. Herbert Marshall, a fine romantic actor, is supposed to be in his 30's here, but is obviously a bit older. It is a bit concerting to see Simone Simon chasing him and for him to fall prey to her charms. (Reverse that with Chatterton going after a much younger man, and in 1936, you'd truly have the Hays code going bonkers.) I was happy though that Simon was presented as sensitive and beautiful as the young innocent Marie, and was not at all cloying in her part. I thought with her voice, she would begin to grate after a while, but I was surprised that she didn't.Constance Collier, hit by a rock from a slingshot, later a pillow, which causes her skirt to fall down while searching for her glasses, faces all sorts of deserved indignities here. J. Edward Bromberg deserves more than the slap he gets from Ruth Chatterton. He is appropriately despicable, but gets his share of come-uppance from two other teachers who accuse him of taking out his own family aggressions on his pupils. Tyrone Power, whose DVD box set this title appears under, only has a cameo towards the end, and isn't even billed in the opening credits. It's basically a screen test that confirmed his chemistry with the camera. If you can get past the uncomfortableness of the story between Marshall and Ms. Simon, you might find this enjoyable. It is beautifully filmed and gives director Irving Cummings a chance to do something other than the musicals he would mainly be remembered for.

Herbert Marshall and Ruth Chatterton star in this short film, in the early part of Tyrone Power's career. But it's Simone Simon's movie.In her first film role, she shines as a budding young woman in this college or school where they enter at 15 and graduate at 19, roughly. Miss Simon has that mystique of Garbo with the allure of Dietrich. Her innocence is not overdone and she gives a very effective and sincere performance as a dreamer in love with the schoolmaster, Herbert.Some may say it gets into melodramatics as it nears the end with the storm, the school board meeting, and the over-the-top teacher who wants a hearing over the misunderstood letter.But it provides solid entertainment for little over an hour, and I would recommend this sensitive movie for anyone who wants to discover Miss Simone Simon at her best.

A young Simone Simon falls for her teacher (Herbert Marshall) in "Girls' Dormitory," a 1936 film set in a European girls' school where the teachers are Herr and Fraulein. When Herbert Marshall is the object of a girl's affections, you know this is an old one. Like the previous poster, this film made me feel old, too, but for a different reason - I didn't like seeing Ruth Chatterton thrown over for this babe! Simon plays a 19-year-old, but like "Ladies in Love" from the same time period, she looks like she's about 15. She's a total dazzler with those pouty lips, exotic eyes, sexy voice, and kittenish presence. She was a natural for "Cat People," that's for sure. And in real life, she was no less of a man magnet - even at an advanced age, she had plenty of male attention.Herbert Marshall plays the world's most absent-minded professor, failing to see that his colleague, Ruth Chatterton, has been in love with him for years and waiting for a marriage proposal. Similarly, he never catches on that Simon is in love with him either. In the story, Chatterton comes to Simon's defense when a love letter is found by one of the sterner teachers, and a move is afoot to expel her. Chatterton is a lovely actress, in her forties in this film. She only made a few other movies after this one, returning to her theatrical roots for the most of the rest of her career.Tyrone Power, then billed as Tyrone Power, Jr., as his son is today, has a small role toward the end of the movie. He's gorgeous.Girls' Dormitory is dated as all get-out, but worth seeing for Chatterton, Simon, and Power when he was beginning to find his place at 20th Century Fox.