Certainly some big names in this dated film from 1934. Pretty early-on in Ginger Rogers' film career... as well as Frances Dee's. Of course, the biggest name here is really Billie Burke, who not only married Ziegfeld of "Ziegfeld Follies"... but was also Glinda the Good Witch in Gone With the Wind! Here, Burke plays "The Mother" who sends her daughter Virginia (Dee) off to finishing school. Virginia rooms with "Pony" (Rogers), who shows her the ropes. Of course they get into all kinds of mis-haps, but poor Virginia keeps getting caught, and is pretty much ignored by her parents, who are too busy jet-setting with the other rich folk. It's rather dry, bland, and a dated story of the 1930s, showing how the rich folks lived prior to the market crash. Pretty far from anyone's experience today. Virginia meets local med student "Mac", who she hopes will take her away from her tortured life. It's all well done, but such a simple, out-dated story doesn't really hold up with today's world and moral standards. Lots of implied things going on, and we can tell why the film was put on the "condemned films" to avoid by the churches at the time. Made JUST prior to when the film code began to be enforced, and these subjects would be completely avoided. Kind of seems like it got much more serious and deep in the last 20 minutes of the film; up to then, it was all set-up. Originally a play by Katherine Clugston. Good to see Ginger Rogers and Billie Burke, years before their bigger roles.

FINISHING SCHOOL starts with a whimper: FRANCES DEE enters the same finishing school her mother (BILLIE BURKE) attended, a school burdened by rules that most of the girls never follow--including Dee's new roommate, GINGER ROGERS. And it doesn't end with a bang.BEULAH BONDI is the prissy lady who tells Dee about all the rules. ANNE SHIRLEY is a naive girl who wants to be part of the gang but is rebuffed by Ginger's set.The dialog is not exactly crackling with gems. "One step lower and I'll be in the movies," says one old gal who deceives the school mistress by playing the good aunt taking the girls to a matinée instead of a wild week-end rendezvous with men. When Dee passes out on her wild weekend, it's BRUCE CABOT, a waiter at the hotel, to her rescue. He pays a passing milkman 12 cents for a quart of milk so Dee can have some breakfast. Oh, the good old days!! Even with some good names in the supporting cast, it never manages to be more than an innocuous treatment of an innocuous theme. Dee is pretty but her acting, as usual, is pretty forgettable. Bruce Cabot does well enough in one of his few likable roles as a young man studying to be an intern while waiting tables on the side. As for Ginger Rogers, at least she adds a little spice as Dee's friend.Watchable but underwhelming as a feature that probably played the lower half of double bills in the '30s.

Melodramatic film that basically tells the story of a girl who gets out from under the thumb of her wealthy, thoughtless, overbearing yet absent mama (Billie Burke) and under the influence of her new chums at Crockett Hall, an exclusive finishing school for young ladies ("the choice of first families for fifty years"). Virginia Radcliff (played by Frances Dee) is a gentle and sweet young lady who wants to follow, with all her heart, the set of rules put before her on her first day of school - no smoking, no drinking, no locked doors - and NO lipstick. Her wisecracking roommate, Cecilia (Ginger Rogers) aka "Pony" (she's just goofy about horses) thinks the "prissy" rules are just there to please the parents - and soon a couple of other gals are brawling on the floor of their room over a bottle of liquor! When Pony gets the girls out for a "weekend party" at a hotel by tricking the headmistress into thinking they are being escorted by her "aunt" (seedy actress who gets paid 5 bucks for the job) our good girl goes bad - she decides to get herself "tight" for the first time and they are soon boozing it up with a couple of shady fellows. But when Virginia can't handle her drink (or her creepy date) - the good-looking hotel waiter comes to her rescue, she's smitten, and is soon sneaking out of the school to see this guy. But trouble soon brews when our girl gets herself into another sort of "trouble" after her fellow meets her at the school's boat house - Virginia is soon butting heads with the snooty school headmistress who is mainly worried about the school's reputation.I found this to be an enjoyable, interesting film that starts out pretty light, but the story becomes much more serious towards the end. The trouble - pregnancy, is never mentioned being this was released in 1934 - they do everything but say the word to imply what is going on here though. The film features lots of top-notch performances that help keep the action rolling along - Frances Dee is excellent as the innocent good girl, Ginger Rogers is really fun to watch (as usual), and Billie Burke is in this film all too briefly, playing the sort of scatterbrained character that is typical for her. The school itself is actually introduced as a character known as "The Snob". And watch for a young Anne Shirley (aka Dawn O'Day) as a younger schoolmate, an innocent the older girls consider a pest - especially amusing is her scene where she asks Pony to borrow her brassiere. Quite a good film.

A great cast can't help this dated look at "Finishing School," from 1934. I decided to watch it based on the presence of Frances Dee and Ginger Rogers, both of whom are always delightful. They are here, too.Francis Dee plays a young woman, Virginia, who is sent to finishing school at the behest of her shallow mother (Billie Burke). She is turned over to the head of the school (Beulah Bondi) and given a set of rules. When she meets her roommate (Rogers) and her roommate's wild crowd, she discovers that the only one paying attention to rules is her. She agrees to go away for a weekend with Rogers, friends, and Rogers' aunt (an actress playing a role). Then it's a wild time in the city, especially when Virginia meets Dr. Ralph McFarland, who works as a waiter (read: unacceptable job) while doing his internship. They fall in love, but the upper crust at the school, only interested in appearances, attempt to break them up. Alas, it's a little too late for that. And you really have to be sharp to figure out why! I'd like to think this sort of thing has gone out of style, but I have a nagging feeling that it hasn't. Can there really still be places that teach one the difference between a tea and a reception, and how many calling cards to leave when people are not at home? Well, they still do have débutante balls, so maybe there are - but let's face it, "coming out" parties have a new meaning today. We do know that there is still a lot of shallowness in the world, so perhaps "Finishing School" isn't so dated after all.Bruce Cabot is enjoyable and good-looking as Virginia's suitor, and there is a nice performance from Anne Shirley, who wants to fit in with the older set. Rogers stands out as usual in her supporting role and keeps the pace going. Dee was so pretty and natural, it's a shame she left movies, but hey, I would have done that - and more - for Joel McCrea.Interesting for the cast and as a look at an upper class woman's responsibilities back in the '30s.