The only significance that Girls On Probation has in cinema history is that it was the first role of significance for Susan Hayward who plays Ronald Reagan's date at a party. Susan was dropped by Warner Brothers after this film and her contract picked up with Paramount who saw what Jack Warner missed. Despite Girls On Probation Hayward went on to a great career.The subject of the film however is Jane Bryan who borrows a dress that friend Sheila Bromley who 'borrowed' it from the dry cleaner she works at. Fine, but at the party that Bryan goes to Hayward spots the dress and identifies it as her's and Bryan is arrested. She tells her story, but no one believes her but Reagan who is taken with Bryan. He's a lawyer and defends her and she's let off with a first offense.Not good enough for her strict father Sig Ruman who throws her out of the house. She moves to another town, but who does she run into but Bromley and gets whisked into a getaway car from a bank robbery driven by Bromley's boyfriend Anthony Averill. They all get arrested and Jane's now in a real jackpot.The girl just can't catch a break until a sympathetic probation officer Dorothy Peterson convinces Judge Henry O'Neill to grant her probation. Back she goes to her home town and takes up with Reagan who is now an Assistant District Attorney.Of course trouble follows and I won't say more because the story gets more clichéd as it goes on. Let's say it all conveniently works out in the end.Two things connected with this film. Jane met and later wed Justin Dart of Rexall Drugs and retired from the screen. When Ronald Reagan started a political career she got her husband behind him and he became part of the unofficial Reagan kitchen cabinet.Also when Susan Hayward was at the height of her career in the mid Fifties, Warner Brothers re-released Girls On Probation to take advantage of that. It was inflicted on the public again after Hayward scored in I'll Cry Tomorrow, an infinitely better film than this. I'm not sure she appreciated Warner Brothers gesture.She survived Girls On Probation and if you see you will too.

Despite the title, like something for National Enquirer Studios, "Girls on Probation" is quite good.Being from Warner Brothers, naturally the cast is first rate. As was so common, there were great actors such as John Hamilton in small uncredited roles.Jane Bryan, as Connie Heath, is the star, and what a lovely young woman she is here. And what a shame she retired from motion picture making so early. She died almost two months before this writing, 8 April 2009, and as actress and as human being and as American citizen her death is a great loss.Sheila Bromley plays the ... uh, "friend" who gets Connie into trouble, not on purpose but just by being irresponsible.She is perhaps familiar to Western fans as Sheila Mannors, the last name being spelled at least three different ways.She got the last line here in a moving scene.Reagan's character was one of his most sympathetic and likable, probably much like him in real life, according to friends.It's easy enough to be cynical about Warner "B" movies, but for those of us who understand the context, and those of us who can see the sense of life, this is a good movie.

Excellent film dealing with who you meet up. Jane Bryan innocently meets up with her friend, played in fine fashion, by Sheila Bromley. Bromley leads Bryan into 2 horrible escapades leading to jail for both these characters. Bromley, terrific here, is hard-boiled, vicious and will do anything to please her lover.After her first run in with the law, when she is cost wearing a dress that Bromley stole, Bryan meets up with future D.A. Ronald Reagan, whose young girlfriend turns out to be a very young SUSAN HAYWARD.Sig Ruman, as Bryan's father, sheds his comic image here in a totally believable performance as a stern father who will not believe his daughter is not up to no good.This is an exciting film with a great Hollywood ending.

Poor Connie Heath (Jane Bryan) can't catch a break. Her father is stern and unforgiving. He doesn't trust her going out or any of her friends. It turns out his mistrust in one friend, Hilda Engstrom, is well founded.Hilda talks Connie into lying to her father and going to a dance he has forbidden. She "loans" Connie a dress she has stolen from the cleaners where they work. Connie gets into trouble but manages to avoid jail time. Her father does boot her out of the house, however.Connie goes to the city and runs into Hilda again. Hilda is sitting in a idling car… outside a bank. Connie decides this is the time to give Hilda a piece of her mind and hops in the car to do so! About this time, Hilda's partner comes running out of the bank, guns blazing. Rather than hopping out of the car, Connie sits there with a puzzled look. She's apparently bewildered by all this. During the high speed police chase Connie gathers her wits and takes the gun. The robbers pull over and the cops find Connie holding the gun.Afraid of her father finding out, Connie decides it's better to go to prison than explain the events. A case worker takes an interest and investigates on her own. She convinces Connie to tell the truth and gets her out on probation.Working for and falling in love with DA Dillon (sounds groovy) Connie thinks her life is back on track. But Hilda returns to try and stir things up again, still talking. Somehow, amid all the nonstop talking of their own, Connie had failed to mention to Dillon that she was fresh out of jail and on probation for the bank robbery.Sound movies had just turned a decade old but the novelty had clearly not worn off. Everything remained dialogue-driven. These people talk and talk… and then talk. No scene is set through visuals, no emotions are described through facial expression. Each and every element is articulated through exposition.The cast is fun and never shuts up. Jane Bryan is cheery despite her character's many setbacks. And she talks about all of it. Sheila Bromley is equally verbose as the diabolical Hilda. Ronald Reagan orates unceasingly as the love interest, Dillon.This type of rapid-fire dialog was a staple of movies during this era and "Girls on Probation" is a jewel of an example. Highly recommended for a look at a typical by-the-numbers production of the 30s.