Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

GIRLS OF THE ROAD


GIRLS OF THE ROAD (1940). Director: Nick Grinde.

"The debutramps have just arrived!"

Governor's daughter Kay Warren (Ann Dvorak) is disturbed to learn of the plight of so many homeless girls who wind up criss-crossing the country, murdered, or in jail, so she decides to take to the road (with fancy suitcase and plenty of money) to find out first-hand what these girls are up against. She runs into tough Mickie (Helen Mack) and Jerry (Ann Doran) and others, gets arrested, jumps off a train, and tries to calm a wolf pack of itchy, angry gals. While this short film is certainly fast-paced, none of it is nearly as interesting as it sounds, so you're basically left with a lot of dullness. Herman Brix/Bruce Bennett shows up as a cop. Its level of grittiness and reality is about the same as that of a Bowery Boys feature. A brief slap-fast between gals livens things up for a couple of seconds. The acting is very good, however.

Verdict: Watch Caged instead. *1/2.

No comments: