HER FIRST ROMANCE (1940)

Edith Fellows and Wilbur Evans

HER FIRST ROMANCE (1940). Director: Edward Dmytryck.  Colorized.

Linda (Edith Fellows of Girls' Town) is a supposedly plain 17-year-old college freshman with an older half-sister and guardian, Eileen (Julie Bishop of Why Men Leave Home), who is cruel and selfish. Katy (Marian Kerby), the peppery housekeeper, can see right through bitchy Eileen, and makes up her mind to help Linda go to the prom -- and get the right dress -- despite her sister's edict that she cannot attend. Linda's being asked to the prom is just a fraternity joke, but when the boys see how transformed -- and downright beautiful -- she is, they all want to be her date. But that honor goes to handsome baritone Philip Niles (Wilbur Evans), who runs into Linda when both are busy singing in the woods!

Alan Ladd and Julie Bishop

Her First Romance is pure romantic fantasy, but it has a degree of charm and some very nice singing. Edith Fellows makes an appealing heroine, but once she becomes officially "beautiful," she's far less interesting. At the halfway point the movie becomes sillier and more incredible, with people falling in and out of love at the drop of a hat. Fellows had been acting since she was six, and amassed over eighty credits. Wilbur Evans appeared mostly on the stage, as he only had four appearances in movies, but with his looks and talent he should have become more famous. (Appearing in a Monogram picture probably didn't help him.) In a supporting role is Alan Ladd (of The Glass Key), as Eileen's fiance, whom she stole away from another sister, Marion (Judith Linden). Ladd, of course, went on to major stardom. The music includes the love duet in the forest; another duet from Don Giovanni; "My Love for You;" and Evans singing a version of Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No. One." You watch the film to the end to see Eileen get her comeuppance, although she deserves worse than she gets.

Verdict: Just buy a new dress and the boys will all pant for you! **1/4. 

CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN

CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (1943). Director: Edward Dmytryk.

Universal attempted a new sort of monster in this, the first of three films to deal with Paula Dupree, the Ape Woman. Borrowing a concept from H. G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau, the film has a mad scientist, Dr. Sigmund Walters (the always-reliable John Carradine), manipulating glands and using his nurse's brain to turn a female gorilla, Cheela, into a human female whom he names Paula (Acquanetta, who has no lines). Paula has an uncanny power over wild animals, and is hired by the circus to work with lion tamer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone); most of the scenes of Mason working with lions and tigers are inserts of Stone in stock footage taken from Clyde Beatty features. Unfortunately, Paula develops a lust for Stone -- which brings out her animal instincts -- and tries to get rid of his girlfriend Beth (Evelyn Ankers); Cheela/Paula is able to cut through a person's spinal cord with her fingernails. This weird but oddly likable horror flick could have used twenty more minutes' running time, some more scenes showing Carradine working with the gorilla-turned-girl, and better character development. Still, it's quite entertaining. Ray "Crash" Corrigan plays Cheela the ape, Fay Helm is the ill-fated Nurse Strand, and Lloyd Corrigan is John Whipple, who owns the circus. Followed by Jungle Woman.

Verdict: A hoot! **1/2.