If two Hayley Mills at girl's camp in "The Parent Trap" and Christina Ricci's Wednesday Addams terrorizing the snooty kids at her summer camp in "Addams Family Values" made you laugh, then this film might have some interest for you. Perky Gloria Jean's Pip is a Manhattan tenement kid given a scholarship to girl's camp based upon a poem she wrote revealing that she has never seen a tree, not even the one that grows in Brooklyn (my line, not hers.) But when she gets there, the snooty girls, lead around by the nose by the malicious Ann Gillis, treat her with disdain, all except the fragile Virginia Weidler. As honest as Manhattan is long, Pip unashamedly brags about her gifted family and many uncles of all occupations which rubs the spoiled but emotionally neglected society girls the wrong way. Between camp counselors Robert Cummings and Nan Grey, as well as the strict but lovable camp leader Beulah Bondi, each of the girls must face their own demons, many of them aided by "Miss Fix It" Jean and her feisty grandpa, C. Aubrey Smith, who shows up after attempting to reconcile Weidler's estranged parents.
Films that feature pre-teen girls can often be either saccharine sweet or grating for the Miss Hannigan in many of us. While at times it does get a bit sticky and the overabundance of bratty girls isn't a major selling point, the way Jean handles these girls ends up being entertaining enough with some very amusing character performances. As usual, Billy Gilbert (as the not so proud papa of two bratty boys of his own) massacres the English language, demanding his "handkersniff" and being the victim of his own son's pranks, and steals every moment he's in. C. Aubrey Smith is marvelous as grandpa, and Beaulah Bondi will win over your heart slowly as she goes from pompous spinster to open hearted after Jean does her an incredible kindness.
While I felt that Jean in subsequent films wasn't as magnetic on screen as other child stars (particularly Universal's Deanna Durbin whom she was touted to be a successor to), in this, she wins me over. There was something about the way she was filmed here as opposed to later films (casting her with Bing Crosby and W.C. Fields) that gave her potential, sadly not utilized wisely in those subsequent movies. Her singing voice is pleasant here, not shrill, and she gives as good as she gets. She's certainly not deserving of the snobbery she receives, and the way that the nasty girls lead around by Gillis are dealt with ends up being satisfying without being cruel. As a little "Miss Fix It", I'd prefer somebody like Jean's character here (or the younger Deanna Durbin or even Jane Withers) over the ever popular Shirley Temple who has overshadowed many of these forgotten pre-teen stars.
Films that feature pre-teen girls can often be either saccharine sweet or grating for the Miss Hannigan in many of us. While at times it does get a bit sticky and the overabundance of bratty girls isn't a major selling point, the way Jean handles these girls ends up being entertaining enough with some very amusing character performances. As usual, Billy Gilbert (as the not so proud papa of two bratty boys of his own) massacres the English language, demanding his "handkersniff" and being the victim of his own son's pranks, and steals every moment he's in. C. Aubrey Smith is marvelous as grandpa, and Beaulah Bondi will win over your heart slowly as she goes from pompous spinster to open hearted after Jean does her an incredible kindness.
While I felt that Jean in subsequent films wasn't as magnetic on screen as other child stars (particularly Universal's Deanna Durbin whom she was touted to be a successor to), in this, she wins me over. There was something about the way she was filmed here as opposed to later films (casting her with Bing Crosby and W.C. Fields) that gave her potential, sadly not utilized wisely in those subsequent movies. Her singing voice is pleasant here, not shrill, and she gives as good as she gets. She's certainly not deserving of the snobbery she receives, and the way that the nasty girls lead around by Gillis are dealt with ends up being satisfying without being cruel. As a little "Miss Fix It", I'd prefer somebody like Jean's character here (or the younger Deanna Durbin or even Jane Withers) over the ever popular Shirley Temple who has overshadowed many of these forgotten pre-teen stars.