Dramatic School

I was expecting a film barely worth the effort to watch, because of the other reviews,and the fact I'd never heard of it. I was surprised its reviews or obscurity were not true. The story was interesting, and I thought Luise Rainier brought a fey sort of innocence to the part. Her Louise was the perfect foil to the cynical, bitter characters of Nana and Therese. Ranier seems a combination of Hedy Lamar and Ingrid Bergman.

Gale Sondergaard was very good here, as was Goddard. It was interesting to watch such eventual major stars as Lana Turner and Ann Rutherford at the dawn of their careers.

Strangely, it's set in France, yet features a bevy of American actresses playing girls with names like Nana, Yvonne and Simone. It's not as good as the similar Stage Door, which was released by RKO the year before, and the story takes a while to get going. Lovely, dark-eyed Luise Rainer stars as the young woman who aspires to be a great actress; Paulette Goddard is cast to type as a cynical, knowing classmate; Gale Sondergaard is the teacher who resents Rainer for her youth and talent; and Alan Marshall is the wealthy cad who misuses Rainer, thus allowing her to experience the suffering required for her to achieve great dramatic success. It's not a bit credible but, when all is said and done, it's fairly entertaining. With Lana Turner in an early role, Virginia Grey, Ann Rutherford and Margaret Dumont, Henry Stephenson, Genevieve Tobin, John Hubbard, Marie Blake, Erik Rhodes and moist-eyed Rand Brooks.

Always enjoyed the acting of Paulett Goddard who plays the role of (Nana) a young girl who is attending a Drama School in Paris, France along with Lana Turner,(Mado) who are striving to become actresses and have only one desire in their lives. Luise Reiner, (Louise Mauban) is a poor gal who attends the Dramatic School in the daytime and is forced to also work in a factory making gas meters. Louise tells her fellow classmates at the school all kinds of stories about her relationship with a rich playboy who finances plays and is a ladies man. The story gets rather interesting when Louise really gets involved with this playboy who spoils her to death with everything she wants, however, she does notice that he still has an eye for any hot chick that comes along. Great 1938 film with lots of laughs and plenty of dramatic acting. Enjoy.

Luise Rainer wrapped up her Hollywood career with this minor B movie that also served as an early showcase for Lana Turner and Ann Rutherford.

The Viennese Teardrop isn't bad but her habit of staring soulfully skyward comes across as a bit affected.

Paulette Goddard co-stars but she was in a transitional phase. After having recently been elevated from the ranks by Chaplin and featured in Modern Times she was a bit ahead of the other girls career wise but this was still before her period as a top star although that was right around the corner.

An interesting contrast can be made between the two other future stars featured. MGM was still experimenting with Lana and her look, her hair is still red not her signature blonde, her makeup is slightly different from scene to scene and her part is small although she is prominently billed. Ann Rutherford on the other hand who was at about the same point in her career already has her screen persona down. Of course she was always the girl next door so retained more of her natural attributes while by the time Lana reached the top there was little if anything girlish about her.

The picture itself moves at a decent clip and is mildly entertaining but has several large reality gaps in its story line. It's filled with familiar faces though to distract you from the holes in the script with Genevieve Tobin and Marie Blake both adding nice touches in small roles.

Dramatic School is a kind of French version of Morning Glory with Luise Rainer as a continental version of Katharine Hepburn's Eva Lovelace. Luise sacrifices all for a career, going to the prestigious Paris School of Drama and working the night shift at a factory to make ends meet. She doesn't want fellow students like Paulette Goddard, Lana Turner, Virginia Grey, and Ann Rutherford to know what she's doing so she makes up stories about a more interesting life Luise wishes she were leading.

One day during class when a very strict acting coach Gale Sondergaard is giving a lesson she passes out and then tells the whopper of all time about going out with a well known man about Paris town in Alan Marshal. That sets off a nice chain of events that culminates in an ending typical of all backstage stories, I need not spell it out for you.

This was the last film Luise Rainer did under her MGM contract, it was dissolved by mutual consent between Luise and Louis B. Mayer. What Luise wanted and might have gotten at another studio were roles that were more challenging for her talent. She wanted what Greta Garbo had over at MGM and for Mayer there was only room for one Garbo on the lot. If Irving Thalberg had lived things might have been different, but who can say. In any event she and the rest of the cast acquit themselves admirably.

If anyone stands out though, for me it's Gale Sondergaard. She has a great part as a great actress who also teaches and is jealous of all the young ones coming through the school, especially Rainer. The acting profession is especially unkind to older women and Sondergaard channels a lot of resentment into her part.

Dramatic School was not a bad film for Luise to leave MGM on. It's not Camille or Ninotchka, but L.B. Mayer made it clear only one actress gets those parts on his lot.