gridoon2024 Review of Nine Girls

Nine Girls (1944)

Enjoyable female-centric mystery-comedy....with one reservation

[6/10 · 28 July 2013]

Films as heavily female-centric as "Nine Girls" (there are only two male characters of importance) were not so common in the 1940s (they still aren't, for that matter), so that's one point in this movie's favor right off the bat. Though all of the girls have their moments, my personal favorite is Jeff Donnell as "Butch" (she really isn't, at all; she's just into sports and working out). The script seems influenced by Agatha Christie, as the girls, isolated in a house at the mountains, suspect each other for the murder of their most disliked sorority sister. There are some good humorous lines and some effective red herrings, but the script drops the ball near the end, when it reveals the killer to the audience far before the other characters catch on to her. I thought there might be an additional twist, something to make this a pseudo-reveal, but no: it's a true one. Apart from this reservation, a very enjoyable low-budget film. **1/2 out of 4.