Boy Friend (1939) Poster

(1939)

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6/10
Jane Withers Starts To Grow Up
boblipton3 July 2019
When one of his friends from the police academy is killed, Richard Bond quits and goes undercover to investigate. Meanwhile his sister, Jane Withers, tries to help out when not distracted by George Ernest, whose uniform from a military academy sets her 13-year-old heart palpitating in this typical vehicle for Miss Withers.

Jane is not the center of this 20th Century-Fox B movie, but she is the main point-of-view character, which contains a bit less overt humor than most of her vehicles. She had been given her own B series four years earlier with the amazing success of Shirley Temple, both as line extension and a bit of a competitive threat. She played characters a bit more raucous than Shirley. Given the lower production costs of her movies and their more frequent appearances, she may have been more profitable!

However, Miss Withers appeal, like Miss Temple's, was predicated on her abilities as a child. The next year would end the relationship of both stars with Zanuck's company.
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5/10
Little Jane, G-Man.
mark.waltz7 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
A silly Jane Withers comedy with songs and gangsters, mindless fluff from Fox, and proving that Little Miss Fix-It #2 could run the FBI better than J. Edgar Hoover while Little Miss Fix-It #1 (Shirley Temple) could be president. As Temple was A unit queen, Withers was B unit empress, and her films still remain dated fun, if a bit obscure. Jane's got a crush on military cadet George Emery and gets him into all sorts of trouble as she tries to solve the mystery of who killed their police cadet friend.

Far from being the bratty doll spanker in 1934's "Bright Eyes", she's everyone's favorite little sister in the neighborhood in spite of always being in some sort of trouble. Whether stealing the police commissioner's car or having a nightclub band leader strike it up so she can distract the audience with a song (all for the purpose of advancing the ridiculous plot), she's the center of attention whether the beat cops or dumb racketeers like it or not. In the process, she manages to stop a crime from succeeding. Not great, and lacking a fun supporting cast, but Jane's personality makes it impossible to give this the hook.
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