The Girl from Jones Beach (1949)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Peter Godfrey

Writers:

Allen Boretz (story)
I.A.L. Diamond (writer)

Release Date:

16 July 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Glamour artist Bob Randolph is world famous for his paintings of a stunning beauty dubbed "The Randolph Girl"...

Plot Keywords:

Schoolteacher | Model | Teacher | Threatened Suicide | Newsreel

Cast

Ronald Reagan	...	Bob Randolph (Robert Venerik)
Virginia Mayo	...	Ruth Wilson
Eddie Bracken	...	Chuck Donovan
Dona Drake	...	Connie Martin
Henry Travers	...	Judge Bullfinch
Lois Wilson	...	Mrs. Wilson
Florence Bates	...	Miss Emma Shoemaker
Jerome Cowan	...	Mr. Graves, Attorney
Helen Westcott	...	Miss Brooks
Paul Harvey	...	Jim Townsend
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Mr. Evergood
Gary Gray	...	Woody Wilson
Myrna Dell	...	Lorraine Scott
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dolores Castle	...	Member of Samba Team

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Henry Travers' last film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Bob is in a boat and spots Ruth through binoculars. The shots of the boat show that it is rolling in very heavy waves. When the camera switches to show Ruth as seen through the binoculars, the rolling motion completely disappears.

Movie Connections:

References Gone with the Wind (1939)

Soundtrack:

You Do Something to Me

Ron shows his funny side

No one will ever say that The Girl from Jones Beach is any kind of masterpiece film, but it did provide Ronald Reagan one of the few opportunities to demonstrate a flair for comedy.

Reagan is an artist whose subject matter is beautiful women. He's in fact put together quite a collection of photographs of women who have the most beautiful body part, subject A: best hips, subject B: best ankles, etc. Put them all together with their best features showing and you have the perfect woman.

One day Reagan and pal Eddie Bracken spot Virginia Mayo in a bathing suit on Jones Beach. Here's where some comparisons to the Warner Brothers Marion Davies film Page Miss Glory can be made. She also is a walking composite photograph.

Of course Mayo is a school teacher who's not particularly interested in having a career exposing her body to the leering male population. I think you can figure out the rest of this.

Another reviewer said that this would be interesting as a horror film remake. Actually there was such a film made that starred Lilli Palmer, The House That Dripped Blood. Same premise about body parts.

Reagan does show good comedic abilities. He tries to woo Mayo by pretending to be an immigrant taking a night school class she runs for prospective citizenship applicants. His mittel-europa accent that he puts on is no worse than Rock Hudson's Texan speech in Pillow Talk.

It looked like the cast was having a good time filming this thing and the results are positive.