Take Care of My Little Girl (1951)

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Writers:

Julius J. Epstein (writer)
Philip G. Epstein (writer)

Release Date:

8 October 1951 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A young woman enters college and learns some hard truths about sorority life, including snobbery and the cruelty of hazing. |

Plot Keywords:

Sorority | College | Beautiful Woman | Campus | Sorority Girl

Cast

Jeanne Crain	...	Liz Erickson
Dale Robertson	...	Joe Blake
Mitzi Gaynor	...	Adelaide Swanson
Jean Peters	...	Dallas Prewitt
Jeffrey Hunter	...	Chad Carnes
Betty Lynn	...	Marge Colby
Helen Westcott	...	Merry Coombs
Lenka Peterson	...	Ruth Gates
Carol Brannon	...	Casey Krausse
Natalie Schafer	...	Mother Cookie Clark
Beverly Dennis	...	Janet Shaw
Kathleen Hughes	...	Jenny Barker
Peggy O'Connor	...	June

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Goofs:

Continuity: When the girls line up to receive the envelopes containing their sorority cards, their names are checked off on the list as they get them. However, when Lyn Hippenstahl (the homely girl who gets no cards in her envelope) returns to the table to ask if there's been a mistake, and the woman handling the list looks again, there is no check mark by Lyn's name as there should have been, since she'd already picked up her card packet.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in WildCat (2007) (V)

Rather dated, a curiosity....

Not the worst, but this film is now very dated, and you may be amused at the formality of costumes (white gloves, tailored suits) for college freshmen.

The film covers the concerns of Liz (well-portrayed by Jeanne Crain), a new college freshman whose mother cannot wait for her to join the same sorority. At first Liz is gung-ho, attending all rush parties, eventually rushing for Tri Nu. She meets Chad, the resident big man on campus, whom she finally begins dating, and becomes popular. She even cheats on his French exam so he can pass his course.

Many girls are weeded out, if they don't look right for the sorority. The film doesn't clarify how the girls are eliminated, but they are ostracized, seemingly because they aren't as outgoing, or seventeen-ish magazine quality (whatecer that was, at the time). Janet Hippenstall is outright rejected, and Ruth is de-pledged, presumably because she owes money to Symington's department store.

The independents reside at Huyler Hall, where the lesser mortals reside. While the theme does cover relevant issues of discrimination and exclusion, it is rather vague and shallow, and reminded me of the film "Imitation of Life" by Douglas Sirk, from the same era. It glosses over the real issues of class distinction, and never really makes an impression. And of course, the new boyfriend always comes to the rescue. Worth seeing as a curiosity, and some of the campus scenery is pretty. 7/10.