Reform School Girl (1957)

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Blistering performances.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Donna is a girl who got in with the wrong crowd; so much so that a car she was a passenger in kills an unlucky pedestrian. The driver, a young hoodlum acquaintance of hers, escapes justice and loyal Donna takes the rap, refusing to implicate him she is sent to a reformatory school.Reform School Girl was released by the B-movie kings AIP in the high days of the drive-in, when the baby boomers were getting old enough to create a large market for teen exploitation schlock. This one was one of the movies that looked at the dangers that those teens faced if they pursued wayward directions in life. It's a juvenile delinquency melodrama that is an early example of a women in prison film. From the late 60's onwards, these types of pictures became staples of the sexploitation genre. Reform School Girl, obviously is considerably tamer than those given it was released in the more innocent 50's. All we get here are a few cat fights, implied lesbianism and a little bit of moderate violence such as an arm stabbed by scissors and a girl smacked on the head by flying baseball bat. But in the main, it's very understated by subsequent standards of the genre; although admittedly the heroine does have to put up with the borderline incestual advances of her aunt's boyfriend earlier on in the movie.Once the plot-line kicks in, it focuses on the code of silence practiced in the school, with Donna being the victim of group bullying as a result of them wrongly thinking that she is a police informer. It's a pretty serviceable story-line with a reasonable amount of drama. It does end in a somewhat rushed manner though, with Donna escaping a beating by her antagonists on account of them merely being unable to find the right key! The film ties up the loose ends of the plot immediately afterwards in an abrupt and not especially impressive way. But hey ho, it was good while it lasted. The only actor on show that I recognised was Luana Anders, who played one of Donna's tormentors, she appeared a few years later to great effect in Francis Ford Coppola's debut feature Dementia 13.

I expected a really bad film. The cheesy photograph in the cover of the DVD package didn't announce any great findings. Obviously, the film is low-budget, but this time it didn't equal with terribly bad.I liked the script. The film had good rhythm, the characters were either extremely good or bad, the action was interesting, there were touches at the psychology of the girls... Many scenes take place at the reform school, but Donna's flat, the courtroom, the flat of Vince's girlfriend, there is even a very short scene at the workplace of the aunt's boyfriend... make it more varied for my taste. I also liked outdoors scenes: the run-over, Vince asking for directions when he's after Jack... I liked them because I don't usually appreciate films which look like theatre plays and all the action happens in just one location.It's an interesting and probably an underestimated film, which in fact I liked. I didn't know the director, the script-writer, the main actress (Gloria del Castillo, which sadly didn't have much success in Hollywood), but some other actresses would become well-known with time, Luana Anders and especially Sally Kellerman. Maybe they are not at their best here, because they were just beginning their careers, and they'd become much better but everybody has to begin somewhere, and this was a flick to be proud of.

David (Edward Bymes) steals a car and collects his friends for a night out. However, he runs over a man and then escapes from the scene of the killing leaving Donna (Gloria Castillo) behind. She is warned not to squeal by David and she is sent to Reform School. However, David does not trust that she will keep quiet and is put under pressure to kill Donna by a gangster acquaintance. He sets up Josie (Luana Anders) to be sent to the same Reform School in the belief that her former friend, Donna, has reported her to the police for car-stripping. The idea is for Josie to get even with her former pal and once inside, Josie leads the persecution of Donna .......... Meanwhile, David also takes it upon himself to quieten Donna for good......The film has some good scenes, eg, when Donna is in her solitary cell and 4 inmates are coming to get her.....you get a sense of imminent danger........suddenly Josie's face appears at the grill staring back at her......Donna is moments away from a serious beating. However, the next part of the scene is a cop-out. The film ends abruptly leaving the audience with unanswered questions, most notably, what are the relationships between the girls and why has the governess gone back on her word and staged another party? There are some funny attempts at acting tough, eg, Roxy (Yvette Vickers) and David's amusing mouth gestures, but the cast act it out well.Its entertaining while you watch it.

A little word in advance: since this producer sadly passed away in 2001, several of his film received a re-release on DVD under the group name `The Samuel Z. Arkoff Library'. Which is actually a good thing because otherwise, many of his productions would be lost and undiscovered forever. The largest part of his film is extremely low-budget horror (The Undead, The war of the colossal beast, Voodoo Women…) and at first sight, this Reform School Girl seems to be a misfit in that collection. Nonetheless, it's a film definitely worth checking out. Reform School Girl is a raw and intense social drama, which portrays the lesser attractive aspects of humanity. Some of the main topics of the film include betrayal, egocentrism, blackmail, abuse, jealousy and juvenile violence. It's about a young girl who's sent to a reform-institution after being involved in a car accident. The guy she was with threatened to kill her if she would tell his name to the police. Therefore, her lips are sealed and she brought to a closed institution. Yet, even there she has to face that the ‘code' doesn't allow her to speak freely. Disappointed by the whole world, Donna turns into an anti-social and hostile girl who has to rediscover her trust in mankind. Even though the film obviously suffers from a lack of budget and professionalism, it still manages to touch you and leave a huge impression behind. The script contains a few illogical elements (like the uncle who's scared to death because of a phone call by a youngster) but overall, it's fascinating and a much bigger triumph than most overbudgetted drama's that are only out to bring tears to eyes of the viewer by using cheap sentiment and morality lessons. The ‘message' in Reform School Girl is kept limited and the entire atmosphere is strictly dramatic. The acting is surprisingly good considering most cast members are young and inexperienced actresses. Certainly a film worth a look whenever you have the chance of seeing it. It was re-made for the TV-screen in 1994 by Jonathan Kaplan starring Matt ‘Friends' LeBlanc, among other familiar faces.