The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947)

Nice effects though.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It's funny that this film was a disappointment for Betty Grable and the studio, as I actually think it's better than most of her films. While I am not saying it's a great film, it is enjoyable and fits Grable very nicely. According to IMDb they attributed this to Grable not showing off her famous legs or because she wasn't peroxide blonde in the film. And, if you think about it, the film is supposed to be about equality and anti-sexism--and that's exactly how the studio execs behaved in blaming the film's lack of success on Grable's lessened sex appeal in this cute picture!When the film begin, it's the 1870s and women simply did not work outside the home. So, when Miss Pilgrim (Grable) completes secretarial school and goes looking for a job in Boston, it's quite shocking and she naturally runs into sexism. So, she makes it a crusade of sorts to gain acceptance....and by doing so she becomes an important spokesperson for the women's suffrage movement! She also finds many friends in one of the strangest boarding houses you'll ever see in a movie!The film is naturally filled with songs but not as many as in Grable's other films and a few of them are rather funny. Overall, it's a lighthearted and fun film about an important subject. Well worth seeing.

Long before they were referred to as "secretaries", "girl Friday's", "administrative assistants" or even "typists", those who worked on those new fangled writing machines were simply called "typewriters". Graduating from a New York typewriters school, valedictorian Betty Grable is sent to Boston where she is informed by her new boss that he (Dick Haymes) expected a man. Fortunately, he has a suffragette aunt (Anne Revere) who has controlling interest in the firm, and that gets Grable the job. Now if she can just get her boss's respect, prevent office manager Gene Reynolds from sneering at her, and find a suitable place to live where a "typewriter" who happens to be a woman isn't confused for being a Jezebel, she'll make it just fine.And fine she does make it. She moves in to the boarding house of a bunch of self-acknowledged outcasts, run by rebellious Boston socialite Elizabeth Patterson who was ostracized for her unconventional ways. When Haymes attends a suffragette meeting with her, the stage is set for a romance between the two, even though that is against "rule #6". Grable expects his socialite mother (Elisabeth Risdon) to be a judgmental snob and prepares a series of society aimed insults for her with amusing results. Miss Pilgrim is an instant Boston celebrity, loathed by some and loved by others, and when the line-up of suffragettes and their few male supporters are revealed, the visual result is hysterical, featuring a few whom in 1894 were obviously of the "love that not reveal its name" category. (Films after the production code came in rarely showed obviously gay or lesbian characters, and this is one of the few).I wish there was less of the romance (featuring some unknown George Gershwin music that his brother Ira wrote new lyrics for) and more of the office setting and suffragette plot. That is more interesting, although the "scissors"/"knives" reference is truly hysterical and gives the impression that even if these two do get together, there will be no "pants wearing" in this family: it will be a marriage of equality-or else!I felt sorry for Gene Reynolds here, typecast in his usual prickly fat man role of a chauvinist fool. But for Revere and Risdon, I really wanted to see more of them. As sisters-in-law in the film, they never even appear together, a loss for the script. Patterson and her band of delightful eccentrics add some needed comedy which includes a transaction between three of the tenants simply to feed their egos. A woman resident of Patterson's house who has been working on re-writing the dictionary wouldn't be out of place in this new rhetoric world where the English language has all but disappeared together.

THE SHOCKING MISS PILGRIM was one of the few BETTY GRABLE movies that did not bring them in at the box-office, probably because her famous legs are not in display in this story about women in the work force, circa 1870s. Instead, the usually bubbly Miss Grable is seen in demure costumes, although her blonde hair is a rather garish touch considering the era.She's paired with the rather weak DICK HAYMES, although his baritone voice lends itself nicely to a couple of Gershwin songs--notably "Aren't You Glad We Did?" and "For You, For Me, For Evermore".As with all of Fox's Grable films, it's nicely photographed in Technicolor and there are supporting players like ANN REVERE and GENE LOCKHART to add a genial touch to the proceedings. The story itself concerns itself with the proper place for women at a time when they were new to the work force and found it hard to be accepted in the all male society of the office, even if they did graduate from secretarial schools. The film deals neatly with these aspects and has a certain nostalgic charm.Not one of Grable's box-office hits, probably because she was too covered up to be the glamorous Fox star of previous musicals, but modestly entertaining for fans of the genre.

This is a first class musical. Several of the songs have become standards and continue to turn up in Gershwin orchestral compilations and in the repertoires of top cabaret artists. Ira Gershwin's lyrics for this show were among his wittiest ever.Betty Grable and Dick Haymes are in great voice. separately and in duet.The scenes in the boarding house peopled by eccentrics were highly original and very funny.It is inconceivable that this film has not been released on VHS or DVD, and that there is no CD of the soundtrack.It is my hope that some connoisseur of show tunes in the music business, like Michael Feinstein, will press for its release in some form.