She's Working Her Way Through College (1952)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Sadly Over-hyped

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Blistering performances.

Virginia Mayo, (Pre) President Ronald Reagan, Gene Nelson, Don DeFore as well as some other excellent supporting performances made this a fantastic musical filled with romance, a bitter jealousy and rivalry, a dirty old chairman of the university board, and a song and dance/gymnastic performance in the latter half of the film by Gene Nelson that was worth the price of admission alone.Let's face it folks, a 32 year old Virginia Mayo is not hard on the eyes. For the ladies, Gene Nelson as the dancing Don Juan or more appropriately named football star Don Weston is absolutely charming in his scenes with or without his leading lady Angela Gardner aka "Hot Garters Gertie" (Virginia Mayo).The Professor John Palmer (Ronald Reagan) dearly loves his wife Helen Palmer (Phyllis Thaxter) who is being wooed by her college boyfriend Shep Slade (Don DeFore) that makes Professor Palmer more than just a bit jealous. So for one evening he drinks to get drunk and even as a bad drunk, he still maintains a classy exterior as he jibber jabbers to the blonde student Angela Gardner (Virginia Mayo) and her charming boyfriend Don Weston until such time that his wife Helen shows up at their front door with her old beau Shep Slade now a successful businessman still trying to woo Helen. This is not a dramatic film so the confrontation that takes place between the drunk Professor Palmer and the amorous Shep Slade is quite comical.There is a musical at the college that must be performed, and the role for the lead female singer/dancer that will partner with the handsome Don Weston on stage is a rivalry between the gorgeous and talented Angela Gardner (Virginia Mayo) and another beautiful lass coyly nicknamed 'Poison' Ivy Williams (Patrice Wymore). A little blackmail is involved, but all works out in the end because as we in Hollywood have come to know..."the show must go on!"This is a jewel of a film on many fronts, excellent cinematography and colorization, a humorous storyline that involved a weak attempt at blackmail, some fantastic dance sequences (especially Gene Nelson's over the top acrobatic song and dance number in the school gymnasium) a superb cast that made me laugh and quite simply forget the world we live in for the next 104 minutes.I give the film an excellent 9 out of 10 rating!

Bright, fun Technicolor musical comedy starring the ravishing Virginia Mayo and Ronald Reagan. It's a loose reworking of The Male Animal. Mayo plays a burlesque dancer and aspiring writer who enrolls in the college where her former high school teacher (Reagan) is now a professor. As you might expect, she isn't welcome with open arms by the conservative college administration. Ronnie's in her corner though and fights for her right to an education. This is really Virginia Mayo's show the whole way. Aside from looking gorgeous she does a fantastic job playing the level-headed dancer who wants to make something more of herself. Opening burlesque number is a treat her fans will love. Virginia Mayo is one of two actresses that readily spring to mind when I think of the beauty of Technicolor; the other being Esther Williams.The college campus set was pretty. The grass was so green it looked like AstroTurf! Reagan's house was also pretty. I love Technicolor. One odd thing is that in an upstairs bedroom there is a picture of an old rival of Ronnie's on the wall. This seems to be there just to start a conversation between Ronnie and his wife (Phyllis Thaxter) over this guy. Just seemed odd. Why would there be a picture of the guy on the wall? Reagan hates him and he used to be an old beau of his wife's. This part of the story is the film's biggest drawback as Reagan's wife seems very tempted to throw him over for this jerk. Kind of a somber part of an otherwise upbeat movie. It also leads to the worst acting in the film: Ronnie's drunk scene. Cringeworthy. Anyway, it's a nice film with some songs and humor. The songs are nothing special but pleasant. See it for Virginia Mayo and the glorious Technicolor.

"She's Working Her Way Through College" is a bizarro version of college life--where students wear perfectly coordinated outfits, the average age of a co-ed if 30 and everyone breaks into song in giant choreographed numbers on a college set that is obviously a sound stage! It's very glossy but also very trivial--the sort of forgettable film you see once and soon forget.The film begins with a college professor (Ronald Reagan) stopping by to watch a burlesque show. Now 'burlesque' is the term they use, but for burlesque, the show shows an amazingly small amount of skin--practically none! Well, it turns out that the leading lady of this show (Virginia Mayo) is an ex-student of Reagan--he taught her years ago in high school. They have a nice but brief little reunion. Afterwords, she decides that the dancing life sucks and she should go back to college to improve her writing ability--as she's written a play and wants to polish it. Naturally, when Mayo comes to campus she finds a room to rent with Reagan and his wife! You know this will cause some friction, but bookish Ronnie doesn't seem to anticipate this. What he is focused on are two things--how unfair it is that the football team gets all the funding and how he does not look forward to producing another dull Shakespearian play as their annual fund-raiser. Virginia, however, convinces him to try something new and different--and Ronnie thinks they should put on her play--after, of course, adding a lot of singing and dancing to the script. Sadly, while all the ensuing songs are pleasant enough, they really are pretty forgettable.So, can good Professor Reagan manage to pull off a hit AND finally show up that accursed football team (headed by fat-headed Don DeFore)? If you care, see for yourself.Although it's hard to recognize, Warner Brothers took one of their old scripts ("The Male Animal") and re-worked the story into "She's Working Her Way Through College". It's very different but the conflict between Ronnie and DeFore as well as DeFore's interest in the Professor's wife is exactly the same one in "The Male Animal"--with Reagan and DeFore filling in for Henry Fonda and Jack Carson. My advice? See "The Male Animal"--it's a much better film. While it lacks all the songs and burlesque queen plot (thank goodness), it has a nice infusion of humor--something curiously lacking in "She's Working Her Way Through College". Forgettable and a bit silly.silly musical numbers reworking of The Male Animal.

Having read the other reviews and just seen the movie on TCM I can really recommend this movie as excellent entertainment. First and foremost the movie retains the terrific plots from the original "The Male Animal" where a university professor must fight for freedom in his class and fight the football hero for his wife.I totally disagree that this musical is in any way less than the original. The climatic speech by Ronald Reagan makes the point that if he expels the showgirl then "they" can expel others based on their religion, race, or where they were born. This freedom was what Henry Fonda's character was also protecting. Both also had excellent "fights" with the football hero and I actually prefer Reagan's because it was more intellectual and sincere.Virginia Mayo is a favorite actress of mine and even if she always had her songs dubbed in all her movies it did not deter from her dancing and acting. She was excellent in "Best Years of Our Lives", "Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N." and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"...all different types of roles but giving each character life and reality with no singing required.Gene Nelson is excellent as the senior football quarterback who dances and sings for the heart of Virginia Mayo…just like he did in "Oklahoma". He shows some good acting ability, too, in the serious scene of finding Reagan drunk when he brought Virginia Mayo home and Reagan thought they were his wife and the football hero.All together this movie is something to enjoy and feel good about when its over…something many critical acclaimed movies don't do.