Now Available for the First Time on DVD only from the Warner Archive: http://bit.ly/WAC_FinishingSchool

Synopsis: No smoking. No drinking. No lipstick. Pretty Virginia Radcliffe (Frances Dee) earnestly accepts the strict rules enforced by exclusive Crockett Hall. Have a smoke, have a drink and have a wild weekend in New York, suggests her roommate Pony Ferris (Ginger Rogers), who knows the rules have nothing to do with the girls’ welfare and everything to do with the school’s reputation. Adorably worldly, appealingly smart, third-billed Rogers steals the show in Finishing School, giving pretense a swift kick in the comedy keester as she mother-hens her classmates through a booze-and-bad-boy Manhattan fling. The frank pre-Code storyline even allows innocent Virginia to wind up pregnant…and unpunished.

Review:The Warner Archive is releasing the racy 1934 classic film Finishing School to DVD.  This one is a gem that fans of movies young and old will be able to appreciate.  This film stands out as a great performance from the legendary Ginger Rodgers as the rebellious school girl that leads the other girls into debauchery and ultimately even pregnancy!

The great thing about this movie is that its pre-code.  What does that mean?  It refers to the Motion Picture Production Code of the 1930s.  Basically, between 1920, when movies got sound, up to the 1930s there was basically little to no regulation over the content of feature film!  We're talking pregnancy outside of marriage, abortions, homosexuality...a lot of things that wouldn't again be allowed in film until many decades after the code was established.  This movie squeaked in right before the laws really tightened up around 1934.    This movie doesn't have the innocent charm of the 1940s and 1950s, but rather the progressive sensibilities that existed in the real world and still do to this day.

Interest Range: Vintage Film