College years are obviously very important to the social aspect of one's moving into adulthood. For working-class girl Anne Shirley, getting into college periodet alone one of the top local schools is a dream come true. Once she's in, she is then encouraged to start applying at the top sororities. Encouraged by roommates Barbara Read and Pamela Blake, Shirley chooses the Gamma sorority as her top choice. But the uppityness of the girls within that sorority is off-putting to her and she must look within her own conscience to decide if that is a right move for a young lady of good character. When she all but ignores her own father at the parent meet and greet, she is forced to wake up and see what they could possibly turn her into.
Interesting but contrived, this sorority drama isn't quite "Satan's School for Girls", but it has the same setup as that cult TV movie. Read and Blake give good performances as the roommates with Read truly down to earth and realistic about what the Gamma sorority is all about, with Blake much more sensitive to rejection. James Ellison co-stars as the All-American college boy who meets Shirley in an amusing moment concerning a fire escape and it is obvious when the sorority girls from Gamma sees Ellison and Shirley together, that their snooty reaction is one of jealousy, not just snobbism.
Veteran character actress Elisabeth Risdon stands out in a small role as Blake's obnoxious aunt whose character stands in the way of Blake getting into the Gamma's. To contrast Risdon, there is J.M. Kerrigan as Shirley's wise father who supplies the moral of the story at the end of the film. It's an adequate time passer that has been done hundreds of times but with the help of the sincere performances and the quality of the screenwriting of the controversial Dalton Trumbo, it ends up being better than average.
Interesting but contrived, this sorority drama isn't quite "Satan's School for Girls", but it has the same setup as that cult TV movie. Read and Blake give good performances as the roommates with Read truly down to earth and realistic about what the Gamma sorority is all about, with Blake much more sensitive to rejection. James Ellison co-stars as the All-American college boy who meets Shirley in an amusing moment concerning a fire escape and it is obvious when the sorority girls from Gamma sees Ellison and Shirley together, that their snooty reaction is one of jealousy, not just snobbism.
Veteran character actress Elisabeth Risdon stands out in a small role as Blake's obnoxious aunt whose character stands in the way of Blake getting into the Gamma's. To contrast Risdon, there is J.M. Kerrigan as Shirley's wise father who supplies the moral of the story at the end of the film. It's an adequate time passer that has been done hundreds of times but with the help of the sincere performances and the quality of the screenwriting of the controversial Dalton Trumbo, it ends up being better than average.