Underplayed Gems

Girls Town (1959)

Girls Town poster
Directed by
Charles F. Haas
Genre
drama film, teen film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 30m
Rated
NR
Rating
3.8 of 10 from 20 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like thisWatch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

A teenage girl is sent to a strict school run by nuns after getting into trouble. She worries she cannot help her sister and gets caught up in fights and car races.

campymelodramaticdatedexploitativeupbeatsentimentalenergetic

What happens

Girls Town is a 1959 American drama film directed by Charles F. Haas and starring Mamie Van Doren, Mel Tormé, and Ray Anthony. Paul Anka also appears in his first acting role. Van Doren stars as a juvenile delinquent who is sent to a girls' school run by nuns, where she finds herself unable to help her sister. The film capitalizes on the 1950s rebellious-teen exploitation films, with catfights, car races, music from Anka and The Platters, and sexy outfits. The supporting cast includes the offspring of two major silent cinema stars: Charles Chaplin Jr. and Harold Lloyd Jr. Also featured is James Mitchum (son of Robert Mitchum) and (as a nun) gossip columnist Sheilah Graham. Elinor Donahue of Father Knows Best also acted in the film. A year after making it she said: "I would just as soon forget the whole thing. In the first five minutes of the picture it was established that I was a good girl, being pushed into being a bad girl. The rest of the picture I spent doing practically nothing but crying and saying, 'Help me, help me!' It was fun making it, but it was an awful picture." Girls Town was lampooned in July 1994 on movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. About 15 minutes of the actual film were cut from this version. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.