not horrible nor great

Let's be realistic.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Girls in Uniform is a feminist classic.This film is one of the hidden themes of early German cinema. For a movie that was made in 1931 the structure was very good. Light is used to indicate the repression of the girls. The girls were in a world full of darkness by the authorities of the boarding school. The interesting thing was that the main focus was on the relationship between Manuela and her teacher, there were other relationships too but they ware not the main focus. My feeling is that none of those girls were happy in that school but they learned to handle the situation and simply to live with it.

Filmed in pre-National Socialist Germany when the economy was at a true low. The girls at this Catholic boarding school are slight, pale, hungry creatures -for food and comfort. Daughters of soldiers, they are taught discipline and deprivation, not luxury. The girls, however, have more personality and strength of character than those in the majority of movies produced nowadays. Manuela is a highly emotional 14 year old 'new girl' who has no mother. She, like the rest of her classmates, yearns for the attention of the fair and beautiful Fraulein von Burnberg. Ilse is the school trouble-maker, leader, and clown. Witty and outspoken, she repeatedly entertains the other girls, binding them together in secret comradery against their oppressive elders. At an after-play function Manuela is the only student who can tolerate the taste of the punch given to them as a reward. Her friends pass their cups on to her and she soon gets herself quite drunk. In a semi-conscious state she announces her feelings for the popular Fraulein von Burnberg to the entire school along with the infuriated Headmistress. These girls are not all lesbians, they are merely children starved of human contact and love. As a result they throw their hearts at the open mind and kind heart of Frau von Burnberg. I found it surprising and beautiful how loyal the girls were to each other. There is very little rivalry or conflict among the students, a vast contrast to the modern representation of teens. Even when Manuela embarrasses herself horribly in front of the school, her classmates stick by her without hesitation. That's cool.

The German film Madchen in Uniform was an interesting film. I was a little caught off guard because first I didn't know that it was a foreign film and secondly I wasn't in the mood to see a film of that sort on that particular night. Thus since I feel that there is a certain type of movie to fit each mood and if you watch a phenomenal movie when you are not in the mood to see it the caliber of that film declines in your mind. Thus I don't think I gave this film a fair chance from the beginning. I thought it was interesting how this film reflecting an obvious presence of lesbians and homosexuality experimentation far preceded its time. I also think that not only did it far precede its time that I thought people were open to homosexuality but I would never expect a film to portray homosexuality in a positive light in the 1930s. However, one thing that I don't understand about the film is that when it came to America supposedly all of these aspects of homosexuality were censored. I don't understand if you took out all of these signs that point to lesbians what parts of this movie would remain. I think the only worthwhile aspect of this film lies in the context with which it discusses homosexuality.

Ever wonder what European soft-core porn would look like in 1931? If you do, you are weird. But, if you do wonder what it'd be like, check out Maedchen in Uniform. To be fair, it is a bit more artistic than Emanuelle, but there is little subtlety to the lesbian erotica happening in this film. It turns out better than it started. I actually felt the characters' troubles to be honest and touching by the end. I cared what happened.I also believe that this film must have been somewhat well known to European filmmakers at the time. The direction is excellent, and it reminds me a bit of such directors as Jean Vigo and Jean Renoir among others.