Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

ANNE SHIRLEY and JAMES ELLISON are the romantic leads in this trifle directed by John Farrow about a nice young girl who learns her lessons at college the hard way--by attempting to fit into the sorority scene when she comes from a humble background and is not a girl of wealth as the other girls are falsely told.Shirley and Ellison make a pleasant twosome but their roles are one-dimensional after they meet in the usual Hollywood "by accident" way. He's the campus hero who helps her learn the ins and outs of campus life. Anne Shirley made this film the same year that she tested for Melanie in GWTW and her sweetness appears natural here. But, as usual, her roles seldom became more demanding than requiring a sweet presence, limiting her opportunities as an actress.Surprisingly, Dalton Trumbo wrote the script and Nicholas Musuraca was behind the camera but it's just an RKO trifle easily forgotten.

Sentimental B-movie about a small town girl named Alice (played by Anne Shirley), daughter of a grocer and devoted daddy's girl, whose father gives her a big surprise - he is sending her to college, her dream of dreams. Moving into a boarding house near campus, she is soon immersed in the most important thing in the world to all the females at her college - rush week for the campus sororities. Alice has two roommates - one, a plain, bookish sophomore, ignored in last's year's freshman rush - the other a girl who longs to be pledged by the all-important "Gamma" sorority. Well even though some of these sorority girls *are* big snobs, more concerned with how much money a girl's family has than her character - our Alice still HOPES she will be invited to join one of these sororities. When she meets and romances, almost the very first day, hunky Bill, "Big Shot On Campus" - he just may be able to give the push she needs to make her dream come true.Okay, this film is fluff, with a very silly plot - and yes, the women at this college look more like starlets strolling around a studio backlot than college students. But - Anne Shirley is such a very lovely young actress with an endearing quality about her and is *such* an expert at playing this sweet girl/perfect daughter type, she just manages to add enough charm to this to make it work. There is a nice relationship shown between Anne Shirley's character and her all-wise father, played by J.M. Kerrigan. The ending is predictable, yet satisfying. A decent film, much better than I was expecting - worth seeing.

Before the college film degraded into the gross-out comedy and the slasher flick there was the little seen charmer "Sorority House". It revolves around Alice, a young woman whose main desire in life is to attend college. Her financially struggling father ensures this happens and with this we enter the world of the film, which takes place in a particularly non-descript campus somewhere in the Midwest.This uber-innocent romantic comedy flows along with a very brief running time of sixty-four minutes. It deals mainly with Alice's humble interest in seeing her hopeful roommate at the boarding house garner interest of one of the local sororities, but as fate (read a fraternity member) would have it Alice is instead selected due to a technicality. Alice starts to be overcome by all of the elitism that comes from being involved with the young woman of Gamma House, and in a key scene she chooses the clique over her real family.Given some mild female empowerment moments, it's not a surprise Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay, since a year later he'd write the script for "Kitty Foyle", the Ginger Rogers vehicle that can be seen as a fair attempt a work of minor pre-feminism. Here the intention seems almost to expose sororities as merely a choice for a young woman, and not the only way to pave a future, as is mentioned again and again from several characters. There does seem to be some underlying criticism of the elitism and focus on money, which makes it seem pretty edgy for its time.The best moments were spent with Barbara Read's character, Dotty, the young woman who stands on her own two feet and laughs in the face of the sorority that turned her away. It has a certain charm and wit that makes it a nice view, but the running time and underdeveloped character make it seem little more than a trifle. Oh, and the brief suicide attempt seemed way out of place here!

"Revenge of the Nerds" would copy the basic storyline from 1939's "Sorority House"; which has more angst and less humor. Anne Shirley plays Alice Fisher-the daughter of a small grocer who at the last minute gets to go to little Talbot College. On the train she learns that joining a sorority is an essential thing at the school. Unfortunately her late admission means that none of the sororities know about Alice and initially she is not even rushed. Arriving at the train station she asks about sororities but is told by a snooty girl that they are by invitation only. There is an immediate credibility problem here-if you have seen any Anne Shirley movies you know that any sorority in the world would be clamoring to have her join. But the situation regains its lost credibility when Alice's plain Jane roommate Dotty (Barbara Read) calls her a date getter and tells her that the sororities will want her once they see her because she will attract men. You need looks and money to get into these organizations at Talbot and sometimes even that is not enough. Those who don't make it are called "dreeps".Almost all the coeds are Hollywood starlets so a date getter seems irrelevant. Even Dotty has the starlet look, as do three nerd girls in the next room. They try to detune these girls by putting them in glasses and braiding their hair. Marge Champion and Veronica Lake have small parts as average coeds, which should make you wish that you had been the BMOC at Talbot. The actual BMOC is Bill Loomis (James Ellison), he wears a letter sweater and is actually a very nice guy. The Alice-Bill romance is the best part of the film and has a lot of Norman Rockwell charm.Doris Jordan plays Neva Simpson, the nasty queen bee of Gamma-the best sorority. She blackballs poor Merle (Pamela Blake) who is Alice's other roommate. Merle is devastated and suicidal. Shirley was a wonderful actress, not just extremely beautiful but able to project an effortless likability. The film's best scene is her realization that in trying to impress the sorority girls she has hurt her father (J.M. Kerrigan). Beautiful nonverbal acting, which looks even better showcased in "Sorority House", where the other actresses are just not on her talent level."Sorority House" is a little sappy and takes most of its shots at the low hanging fruit of the 1930's sorority system, but Shirley, Ellison, and Kerrigan turn it into a very enjoyable production. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.