GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

terrygaffney I agree with the many who feel this remake of 'The Male Animal' falls far short of the original- but- Gene Nelson's dancing is worth suffering through the rest.

Ed-Shullivan Virginia Mayo, (Pre) President Ronald Reagan, Gene Nelson, Don DeFore as well as some other excellent supporting performances made this a fantastic musical filled with romance, a bitter jealousy and rivalry, a dirty old chairman of the university board, and a song and dance/gymnastic performance in the latter half of the film by Gene Nelson that was worth the price of admission alone.Let's face it folks, a 32 year old Virginia Mayo is not hard on the eyes. For the ladies, Gene Nelson as the dancing Don Juan or more appropriately named football star Don Weston is absolutely charming in his scenes with or without his leading lady Angela Gardner aka "Hot Garters Gertie" (Virginia Mayo).The Professor John Palmer (Ronald Reagan) dearly loves his wife Helen Palmer (Phyllis Thaxter) who is being wooed by her college boyfriend Shep Slade (Don DeFore) that makes Professor Palmer more than just a bit jealous. So for one evening he drinks to get drunk and even as a bad drunk, he still maintains a classy exterior as he jibber jabbers to the blonde student Angela Gardner (Virginia Mayo) and her charming boyfriend Don Weston until such time that his wife Helen shows up at their front door with her old beau Shep Slade now a successful businessman still trying to woo Helen. This is not a dramatic film so the confrontation that takes place between the drunk Professor Palmer and the amorous Shep Slade is quite comical.There is a musical at the college that must be performed, and the role for the lead female singer/dancer that will partner with the handsome Don Weston on stage is a rivalry between the gorgeous and talented Angela Gardner (Virginia Mayo) and another beautiful lass coyly nicknamed 'Poison' Ivy Williams (Patrice Wymore). A little blackmail is involved, but all works out in the end because as we in Hollywood have come to know..."the show must go on!"This is a jewel of a film on many fronts, excellent cinematography and colorization, a humorous storyline that involved a weak attempt at blackmail, some fantastic dance sequences (especially Gene Nelson's over the top acrobatic song and dance number in the school gymnasium) a superb cast that made me laugh and quite simply forget the world we live in for the next 104 minutes.I give the film an excellent 9 out of 10 rating!

Jimmy L. I've seen Virginia Mayo in a handful of films, including WHITE HEAT (1949), CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER (1951), and THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946). She was always a beauty, but I was blown away by her in this film. She's incredibly gorgeous in Technicolor and she shows off her dancing skills in this starring role. (Her singing was dubbed.) While the movie on the whole is only so-so, Mayo sure is wonderful to look at.Another interesting reason to see this film is to glimpse Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, in his acting days. Reagan had made dozens of other pictures before this one, but this was my first experience seeing him in a movie. (I was first turned on to this film when a clip was featured in the 1985 Cold War comedy SPIES LIKE US, made during the Reagan presidency.)In this film, Reagan plays a college professor who struggles to make ends meet. Mayo is a dancer who enrolls at the college to better herself. Mayo's popularity among the boys makes one co-ed jealous enough to dig up some dirt on her. Meanwhile, the scholarly Reagan feels as though he's losing his wife to her old flame, an ex-football star who's back in town for the big game.SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE (1952) is a musical adaptation of an earlier comedy THE MALE ANIMAL (1942), starring Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland. The story has been tweaked a little, but the inspiration is still pretty clear for those familiar with the original.Aside from the musical numbers, the big difference is that Ronald Reagan's professor character is in hot water for staging a musical starring an ex-burlesque dancer, while Henry Fonda's professor was in trouble for reading a controversial (communist) letter in his literary lecture series. Some people have noted that SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE is mindless fluff that wipes away the socio-political message of the original story. Well, it is and it does. But the movie is what it is, and that's fine.I saw THE MALE ANIMAL first (caught it on TCM), and I must say that overall I think I prefer this remake. It doesn't hit the viewer over the head with a message, it's just a lighthearted campus tale. As I said before, Virginia Mayo is stunningly beautiful in a role that was more or less created for this musical version. (Her character's namesake from the earlier film is a different part entirely.) And while Ronald Reagan isn't a top-shelf thespian, I think I prefer his take on the professor character to Henry Fonda's pathetic wimp. I love Olivia de Havilland in most of her films, but her portrayal in the original version made her seem rather unlikeable as a wife all-too-glad to see her ex come into town. (Mind you that I'm trying to recall THE MALE ANIMAL from memory.) One thing I do favor from the earlier film is Jack Carson's performance as the big shot, ex-jock (the role played by Don DeFore in this movie). I think Carson pulled off the "Statue of Liberty play" routine best.I wasn't a big fan of THE MALE ANIMAL (it had its moments and is an interesting find for film buffs), and on its own merits I'm not a huge fan of SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE. The film's not bad, but it's nothing special. The songs aren't all that memorable and the story isn't anything earth-shattering. (I can't believe a college would want a student expelled for a past life working in a burlesque hall. This is America, darn it.) Of course musicals aren't always my thing. It's a pleasant movie. A likable movie. A neat movie to check out if you get the chance.One final thought: I was very impressed by Gene Nelson's solo number toward the end of the film. The song ("Am I in Love?") is meh, but Nelson's dance in the gymnasium shows that he is not only a dancer, but a tremendous athlete. The routine involves all sorts of gymnastic feats that Nelson clearly performs himself. The guy had skills.

lzf0 This is a color musical remake of Warners' classic "The Male Animal". In this version, Henry Fonda is replaced by everyone's favorite future President, Ronald Reagan. Reagan is again cast as a college professor, after his brilliant performance in "Bedtime for Bonzo". Musical-comedy was certainly not Reagan's strong point, but he is not embarrassing at all in this splashy color remake. And Bonzo is nowhere in sight. The "I'll Be Loving You" number, written by expert songwriters Vernon Duke and Sammy Cahn, is a standout. I find it hilarious that Virginia Mayo's singing is dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams, Gene Nelson's singing is done by Hal Derwin, but the Pres sings his one line in the number for himself. I believe it is Reagan's only performance in a full production musical number. Thank goodness he was not asked to dance! Mayo and Nelson do that very well on their own. It is surprising that none of the Duke-Cahn songs from this film became standards. Their songs in this film, as well as Warner's "April in Paris" are first rate.