Finishing School

No smoking. No drinking. No lipstick. Pretty Virginia Radcliffe (Frances Dee) earnestly accepts the strict rules enforced by exclusive Crockett Hall. Have a smoke, have a drink and have a wild weekend in New York, suggests her roommate Pony Ferris (Ginger Rogers), who knows the rules have nothing to do with the girls' welfare and everything to do with the school's reputation. Adorably worldly, appealingly smart, third-billed Rogers steals the show in Finishing School, giving pretense a swift kick in the comedy keester as she mother-hens her classmates through a booze-and-bad-boy Manhattan fling. The frank pre-Code storyline even allows innocent Virginia to wind up pregnant and unpunished.

• drama