Secrets of A Co-Ed (DVD)

Brenda (Tina Thayer), daughter of prominent District Attorney James Reynolds (Otto Kuger) is the hellcat of polite Dorford College. Week after week, Brenda's bad girl behavior lands her in front of her exasperated Dean. The incorrigible slut, insolent and wild beyond her years, confides her deepest and most primal urges to her diary as her father's stellar reputation and influence allow her to skate away from the consequences and repercussions of her lascivious actions. An upstanding pillar of the community, District Attorney Reynolds is in truth the overlord of a crime syndicate. The D.A. uses the power of his elected office, and a violent mob of gangsters to enforce his crime empire. Reynolds' covert activities are threatened with exposure when his daughter falls in love with his number one enforcer, Nick Jordan (Rick Vallin). As Reynolds puts a bounty on Nick's head, the couple make plans to escape the city. However, Nick is rubbed out before the lovers can flee. Accused of Nick's murder, and incriminated by her own salacious diary, Brenda is defended by her father in a breathtaking courtroom finale that climaxes with a spectacular closing argument.

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis, Secrets of a Co-ed is an early work from a prolific journeyman director that anticipates his best remembered film, Gun Crazy (1949). Produced by the greatest of the poverty row studios, PRC, Secrets of a Co-ed features a tight script filled with hardboiled dialogue that metaphorically explores the evil, corrupting forces of capitalism and the thuggery inherent in the American character.

• drama