Review of Boy Friend

Boy Friend (1939)
6/10
Jane Withers Starts To Grow Up
3 July 2019
When one of his friends from the police academy is killed, Richard Bond quits and goes undercover to investigate. Meanwhile his sister, Jane Withers, tries to help out when not distracted by George Ernest, whose uniform from a military academy sets her 13-year-old heart palpitating in this typical vehicle for Miss Withers.

Jane is not the center of this 20th Century-Fox B movie, but she is the main point-of-view character, which contains a bit less overt humor than most of her vehicles. She had been given her own B series four years earlier with the amazing success of Shirley Temple, both as line extension and a bit of a competitive threat. She played characters a bit more raucous than Shirley. Given the lower production costs of her movies and their more frequent appearances, she may have been more profitable!

However, Miss Withers appeal, like Miss Temple's, was predicated on her abilities as a child. The next year would end the relationship of both stars with Zanuck's company.
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