Nearly Eighteen (1943) User Reviews

Monogram's Brightest Star!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 26 May 2012]

Gale Storm was the brightest star that Monogram had - unfortunately, being Monogram, they didn't have the money or the power to promote her as she deserved. At 17 she won a "Gateway to Hollywood" radio contest and also a contract with RKO but by the early 1940s she was at Monogram and movies like "Campus Rhythm" (1943) and "Sunbonnet Sue" (1945) took advantage of her beauty and musical talents.

Unfortunately "Nearly Eighteen" was nearly bad in all departments. It's one memorable song "Feels Like I'm Walking On Air" was virtually thrown away - once in a "I've just written a song" way and another, at an audition when Jane had supposedly lost her confidence!! In spite of that it became a hit in it's day. Gale Storm was the one bright spot as Jane Stanton, a promising singer who after a melodious audition ("A Little Bell Rang"), the fact that she is "nearly eighteen" means she is too young to be hired at Gus's (Luis Alberni) club. After an employment mix-up where police are involved she is sent to Jack Leonard (William Henry) who runs a children's talent school where no one over 14 is admitted. It seems Jane is just an "inbetweener" but with the help of bows and bobbysox and a lot of imagination she manages to fool everyone but her audition of "Let Him Whistle" complete with wolf whistles from the young boys was definitely in poor taste.

There is some excellent tap dancing from some pretty talented youngsters, still Jack believes "little Jane" will be the school's shining star. Of course she can't stay a child forever and besides, Jack is beginning to fall for her and with his help and belief Jane finds the confidence to make a career as a night club singer!!

Storm is the only cast member of any note. Rick Vallin played sleazy Tony and his right hand man was George O'Hanlon who was better known as Joe McDoakes in Warner's short subject series "So You Want to .....".

Kind of Creepy

[Handlinghandel · 4/10 · 7 January 2007]

OK: First, it is great to see a comedy from Monogram. Let's hear it for Poverty Row! This particular movie is strangely unappealing. Gale Storm masquerades as a young teenager while she is hanging around with ostensibly comic hoodlums. And she gets her little-girl outfit by stealing it. Is that a model for children to follow? Trust me, I am very far from a prude. But I am a moral person. And this wants to be both adorable and a little spicy. We're supposed to be pulling for her and, I guess, to ignore her dishonesty.

Yes, Ginger Rogers engages in a somewhat similar masquerade in "The Major and The Minor." But that movie is enormously witty and appealing. Are there lecherous overtones? Probably.

But here, Storm goes back and forth, looking only marginally different in each guise, from being a supposed child under 14 and a desirable songstress with curves that show.

Even the title sounds as if it belongs with an X-rated film.

Storm is OK. I have never seen her on TV. From what friends say, I am missing a lot in this. I do wish her show would be run along with seventies sitcoms. She is certainly the best in this. The rest of the performers are wooden and undistinguished.

I didn't intensely dislike it but I couldn't bring myself to like it much, either

Nearly watchable.

[ptb-8 · 4/10 · 11 September 2007]

Apart from some terrific tapping teens this horrible Monogram musical is hard work. There are two other excellent comments on this page and you are encouraged to read them too.... my feelings are not much different... and it is quite a leap to see nice Gale Storm stealing and deceiving to get a course into tap dance school. To be honest the kids who dance around her and en-masse in class are more entertaining. Gale clearly looks like young teen Shirley Temple and manages to pout and sing as good as Shirley. But it is a weak film and rather annoying. The early scenes in the (usual) café set (gingham tablecloths and gushing overweight Italian owner... an awful cliché....) are irritating. It isn't until we are encouraged to take a leap of credibility of Gale the kid sashaying into Gale the slinky singer (for crims!) that the film becomes more interesting if not borderline exasperating. like I said, the lively hep kids also in class are more fun and really good young dancers. Sorry Gale. One scene when she steals the luggage of a rich kid has a background soundtrack of someone singing scales repeated so many times you will almost fling the DVD out the window.

Okay little C-movie

[vandino1 · 6 January 2007]

This is a Monogram film and that qualifies it less as a B-film than a C-film. Gale Storm had been dropped by RKO after a short stint and Monogram grabbed her. They tried to make her their own little star but ultimately it was television in the fifties that finally established Ms. Storm. Not that she wasn't without talent at this early stage in her career, but the association with drab sets and third-rate actors, writing and direction that came with Monogram certainly kept a dim spotlight on her appearances. In this one she plays a wannabe singer who is, as the title states, of a certain age, and unable to get singing work. She ends up getting shunted around, first to a job with a bookmaker that quickly lands her in trouble, then to a singing/dancing academy that only takes students between the ages 8 and 14. Quick as a flash, and as fast as you can say "rip-off of 'The Major and The Minor'"(from 1942--the year before) our little Stormy is play-acting a fourteen-year old in order to get into the academy. Complications, of course, ensue. At least Storm, unlike Ginger Rogers in Billy Wilder's film, is passably convincing as a younger teen, but the stakes and transformation aren't very much. Storm's character is really only making herself a couple of years younger and only to get a little voice and dance training. It appears the filmmakers watched 'Major and The Minor' and used the central idea, but neglected to use the strong comical complications that the idea offers. Still, it's not bad for a Monogram film, being more watchable than most of them.

Gale Storm Was Beautiful! Love this picture!

[vilenciaproductions · 10/10 · 28 September 2020]

"Nearly Eighteen" starring beautiful Gale Storm is a fun little picture with an excellent cast of supporting character actors! Love the dancers and the songs! So what if it's a "B" picture! Back in the 1940's it wasn't uncommon for a 27 year old guy to get married to a 16 year old girl! In fact it was very common! (My mom and dad; he was 27 and she was 16) So that's not so creepy for Jack Leonard who runs the dance studio to get the hots for a teenage girl! Luis Alberni who plays Gus the nightclub owner seems like he's ready to bust a gut anytime! Of course I knew George O'Hanlon who plays Eddie and Rick Vallin who plays the gangster Tony Morgan was a handsome good looking guy! In this picture both characters Jack & Tony have the hots for Gale Storm! She was a doll, who won't have the hots for a 1940's babe like her! (Nice lady I knew her as well) The teenage kid dancers were excellent! Tap dance has lost it's steam today, because of all of the stupid dumb hip-hop jive, that anybody could do and it requires no talent whatsoever! Gale Storm could belt out a tune with the best of them, I liked her better than Judy Garland! The picture only runs one hour! We projected a beautiful 16mm reduction print last night, and I always enjoy running this picture on the big screen! These so called "B" movies blow away most if not all of the "A" movies made in 2020! Forget these other reviews, they sound jaded! Relax a little, see these old flicks on FILM if you can instead of a DVD or digital crap! Nothing like seeing a black and white film on film! Best of all there are no cell phones, computers, colored haired and tattooed morons running around using every curse word on earth! Hey I know some of the background score was schmaltzy - but even at that it's not some obnoxious rap or rock 'n roll garbage blasting your brain out! Common sense and decency died sometime in the 1980's and we've never recovered since! I just love this picture, gonna go looking for some hot babes that are nearly eighteen! Now where did I put that Covid-19 mask????