Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

MartinHafer It's funny that this film was a disappointment for Betty Grable and the studio, as I actually think it's better than most of her films. While I am not saying it's a great film, it is enjoyable and fits Grable very nicely. According to IMDb they attributed this to Grable not showing off her famous legs or because she wasn't peroxide blonde in the film. And, if you think about it, the film is supposed to be about equality and anti-sexism--and that's exactly how the studio execs behaved in blaming the film's lack of success on Grable's lessened sex appeal in this cute picture!When the film begin, it's the 1870s and women simply did not work outside the home. So, when Miss Pilgrim (Grable) completes secretarial school and goes looking for a job in Boston, it's quite shocking and she naturally runs into sexism. So, she makes it a crusade of sorts to gain acceptance....and by doing so she becomes an important spokesperson for the women's suffrage movement! She also finds many friends in one of the strangest boarding houses you'll ever see in a movie!The film is naturally filled with songs but not as many as in Grable's other films and a few of them are rather funny. Overall, it's a lighthearted and fun film about an important subject. Well worth seeing.

bkoganbing The Shocking Miss Pilgrim was born when Ira Gershwin might have been doing some spring cleaning and came on some old unpublished music of his late brother George. From that both a score came and a movie for that score, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim who shocked Boston by becoming a professional woman, a Type Writer.Betty Grable is in the title role and she's graduated from a secretarial school in New York and she gets assigned to Boston to a shipping firm headed by Dick Haymes. Haymes is a proper Bostonian of the time and believes the woman's place is in the home. Eventually he'd like to see Grable in his home, but not in the office. When he tries to reject her, his sister suffragette Anne Revere interferes and Betty starts a career there on this newfangled machine called a typewriter.As the first one in Boston, a city loath to break any traditions she's a hero to the women's suffrage movement, not something Dick is ready to deal with. Of course it all works out in the end and in a most peculiar manner too.Of these trunk songs that Ira Gershwin developed for the film, For You For Me Forevermore and Aren't You Kind Of Glad We Did became posthumous hits for brother George. Both are duets in the film sung by Grable and Haymes. Dick recorded them for Decca with his usual singing partner Helen Forrest, but Betty as per Darryl Zanuck's ban on his stars recording never put these down on wax. A pity too, they're both presented quite nicely.The Shocking Miss Pilgrim got very good reviews but did not do well at the box office. Grable's fortune was her legs and we got barely a glimpse of them in this film.Fortunately we can still enjoy a musical literally born in a trunk.

wpatey This is a first class musical. Several of the songs have become standards and continue to turn up in Gershwin orchestral compilations and in the repertoires of top cabaret artists. Ira Gershwin's lyrics for this show were among his wittiest ever.Betty Grable and Dick Haymes are in great voice. separately and in duet.The scenes in the boarding house peopled by eccentrics were highly original and very funny.It is inconceivable that this film has not been released on VHS or DVD, and that there is no CD of the soundtrack.It is my hope that some connoisseur of show tunes in the music business, like Michael Feinstein, will press for its release in some form.

bobj-3 The highlight of this film is the undiscovered songs by George Gershwin, which brother Ira wrote new lyrics to and Kay Swift arranged to make a film score that is a delight. One genuine hit, "For You, For Me, For Evermore," plus a near-hit, "Aren't You Glad We Did," are supported by a host of other pleasing tunes, including the witty novelty, "But Not in Boston." Dick Haymes' rich baritone is another strong point in what is, from a storyline point of view, a rather silly film.