Nostalgia films aren't what they used to be, and this Henry King comedy/romance looks back from the postwar era to the pre-Depression days with an unaffected sense of humor and an expert eye for Americana. Jeanne Crain gives a fine performance as Margie McDuff, your basic girl-next-door, daughter of an undertaker (Hobart Cavanaugh), enamored of her French teacher, and embarrassed when she inadvertently drops her bloomers at an inopportune moment. Charles Clarke's Technicolor cinematography respects its subject--an intimate rendition of small-town America in the Twenties--and was honored at a recent Filmex tribute to the art of cinematography.
“Now seen to be the definitive evocation of '20s college days and youthful romance, Margie is not exactly a musical although the few songs are perfectly placed, and the camera often seems to be dancing as it pans round a glistening ice-rink or a romantic college dance. Jeanne Crain is delightful as the young thing obsessed by both love and debating (‘keep the Marines out of Cuba' has an oddly contemporary ring), with director King bringing a sweet poetry to the scene of Margie alone at night, with soft music wafting in from the distance” (National Film Theater, London).