Nine Girls

Leigh Jason arbeitete als ebenso talentierter wie produktiver Regisseur von B-Musicals und Komödien bei RKO und Columbia, bevor er seine Karriere erfolgreich beim Fernsehen fortsetzte. NINE GIRLS ist ein guter Ausgangspunkt für seine Neubewertung: ein comedy murder mystery im nur scheinbar idyllischen Mädchencollege. Ein Mord wird vorhergesagt, die Prophezeiung erfüllt sich auch. “Men beware!”, warnte ein Inserat, “These Girls have love in their hearts and murder on their minds!” – Jede der Damen hat ein Tatmotiv, was den Film zu einem hintergründigen Whodunit macht.

Mit THE FALCON AND THE CO-EDS

The rarely acknowledged Leigh Jason was a talented and prolific director of B-musicals and comedies at RKO and Columbia before continuing with equal success in television. NINE GIRLS is a wonderful place to start a critical re-evaluation; a brisk and sly comedy-murder mystery set among a small town college sorority whose problematically most prominent member is the vituperative Paula, a spoiled socialite whose fang marks scar each of the other members. “Someday that snake in silk underwear is going to find her neck in a sling!” predicts one of the sisters, and quite correctly when Paula’s brutal murder en route to an induction ceremony leaves the remaining seven and two nervous inductees, together with their matronly chaperone, stranded in the sorority’s mountain lodge wondering who among them committed the crime they all not so secretly desired. Buoyed by a spirited cast donning competing heart-shape beehive hairdos and including Anita Louise (briefly), Nina Foch and Evelyn Keyes, NINE GIRLS is laced with deliciously catty repartee adapted from the original play by Karen DeWolf and Connie Lee, regular writers for Columbia’s popular BLONDIE series. (Haden Guest)

With THE FALCON AND THE CO-EDS