Starring Veronica Lake, Sonny Tufts, Joan Caulfield, Ray Collins, Billy De
Wolfe, Lillian Gish
Directed by John Berry

Print: black/white
Runtime: 88 min.
Genre: drama
Print Quality: B

Based on the novel by Augusta Tucker, the provocatively titled Miss
Susie Slagle's is actually a leisurely, sentimental story set in a
turn-of-the-century boarding house. The title character, played by Lillian
Gish, is the house's landlady, catering exclusively to young doctors and
nurses in training. Miss Susie Slagle takes pride in the fact that not one
of her boarders has ever failed medical school, but for a while it looks as
though this perfect record will be spoiled by Elijah Howe Jr. (Bill
Edwards), the seemingly irresponsible son of one of Susie's former
tenants (Ray Collins). The bulk of the storyline is carried by med student
Pug Prentiss (Sonny Tufts), who carries on a romance with Howe Jr.'s
sister Margaretta (Joan Caulfield, in her film-starring debut). Flamboyant
comic actor Billy DeWolfe is uncharacteristically restrained as pragmatic
third-year student Ben Mead, though the script contrives to allow
DeWolfe to do one of his celebrated female-impersonation routines! In
true open-ended fashion, the film ends as it begins, with Miss Susie
Slagle welcoming another crop of students to her lodgings.