Review of Girl 27 (2007) by Angela G — 18 Mar 2009

I had never heard of Patricia Douglas or anything of this scandal until watching this documentary. I knew the film industry in Hollywood at the time (1930s) was king, but geez! The horrible injustice that MGM created for this woman was just unbelievable. David Stenn does a great job of tracking down the evidence (and eventually, Douglas herself). It's all very engrossing, and will have you salivating for more, but it also had its faults.

David Stenn, the director, seems a little bit too close to his subject matter to remain neutral here- I guess we shouldn't expect him to either way, but towards the end, his passion for his subject ("I guess you could say I love her") seems to blind him from presenting the facts in an objective matter by which the viewer may make a decision one way or another (how he handled the presentation of Patricia's less-than-stellar current family life, was one example).

I wasn't so much bothered by him "ingratiating" himself into every scene of the film- it was, after all, his journey too, and that would be like getting annoyed because Jill Morley was in every scene pretty much of her doc 'Stripped'- I do believe he could've taken himself "out" of the film a bit.

Patrica Douglas is a typical cranky old shut-in, but she can be very funny at times and endearing, despite her grumpiness. It seems that the powers that be at the time of the scandal preyed upon the perceived weaknesses of her personality- much like witches in the middle ages were preyed upon because they were loners, etc...I'd definitely recommend this.