Too young to kiss

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Movie
German title Too young to kiss
Original title Too Young to Kiss
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1951
length 91 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Robert Z. Leonard
script Frances Goodrich
Albert Hackett
production Sam Zimbalist
for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
camera Joseph Ruttenberg
cut Conrad A. Annoying
occupation

Too young for kissing (original title Too Young to Kiss ) is an American romantic comedy of 1951 directed by Robert Z. Leonard . The leading roles are cast with June Allyson and Van Johnson as well as Gig Young . A 22-year-old pianist poses as her sister, who is eight years her junior, and is therefore attracting increased attention not only in the role of a child prodigy .

The script is based on a story by Everett Freeman. The German movie theaters announced the film as follows when it was released: "What can happen when a charming 22-year-old lady turns into a 14-year-old child prodigy, you can experience in MGM's lively comedy film 'Too Young to Kiss'." Alternatively: "Two hours of laughter over the child prodigy June Allyson and his perplexed admirers." Or also: "Hilarious situations, great mix-ups, wonderful music in a turbulent comedy."

plot

Cynthia Potter is a talented pianist hoping for her chance. Eric Wainwright, on the other hand, is such a busy impresario that he is besieged by a myriad of people who believe they are concert stars and hope that his advocacy will give them a chance. Time and again, Cynthia tried to get an audition appointment with him, without success. When Wainwright was looking for young musicians for a children's concert tour, Cynthia had the idea to audition for the impresario. But since she has already outgrown her childhood, she dresses up accordingly and pretends to be her own little sister, a so-called child prodigy. Dressed up with braces, braces and bows in her hair, she introduces herself as 14-year-old Molly. In fact, Wainwright signs the "little one" and is appalled by the way Molly is treated by her "older sister, Cynthia" and "her uncle," who is actually Cynthia's fiancé, journalist John Tirsen. Soon a bond develops between the unequal couple and "Molly" feels increasingly uncomfortable when she has to lie to Eric about the facts. When the impresario catches “the child” smoking and drinking, he takes Molly with him to his country house, where she is supposed to prepare for her first big concert in a few weeks away from cigarettes and alcohol.

On the one hand, Wainwright's girlfriend Denise Dorcet is not happy about the attention that "Molly" receives from him, on the other hand, "Molly's" fiancé is also trying to convince Cynthia to abandon the game. Although Cynthia conjures him up, he publishes the story a few hours before the first appearance of the so-called “child prodigy” in his newspaper. Wainwright, on the other hand, is confronted with the truth immediately before Molly's appearance and has to communicate the fact of being misled, which is also unpleasant for him, to his audience. For Cynthia, things are particularly thick, and she is not spared the opportunity to appear in front of the audience in her children's dress. However, her wonderful game reconciles the people in the hall who cheer her.

Quarreling with herself, Cynthia regrets not listening to John, marrying him and giving up her concert career. She fell in love with Eric Wainwright, so she wanted to spare him embarrassment and didn't want him to lose the money he had already invested. Directly from the concert she runs from the place of her shame, as she thinks, in her children's dress to the train station, where John is waiting for her. Together they want to go to Indianapolis , where he has taken a new job. Suddenly the train stopped and stopped, Wainwright appeared accompanied by the police to get the "kidnapped child" off the train. Before John, who is speechless, can act, Cynthia is no longer on the train, which starts moving again. On the platform, Eric Wainwright wraps Cynthia in his arms and tells the perplexed policemen that the alleged child is a grown young woman whom he is finally allowed to kiss.

production

Production notes

The film was shot at the Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios in Culver City , California . The available budget was estimated at $ 1,400,000. According to Everett Freeman, his story was bought by MGM in February 1949. At the time, June Allyson and Robert Taylor were named as the stars of the production and Freeman was to write the script. According to a message in the Hollywood Reporter on March 28, 1949, Freeman's fee for his story was reduced from $ 60,000 to $ 45,000 when he joined Warner Bros. to write the script for their 1950 film Pretty Baby . Allegedly he would then no longer be available to write the script for his own story.

This is the fourth of five films in which Allyson and Johnson starred together. The age difference between the two is just over a year. June Allyson was 34 years old when it was shot. You and Johnson were lifelong friends.

Soundtrack

publication

The film premiered on November 22, 1951 in New York City. The film opened in Australia in March 1952, Sweden in April 1952, Mexico in June 1952, Denmark in September 1952, Turkey in October 1952, Finland in October 1952 and Argentina in November 1952.

The film was released in the Federal Republic of Germany on November 28, 1952, in Austria in May 1953 and in Portugal also in May 1953. It was also released in Brazil, Italy, Spain and Venezuela. The working English title was All Too Young .

reception

criticism

The Variety critic noted that while the humor in Too Young to Kiss is neither the level and sophistication of The Thin Man (1934) nor the wit of Father of the Bride (1950) - both are also based on the script by Goodrich and Hackett - achieve, but still be an entertaining comedy, a kind of harmless pleasure that allows an audience to relax and smile quietly to themselves without effort.

John McCarten wrote in the New Yorker that Miss Allyson was about as plausible in her role as Dame May Whitty was as Cinderella. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times was unfazed by Allyson's and Johnson's pubescent antics, as he put it, and spoke of a willful suspension of disbelief .

The Ace Black Movie Blog , where the film received three stars out of five, believed the film was both more disconcerting and fragile than a typical romantic comedy and that it carried a welcome undertone of anger, whether on purpose or not open, perhaps because June Allyson's character Cynthia is seething about the injustice of an entertainment world in which her talent is celebrated as a child and ignored as an adult. Finally, Too Young To Kiss raises questions about the nature of the talent, the treatment of women, and the twists and turns of a career. It is possible that the film was thoughtlessly intended for one of the most popular film couples, but it contained more discussion points than expected.

The MikeGrost side said the film started well and then lost its way. The opening scenes benefited from their location in New York and featured a world of culture and classical music, while the rest of the film was mostly set in the country, at Van Johnson's manor. The opening also benefits from Hans Conried in a small role during a prelude scene, he knows how to conjure up a lively and comical figure from it.

The film service found: “Mostly amusing mistaken-up comedy. - From 12."

Awards

Academy Awards 1952

Golden Globe Awards 1952

  • Award for June Allyson in the category "Best Actress"

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Too young to kiss see illustration. Advertising advice
  2. ↑ a b c d Too Young to Kiss see page tcm.com (English; the page is currently not available from Germany).
  3. ↑ Too Young to Kiss (1951) - Overview - TCM.com ( en ) Turner Classic Movies . Archived from the original on October 16, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  4. ↑ Movie Review: Too Young Kiss (1951)
    see page theaceblackblog.com, December 3, 2017 (English). Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  5. ^ Robert Z. Leonard: Too Young to Kiss see page mikegrost.com (English). Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  6. ↑ Too young to kiss. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 14, 2021 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. ↑ The 24th Academy Awards | 1952 see page oscars.org (English).