The Flaming Teen Age

The Flaming Teenage (1956)

** (out of 4)

Fred (Noel Reyburn) is a small town boy who seems to have the perfect small town life. His father left him a candy store and he's dating a great gal but this just isn't enough. After getting a sampling of alcohol, Fred decides it's time to head to the big city where soon he's broke and hooked on heroin.

THE FLAMING TEENAGE was apparently shot in 1945 as TWICE CONVICTED and this title is on a card at the end of the picture. Apparently new footage was shot and it finally got released in 1956. No matter what or when it was shot, this is a rather predictable entry into the propaganda machine, which started in the silent era and moved through the next couple decades as countless films were made to warn young people about the evils that await them.

Of course, if you've seen one of these films then you've really seen them all as rarely anything new happened in them. We've seen countless stories were a naive person ends up leaving the small town and going bad in the big city. The only thing somewhat different here is the insane and over-the-top religious element that pops up at the end of the picture. Outside of this THE FLAMING TEENAGE is pretty much like everything you've seen.

Thankfully there are some pretty campy moments that add some laughs including an early scene where a guy drinks alcohol for the first time and turns into a drunken maniac. Scenes like this an others were people are "drugged" make the film a bit more energetic and especially with the weaker performances.

The title indicates this was either intended or marketed as a teensploitation film, but it would be more aptly titled Flaming Banality. This film aimed at being a preachy b-movie melodrama about the dangers of underage drinking and drugs, but instead hit the trifecta of bad acting, uninspired script, mind-numbing predictability while denuded of any of the cheese which makes teensploitation films so fun. Imagine one of those bad elementary school ephemeral films stretched out to feature-film length, complete with characters lacking the depth of cardboard, lacking in wit, and progressing at a geologic pace.

The film's two stories are connected only by an older man suffering from a terminal deficiency of charisma. In the first, Eddie stumbles home drunk after turning down a hot platinum blonde southern belle, the only attractive woman appearing in this film. To cure him, his father takes him out for a night of barhopping, where a bar fight over a drunken floozie between her jealous husband and the guy at the bar she was dancing with convinces Eddie to stop drinking. I'm still scratching my head over that one.

We are then launched to New York City for a supposedly true story about a guy who... well, I'll spare you the dull details, but after a failed suicide attempt-for some reason by drinking iodine--Garland gets hooked on drugs, is sent to jail, and becomes a preacher. The audience in his church looks as bored as the film's audience or is also strung out on heroin, but it hardly inspires confidence that his preaching days won't lead to more iodine.

If meant to convince teens to avoid these dangers, perhaps they could have made it interesting enough for kids to suffer through. For anyone to watch. For heaven's sake, sprinkle on some cheese! By the end, I was praying either for the platinum blonde to return or for someone to fill the Communion goblet with iodine.

Some of the actors were unable to prevent the producers from naming during the opening credits rap sheet, but at least they were spared the indignity of being identified by the roles they played.