Too Young to Kiss

This film is simply fun. You can't take it too seriously, the idea of a woman in her twenties posing as a twelve year old - this is not something that happens everyday. June Allyson is wonderful in the lead, and is practically playing two characters. She does manage to look very young, despite her being in her thirties at the time. Van Johnson is his usual lovable self, and this movie is just too cute at times. Poor Gig Young is barely seen, but he does what he can with his role. This movie is too cute!

I just saw this movie for the first time today. The description reminded me of "The Major and the Minor" which is a movie I have watched over and over. While neither movie is Oscar material both are fun & romantic. If you are in the mood for light fare find June & Van in this one and enjoy.

Fortunately the two stars make the derivative premise work pretty well. Seems concert pianist Cynthia (Allyson) can't get an audition with high-powered promoter Wainwright (Johnson). So she pretends to be Cynthia's 13-year old sister Molly. As an apparent child prodigy, she's a sensation as Wainwright takes over her career. Trouble is she has to keep impersonating an adolescent, which creates all kinds of amusing complications when Molly-Cynthia is attracted to the handsome promoter. If this sounds a lot like 1940's The Major And The Minor, that's because they share the same impersonation premise. Of course, that sort of suggestive material is tricky, especially for the airbrushed 1950's. But, on the whole, innuendo is played down in favor of personalities.

Except in height, the bubbly Allyson and Johnson are perfectly matched, so we know the outcome as soon as the credits-roll. And happily they don't disappoint. Though 33 at the time, the youthful Allyson still manages to bring off the age challenge pretty well. Of course, it'a real stretch at times, but wardrobe excels in outfitting Molly in adolescent clothes. On the other hand, poor Gig Young gets the thankless role of the extra man. But this is still early in his career. I don't know how they did it, but Allyson certainly looks like she's playing the concert piano, flying fingers and all. It's great too for us classical music fans hearing segments of Grieg's grandiose piano concerto. I do wish MGM had filmed in color, which better brings out the stars' sparkle. Nonetheless, the 90-minutes amounts to another happy pairing of the two stars, derivative material or not.

Hackett and Goodrich were some of the best screenwriters Hollywood ever produced and even when the movie isn't clicking on all cylinders, the dialogue usually is and when you listen to it, you notice the potential for a great movie is always there. Such is the case of Too young to kiss, a plot that had the necessary oomph but a director and stars that go for the easy. The pluses: Allyson is completely convincing in costume and makeup as the twelve year old she pretends to be. Van Johnson's droll and fatigued performance strikes the right pitch more often than not. The mistaken identity plot is handled here much better than it was in The Major and Minor, a movie to which comparisons have to be made, but is a better movie than that one. The ending feels rushed but that is because of the poor execution, in the hands of Billy Wilder who directed the other movie, it would have been gold as the love strokes and magic of the heart would conquer.

Too Young To Kiss stars two actors from the post-war era who seemed to be always coupled together. Van Johnson plays an established impresario whose busy schedule and taste for exotic women leaves him with hardly any time to take talented unknowns seriously. June Allyson plays Cynthia Potter, an excellent musician who is determined to catch his eye despite countless cancellations of appointment on his part. When she hears of a children's audition that he is sure to attend, she stoops to a new level. She dresses as a little girl, braces, bows and all to impress the man. He's hooked, astounded that such talent could come from a 12 year old girl named Molly. He signs her to a contract and takes her under his wing, appalled by the way she is treated by her "older sister" Cynthia and "uncle" (really her fiancée). Slowly the two develop an odd relationship and "Molly" begins to feel awful about duping the man.

One can't help but think of how perfect Mary Pickford would have been in this role had it been created in the silent era. Still, Allyson does a wonderful job in the part, not quite believable as a little girl and yet at times, perfect. This half-way acting makes Johnson's character seem all the bigger an idiot and also gives way for a romantic relationship to bud. Also, did Allyson really do all of the piano performances herself? It would be difficult to have a stand-in do it with some of the shots used. If she did, it is only further proof of how wonderful she was.