A Menina Precoce

I saw this movie as a pre-teenager living in New York, so I really identified with the main character played by Peggy Ann Garner. The location shots at the ice-skating rink at Rockefeller Center and Central Park in the winter (when Judy and Fuffy are sitting on a park bench eating cookies in their winter coats) are charming indeed. The story will keep movie fans interested. There is romance, generation gaps, family situations all centered around a couple of teen-age pals living in the same apartment building with a big sister thrown in for fun. Every time I see this movie, I am back in 1945 as a ten year old seeing this movie during the summer with my father.

I am a huge Peggy Ann Garner fan. Ever since "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn," I have loved that girl and am sorry her career was so short and her private life so tough. I have three of her films in which she starred, all released in 1945. She only was featured in one other film that I know off (Home Sweet Homocide, which I haven't seen).

This film never having been released on VHS or DVD, I paid fairly big bucks to get an excellent tape of this.....and was disappointed. Even though it is labeled as a 1945 film, the same as "Brooklyn" and "Nob Hill," Peggy Ann looks at least two years older. She's no longer the cute little girl. Now, she's a full-fledged teen and this is really a teen girl's movie more than an adult's. Peggy Ann and real-life best friend Barbara Whiting are the co-stars of this comedy.

However, all is not lost. Peggy Ann still shows her tremendous talents, here demonstrating she can do comedy as well as drama in the role of young teen "Judy Graves." I wish I could say the same for Whiting, who plays her friend "Fuffy," but after a shaky start Barbara settles down and her acting is a little more relaxed.

The real star of the film, at least for having the best lines, is the father, "Harry Graves," played effectively by Alyn Joslyn. He was genuinely funny. The boys of Peggy''s oddball older sister Lois (Mona Freeman) also were amusing as they kept appearing at the front door throughout the film. The second half of the film is far better than the first as the comedic lines begin to connect.

Junior Miss paints such a vivid picture of life for a middle-class family living in New York City in the mid-1940s, yet its subject matter is easy to relate to even now. The storyline revolves mostly around two young teenage girls who are "bosom friends", and who are constantly getting themselves and others into trouble and mostly just behaving like typical 13-year-olds. As entertaining as they are together, much of the humor is supplied by Judy's long-suffering father and his priceless reactions to his daughters and their friends. The sarcasm is great! This is a great film to watch around Christmas and New Year's Eve, as the storyline is based around that time of year. I have been pestering TCM for years show this movie but, so far, to no avail. As my old Beta copy (taped long ago on AMC) is rapidly dying, I can only hope that someday TCM will honor my request.

Next to A tree Grows in Brooklyn Junior Miss is Peggy Ann Garner's greatest production!If she did not say one word in her movies she would speak to us using her beautiful eyes.Her talent is second to none and she has earned the respect of all of her fans who knew and loved her. My Peggy Ann is gone having left this world on Tuesday,October 16,1984 but she will live in my heart forever.There is only one Peggy Ann Garner and my love and respect for her will never die. I own all of her movies but I am really trying to find any tapes that exist of her long lost TV series Two Girls Named Smith which appeared on Saturadys at 12 P.M.on ABC.God bless you, my angel and you will always have my love.

Utterly charming lightweight comedy about two teenage girls coming of age in 1940's Manhattan. Director Seaton and the writers add a number of expert touches that lift the 90- minutes above the ordinary. I love the way the luckless teenage suitors keep shuffling in and out of the apartment as the girls' grouchy dad (Joslyn) gives them the better-be-home-by-ten evil eye. And was there ever a more beguiling early teen than Garner (Judy). What I like most is her utter lack of affect. She's a natural, not particularly pretty, but with a winning personality.

Here Judy has a bouncy neighbor Fluffy (Whiting) to conspire with. Their project is to get recovering alcoholic Uncle Willis (Dunne) together with the lovely Ellen (Marlowe) in order to save what they believe is Judy's parent's marriage. Naturally, complications arise, particularly when it looks like Dad will lose his good job because of the girls' shenanigans.

The movie's adapted from a stage play, which is apparent since nearly all the action occurs in the Manhattan apartment. But notice how things never drag as Seaton keeps moving people in and out with lots of sassy dialog, particularly between Judy and older sister Lois (Freeman). Also, catch a very young Mel Torme as one of the obnoxious suitors in an early walk-on. Hard to believe teens were ever like this, but then it is a movie, and though dated, is still quite entertaining, thanks mainly to the wonderful Miss Garner. In my little book, it's an unexpected sleeper.