O Grande Amor de Nossas Vidas

What can I say, it's got the Disney magic to it, and a pretty good idea. If you like Disney films, you'll love this. It's a true "classic" to be quoted, and can be enjoyed by all ages. Just stay clear of the 1998 remake. 3.5/5 stars--

JOHN ULMER

This is an agreeable updating from an E. Kastner's story , it deals about two twins little girls (Hayley Mills). When they are in summer holidays and after several antics each other , discover the surprise which they are twin sisters and then they plot change characters with their different parents (Mauren O'Hara , Brian Keith) who are disjointed since the divorce and the girls have been separately raised . The father is going to marry a young woman (Joanna Barnes) and the eleven-years-old girls scheme the parents reconciliation by making impossible life of the father's bride .

The picture contains enjoyable comedy , humor , tongue-in-cheek and being pretty entertaining . This classical Disney comedy was remade in 1998 with Lindsay Lohan and previously adapted to British cinema in a movie titled : ¨Twice upon a time¨ (1954) . Hayley Mills acting is sympathetic and amusing . Hayley plays two sisters and she makes it splendidly . Hayley starred two sequels for Television (1986, 1989). Susan Henning took on the role as Hayley Mills' body double for several of the twin shots in the film , as part of her contract, she signed away her rights to be credited . The screenplay originally called for only a few trick photography shots of Hayley Mills in scenes with herself; the bulk of the film was to be shot using a body double. When Walt Disney saw how seamless the processed shots were , he ordered the script reconfigured to include more of the special effect . Mauren O'Hara and Brian Keith are magnificent as parents in similar roles later starred by Natasha Richardson and Dennis Quaid . Joanna Barnes as the unpleasant fiancée is very well , in the remake she played the bride's (incarnated by Elaine Hendrix) mother . The movie will appeal to family comedy enthusiasts . Rating : Amusing and enjoyable . Well worth seeing .

Hayley Mills does a spectacular job playing twins Sharon and Susan who are split up at birth and then reunited at summer camp. Of course they plan to reunite their divorced parents before a new woman can get her hands on their father! It's not hard to see why this film has remained popular, Mills, O'Hara, and Keith all are wonderful, and even if the story isn't the most believable it is perfectly suited for younger viewers. Forget the 1998 remake, stick with the original.

I love the movie, always have. But then, why wouldn't I? Brian Keith and Maureen O'Hara, and Hayley Mills? Excellent cast. My parents took me to see this movie when I was a kid -- [I was born in 1955] so I wasn't too old and I totally loved it. I own the VHS and will probably have to buy the DVD, if I can find it.

Joanna Barnes is the woman you love to hate -- god wasn't she just wicked and terrible in this movie? You just hate her!!! Calling Hayley - pet, in that exaggerated way. UGH!

Brian Keith, god I just loved this man! Loved him in Family Affair too! Always such a good actor. [Some other favorites; Those Calloways, The Pleasure Seekers, Nevada Smith, and especially, With Six you get Eggroll.] Maureen O'Hara, what a wonderful actress. I loved her in this movie, but then love her in any and everything she's done really [some other favorites are; McLintock! and Spencer's Mountain].

Cute, cute movie.

Although the split-screen technique had been around for a decade or so, it was usually more noted for its failures than its success, and the actor required to play dual roles usually took tremendous heat for their failure to create two physically identical but distinctly different characterizations on screen. But with THE PARENT TRAP, with the difficult dual role resting on the shoulders of an extremely young star, Walt Disney struck gold. It would be the single highest grossing film the studio had released up to that time, and even some forty years later the baby-boomers who flocked to see it in 1961 regard it as one of their favorite movie experiences.

But THE PARENT TRAP has a lot more going for it than mere nostalgia. The cast is really, really good, featuring the ever-likable Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith in leading roles and a host of great character actors (including Leo G. Carroll and Nancy Kulp) in minor roles. And then there is Haley Mills. The daughter and sister of noted English actors, Mills was no newcomer to the screen when THE PARENT TRAP went before the cameras--she had even picked up an Oscar for her earlier Disney film POLLYANNA. Even so, this was no guarantee that she could pull off the feat of double roles, something that had daunted even the legendary Bette Davis. But she did.

The story has been told so often that surely every one knows it by now. A wife delivers twin daughters--but shortly afterward divorces her husband, and each wins custody of one child. The children are raised without any knowledge of each other's existence... until they unexpectedly bump into each other at summer camp, put two and two together, and devise a scheme to get their parents back together again.

Even today, and in spite of its familiarity, it's an amusing idea, and while the actual script is weak in spots the cast, and especially Haley Mills, makes the most of it. There's plenty of slapstick, lots of laugh-out-loud scenes, and enough charm to beguile all but the most cynical viewers. And Haley Mills clearly demonstrates why she was regarded as the single most gifted child actor of her era: although she plays both Susan and Sharon with the same edge of mischievous fun, they do indeed come off as completely different personalities.

Of course, digital technology has left the old split-screen technique in the dust, and today its easy to see the flaws in the technique that weren't so obvious at the time. And the quality of the film transfer is not the best: while this isn't the worst transfer I've seen, it is full of artifacts nonetheless. Even so, the appeal of the story, the cast, and most particularly Haley Mills make up for a lot, and this Disney double DVD comes complete with a host of bonuses (including a making-of documentary and an audio commentary track by director David Swift and Haley Mills) that fans will enjoy quite a bit.

If you were a fan of the film then, you'll remain a fan of it now. And if you want to introduce your family to a truly charming movie experience, you couldn't make a better choice.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer