L'apprentie amoureuse

"Kiss and Tell" is a mildly funny family comedy whose main claim to fame is having the teenage Shirley Temple star as the goofy Corliss Archer. She's a bit of a dingbat and gets herself into all sorts of trouble and two families suddenly think that this young lady and her equally young boyfriend, Dexter are married...even though they play characters who are only 15 or 16!

The trouble starts when Corliss' family and Mildred's start fussing at each other over some silly misunderstanding. This causes huge problems for Corliss' brother when he arrives home on leave, because he wants to marry Mildred and they do so secretly. But now with all the arguing, the pair decide to keep their marriage a secret until the new groom gets back from the war. But there's a hiccup...Mildred becomes pregnant and through a misunderstanding, folks think Corliss is an unwed mother-to-be. Corliss doesn't want their families to know about the real wedding and decides since she promised not to tell that she would pretend to be the pregnant one...and names poor Dexter as the father! Is this the end to the lies and craziness? Not on your life. How does Corliss extricate herself...or will she suddenly find herself married to Dexter at their parents' insistence?

This film is surprisingly adult for its time. While teens getting married was not uncommon back in the 40s, being pregnant without being married was a huge taboo...or at least to admit to doing. The whole notion of premarital sex was pretty racy stuff for the day-- especially when it was the 'little girl' America loved, Miss Temple! Overall, a funny but slight film that is well worth seeing. The only serious problem was Corliss' father (Walter Abel), as his character seemed like a cartoonish buffoon much of the time. And, incidentally, Temple returned a few years later for a sequel (it was terrible) and shortly after that, there were two television versions which starred Lugene Sanders as well as Ann Baker. Neither of the shows were particularly successful.

KISS AND TELL with Shirley as Corliss Archer is the kind of family comedy rampant in the '40s and '50s--but what seemed mighty funny back then doesn't have quite the same punch today. In other words, all the material is slightly dated and the genuine laughs in the script by F. Hugh Herbert are few and far between.

Nevertheless, it's one of Shirley's most appealing performances as a teen-ager and she seems to be enjoying herself immensely. She has good support from Jerome Courtland, as an awkward neighborhood boy, and Walter Abel as her exasperated father and Katharine Alexander as his patient wife. I believe Shirley had already played Corliss Archer on radio and certainly had an affinity for this sort of role.

I recall enjoying it much more years ago. A recent viewing of the film left me much less impressed with the overall result. It seemed to be straining a bit hard for laughs and the material was very thin.

Very shortly after the picture starts Shirley, as 15 year old Corliss Archer gets herself and best friend Mildred Pringle played by Virginia Wells into hot water with their parents. Shirley was 17 at the time this was filmed and still the scene stealer and still the talented, funny and cute actress she was as a child despite those critical of her films in the 1940's and the poor treatment she was sometimes subjected too. Walter Abel who played Harry Archer (Corliss's father), was also quite funny and stole a few scenes of his own in this movie. Katharine Alexander as Janet Archer (Corliss's mother) blames the trouble the girls get into on Mildred and it begins a feud between the two families. When the two girls are forbidden to see each other, Corliss's brotherLenny tells Corliss a secret she must keep from everyone and things snowball out of control as she plots and fibs trying to keep the secret and patch things up between the families. From the start of this movie until her final film in 1949, Shirley just grew more beautiful , attractive and talented with each scene and it didn't matter if she was in raggedy pajamas and a bathrobe or stylish fashions of the time, I always felt I'd miss something if I looked away. A look, a smile or something only very talented actors( Lauren Bacall, Steve McQueen are good examples) often do to hold your attention. In her childhood films Shirley would flip another actors tie around or fiddle with a shirt collar or an object on the set somewhere. In Kiss and Tell there's a few brief scenes when she's plotting something, she chews on a bobby-pin and at one point her boyfriend Dexter yells at her to "Take that bobby-pin out of your mouth!". I also found Her mispronouncing words in some of her lines quite amusing. Overall its funny and well acted and also shows support for the military as many of Shirley's films did. Supporting cast members Jerome Courtland as Corliss's boyfriend Dexter and Darryl Hickman as Mildred's little brother Raymond were a little over the top a times but also had some good moments and added to the mischief snowballing from the feud. Even Shirley herself would later admit her films in the 1940's could have been better, but that was mostly Hollywood's fault for cheeping out and not taking better care of this amazing actress among other things. She was the best she could be in each and every one of her films and she is the reason we watched them, and still continue to watch them today, but definitely!

I was nine years old when I saw Kiss and Tell. I went to the morning movie and stayed until the last showing at 9:00 pm. I loved it so much that I didn't want to leave and kept saying,' wait until this part, then I'll leave.' Shirley Temple was a beautiful teenager. I remember that she had a kissing booth to help raise money for the war effort. The movie shows great community spirit in support of the soldiers that had gone off to battle. It was fun to see her go from a child to a teenager that I could identify with. Wanted to grow up and be like Shirley Temple. Would recommend this movie for family viewing! The other actors and actresses played wonderful supporting cast. Would love to see this movie out on a DVD!

I didn't have high expectations for this film. I feared Shirley Temple as a teenager would be awkward. However, this movie was surprisingly entertaining! It was well paced, with a strong supporting cast. The plot twists were quite funny. Shirley plays Corliss Archer; She agrees to keep her brother's secret marriage underwraps, and winds up getting herself in a lot of trouble.