Junior Prom

Wow! These cats are hip! These kids sure know how to jitterbug! Lots of be-bopping cuties here! And they know how to croon too. Judy's scene on the phone is a classic teenager scene. Everybody is great in it. I love the jazz in the 78 scene too. This is the beginning of a genre, the teen movie.

21-year old Freddie Stewart is running for president of his high school class. He overhears Sam Flint tell the principal that unless his son, 23-year-old Jackie Moran gets the position, he won't be contributing heavily to the school. The principal is all for fair play, but Stewart drops out on the news, then decides to run again on the platform there won't be any movie without it. Also 28-year-old classmate Frankie Darro thinks it's a good idea.

There is actually a teen-ager in the class, 19-year-old Warren Mills. The girls are similarly aged, including sisters June Preisser, Judy Clark, and Noel Neill (who wears glasses so no one will know she is actually Lois Lane). It reminds me of those beach movies in the 1960s, with more elaborate music (provided by Abe Lyman's band, and a jazzy version of "Loch Lomond" by Eddie Heywood and his orchestra in a bit that could be cut out for those audiences offended by Black people in a movie) and some mediocre comedians doing stale routines.

Given its beach-movie descendants, this Sam Katzman is sort of interesting, and the musical numbers are well done, if poorly lip-synced. But I can't recommend it to anyone who doesn't yearn for Annette Funicello.

The father of one of the students running for class president promises to buy new football uniforms if the school administration can guarantee his son will win. Fortunately for the other candidate, Freddie Trimball (Freddie Stewart), the principal balks at the plan. But with a musical show to get ready, a prom to plan, and endless singing in the school's Teen Canteen, does Freddie have enough time to campaign?

Junior Prom is filled with harmless enough "high school" shenanigans from a much, much more innocent time. I put "high school" in quotes because it's obvious that most of the actors are way past high school age. I might have enjoyed it more had it not been for some of the duller than dirt musical numbers and the lame comedy from man-child Murray Davis (What did Dunne do? - Arrrrgh!) that I found excruciating. June Preisser and Noel Neill give it their all, but a lot of their good work is undone by male lead Freddie Stewart. He's just so bland. I can't imagine how anyone thought he could carry a movie.

I know that 1946 was a simpler time, but were the kids really jazzed about music like that in Junior Prom? I can't imagine any high schooler being excited over some of the elevator music featured here.

4/10

I saw this on a 16 mm screen and wish it was available to more. The athletics in the jitterbug dances is incredible. It's been years since I have seen this but I'd love to watch it again. And yes, there's an amazing teen telephone scene

World War II had just ended the year prior to this movie. Americans were tired of four years of war and were ready for some silliness. This movie excels at silliness, teen slang of the era (the word "swell" was apparently very popular with the kids), and boys wearing suits and bow ties to high school.

None of the actors playing the teenagers in this were actual teens when this movie was made. In fact, Frankie Darro, who plays Roy Donne here, was pushing 30. Everything that happens in the movie is about as spicy as white bread soaked in milk. The Hays Code was still in effect in Hollywood, so no curse words, nudity, or evils such as interracial relationships were allowed onscreen. Edgy movies were simply forbidden, so fans of Pulp Fiction or Night of the Living Dead probably won't find much of interest here.

This isn't really a bad movie, but it is extremely dated, so just know going in what you are in for. I've certainly seen worse movies, (Monster a Go-Go comes to mind). So let's all head down to the Teen Canteen and watch the kids cultivate their bald spots and creaky joints.