Teenage Rebel (1956)

Ginger Rogers get her teenage daughter (Betty Lou Keim) back from her ex-husband when she remarries and must win her love.

Director:

Edmund Goulding

Writers:

Charles Brackett, Edmund Goulding,

Stars:

Ginger Rogers, Michael Rennie, Mildred Natwick

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ginger Rogers	...	Nancy Fallon
Michael Rennie	...	Jay Fallon
Mildred Natwick	...	Grace Hewitt
Rusty Swope	...	Larry Fallon
Lili Gentle	...	Gloria, teenager at the races
Louise Beavers	...	Willamay, Fallon's Maid
Irene Hervey	...	Helen Sheldon McGowan
John Stephenson	...	Eric McGowan, Dodie's Dad
Betty Lou Keim	...	Dorothy 'Dodie' McGowan
Warren Berlinger	...	Dick Hewitt
Diane Jergens	...	Jane Hewitt

Storyline

A sometimes sappy, yet effective melodrama about a woman who tries to make amends with her teenage daughter that she gave up at the end of an unhappy marriage. When Nancy Fallon's daughter, Dorothy, is sent to live with her and her new family after years of separation, the struggle to maintain some semblance of family quickly deteriorates. (Nancy's ex-husband was able to persuade the courts to let him keep the girl because the mother was seen as unfit.) Now Dorothy's father has an interest other than his daughter and to appease his new interest, he asks Nancy to take and raise their daughter. This begins a tumultuous time in Dorothy's life as well as her mothers.

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Plot Keywords:

stepfather | lizard | coming of age | hot rod | mother daughter relationship | 

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Taglines:

You wanted to get rid of me...so you could be alone with that woman!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 November 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alma Rebelde

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 90 min (FMC Library Print)

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first black and white film in CinemaScope.

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Quotes

Grace Hewitt: Excited?
Nancy Fallon: Wild!
Grace Hewitt: Try not to show it too much, kids like you to be casual.
Nancy Fallon: Grace, I'll welcome any tip you can give me on how to behave with a teenage daughter.
Grace Hewitt: Well, all I know is anything you do is wrong. If you try to spruce yourself up it's, "Oh Mother, that's too kiddish for you," and if you don't it's, "Mother, do you have to dress like an old bag?"
Nancy Fallon: Oh, you make it sound awful.
Grace Hewitt: They love you. They bully you, but they love you, the little monsters. And if anything goes wrong, they turn back ...

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Connections

References D-Day the Sixth of June (1956)

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Soundtracks

"Cool It, Baby"
Lyrics by Carroll Coates
Music by Lionel Newman
Performed by Dick Lory

User Reviews

Don't Be Fooled By The Title: This Is No Drive-In Cheapie

A very insightful character study. This movie carries excellent credentials: Charles Brackett as one of the screenwriters and Edmond Goulding as director. (Goulding fares less well as writer of the pre-Elvis title song, which dates the movie more than anything else in it but can be skipped over.) Ginger looks great -- better than she did in some other movies from the 1950s. She sports some revealing clothes, such as a tennis outfit reminiscent of the clothes worn by Lana Turner in her best outing, "The postman Always Rings Twice." And her acting is good, as is everyone else's.

A very insightful character study. This movie carries excellent credentials: Charles Brackett as one of the screenwriters and Edmond Goulding as director. (Goulding fares less well as writer of the pre-Elvis title song, which dates the movie more than anything else in it but can be skipped over.) Ginger looks great -- better than she did in some other movies from the 1950s. She sports some revealing clothes, such as a tennis outfit reminiscent of the clothes worn by Lana Turner in her best outing, "The postman Always Rings Twice." And her acting is good, as is everyone else's.

The actress who plays her daughter and the actor plying the neighbor enticed to pay attention to her are fine. And Mildred Natwick, as the boy's mother, is as always excellent.

Her character is not so much a rebel, like Brando and Dean and Mineo from this decade, as a sad child of divorce.

The air of hauteur and aloofness she puts on is very plausible in the portrayal of an insecure teenager.

Rogers's and second husband Michael Rennie little boy is quite a character. He seems a fugitive from some other movie, though he is excellent and works well here. He is more eccentric than little John Henry as played by Brandon De Wilde in the classic "Member of the Wedding." And, though an observation, that is also very high praise.