Blue Denim (1959)

Arthur Bartley and Janet Willard are fairly typical 1950s teenagers. Their lives are turned upside down however when Janet becomes pregnant. Desperate to tell his parents of the predicament... See full summary »

Director:

Philip Dunne

Writers:

Edith R. Sommer (screenplay), Philip Dunne (screenplay),

Stars:

Carol Lynley, Brandon De Wilde, Macdonald Carey

Cast

Cast overview:
Carol Lynley	...	Janet Willard
Brandon De Wilde	...	Arthur Bartley
Macdonald Carey	...	Maj. Malcolm Bartley, Ret.
Marsha Hunt	...	Jessie Bartley
Warren Berlinger	...	Ernie
Buck Class	...	Axel Sorenson
Nina Shipman	...	Lillian Bartley
Vaughn Taylor	...	Professor Willard
Roberta Shore	...	Cherie
Mary Young	...	Aunt Bidda

Storyline

Arthur Bartley and Janet Willard are fairly typical 1950s teenagers. Their lives are turned upside down however when Janet becomes pregnant. Desperate to tell his parents of the predicament they find themselves in, Arthur finds that he cannot do so. He arranges for Janet to have an abortion, but the internal turmoil this causes him finally forces him to tell his father, who races to save the girl from the back room abortionist.

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Plot Keywords:

abortionist | abortion | illegal abortion | brother sister relationship | unplanned pregnancy | 

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Taglines:

How could it happen to Janet...so shy, so young, and so much like yourself? Where did she go wrong... and why... WHY... WHY?

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 October 1959 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Blå jeans

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:

89 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This originally began as a Broadway play written by "Midnight Cowboy" author James Leo Herlihy which opened at the Playhouse Theater on February 27, 1958, ran for 166 performances and closed on July 19, 1958.

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Connections

Referenced in Less Than Zero (1987)

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Soundtracks

"Who, Baby?"
(uncredited)
Performed by Roberta Shore and Warren Berlinger at the hop

User Reviews

The Word That Can't Be Mentioned

The movie's very much an artifact of its time, salvaged by unusually sensitive performances from de Wilde and Lynley. The trouble is they look so angelic and innocent, and from such solid middle-class backgrounds, it's hard to picture them "experimenting". But then, I guess that's the point for audiences of the day—yes, it can happen to even those who appear least likely, so be on guard. At the same time, the two look so much alike, cynics might suspect incest.

As a teen from the time, this youth movie strikes me as one of the few made more for teen girls than boys. No speeding cars, beer busts, or other staples of the drive-in crowd (note also how demurely Janet {Lynley} is dressed). Instead, the 90-minutes deals with a subject that can't even be mentioned on screen, viz. abortion. People can be slaughtered in movies, but screenwriters don't dare even mention abortion. Thus, the mores of the time are much in evidence and reinforced by Hollywood's boycott-fearing Production Code

For example, no mention is made of contraceptives, sex education in school, or safe legalized abortion as possible alternatives (note how the abortion escort is made to look like a witch), since one or all of these were illegal in most or all states. Instead, the kids are to be punished by having their futures decided for them, though again the point is minimized in the screenplay (note how Art's {de Wilde} one smile comes at the end, the required happy ending).

I'm not taking sides here, just trying to point out how a complex social issue is narrowed down to a single morally acceptable solution, typical of that strait-jacketed decade. Nonetheless and despite the loaded deck, I suspect the movie deals about as sensitively with the issue as conditions of the time would allow. However, canny viewers can learn a lot from this about the origins of the 1960's youth rebellions.