Cynthia (1947)

Sickly girl finds an outlet in music.

Director:

Robert Z. Leonard

Writers:

Harold Buchman, Viña Delmar (play)

Stars:

Elizabeth Taylor, George Murphy, S.Z. Sakall

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Elizabeth Taylor	...	Cynthia Bishop
George Murphy	...	Larry Bishop
S.Z. Sakall	...	Prof. Rosenkrantz
Mary Astor	...	Louise Bishop
Gene Lockhart	...	Dr. Fred I. Jannings
Spring Byington	...	Carrie Jannings
Jimmy Lydon	...	Ricky Latham
Scotty Beckett	...	Will Parker
Carol Brannon	...	Fredonia Jannings (as Carol Brannan)
Anna Q. Nilsson	...	Miss Brady, English Teacher
Morris Ankrum	...	Mr. Phillips, Principal
Kathleen Howard	...	Mac McQuillan, Jannings' Nurse
Shirley Johns	...	Stella Regan
Barbara Challis	...	Alice
Harlan Briggs	...	J.M. Dingle, Napoleon Hardware

Storyline

Sickly girl finds an outlet in music.

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Plot Keywords:

first love | based on play | character name in title | 

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Taglines:

You'll fall in love with Cynthia

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 August 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cynthia: The Rich, Full Life

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,318,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film failed at the box office, resulting in a loss to MGM of $280,000 ($3.24M in 2018) according to studio records.

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Connections

Featured in That's Entertainment! (1974)

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Soundtracks

Melody of Spring
(uncredited)
based on music by Johann Strauss
Music Adapted by Johnny Green
Lyrics by Ralph Freed

User Reviews

Elizabeth Taylor Fights to Overcome Illness and Teenageritis

Elizabeth Taylor in the title role plays an overprotected 15-year-old who has lengthy bouts of illnesses seemingly due to a compromised immune system. She yearns to do normal teenage activities, but keeps having these setbacks related to her illness that constantly worry her parents (played by George Murphy and Mary Astor) and her doctor uncle (played by Gene Lockhart). Their strategy to prevent the illnesses from happening is to isolate her from her friends at school, have her come straight home, and forbid her from participating in school activities. Of course Cynthia is not going to be a wallflower forever, because this is a young Elizabeth Taylor here and the one thing she does not suffer from, even at 15, is awkward teenager syndrome compared to most. Noticing this right away is Ricky Latham (played by Jimmy Lydon, who was not the Zac Efron of the 40's, but somehow managed to play Taylor's love interest in "Life with Father" as well), who looks past the sicknesses and sees a beautiful, smart, charismatic young girl that just needs to get out of the house. Noticing this as well with jealousy is her cousin Fredonia (played by Carol Brannan), who has eyes on Ricky also, despite the fact she has a boyfriend of her own. Eventually, Cynthia's mother realizes that babying her will never teach her to overcome her problems, and hatches a plan with her daughter to get her to the Prom without Dad and Uncle knowing. Elizabeth Taylor shows her acting is beyond the capabilities of most other teenage actors of her day, but still displays the girlish charm of someone coming into her own. The movie has a fair amount of fretting and whining, but it does come out of it with some fine comedic scenes throughout the film and underrated performances from the supporting cast.