Teenage Rebel

"Teenage Rebel", released in 1956, was one of Ginger Rogers' last feature films, made when she was 45. It featured a couple of "future stars" (opening credits) Betty Lou Keim, as estranged daughter "Dodie" and Warren Berlinger as the nice kid "Dick" next door. As an interesting sideline, Betty Lou Keim only made 4 more movies over the next 3 years, then married Warren Berlinger in 1959, quit showbusiness, and has 4 children.

Dodie, 15, had been estranged from her mother for 8 years since her parents' divorce. Because her mother was the one who apparently had an "adulterous' relationship with the man she then married, Dodie's father was awarded custody. Since they traveled extensively, and had a home in NY, she had never been able to spend the court-ordered 3 weeks annually with her mother. At the age of 15, she was sent to her mother in California so that her father could secretly get married. It was obvious that she was unhappy being in California, resented her mother, resented her stepfather, and was generally angry with the world.

The movie is about Dodie's growth as a young adult, learning to fit in with normal teenagers, and learning how to accept her mother's love that she had rejected for so long. The story is done very well, and thgis movie is a good representation of 1950s B&W movies. I rate it a solid 7 of 10.