The Face on the Milk Carton (1995)

A teenage girl sees a photograph of herself one day in the school cafeteria - on a Missing Persons column on the side of a milk carton. But her beloved parents would never kidnap anyone and there's a deeper mystery ahead.

Director:

Waris Hussein

Writers:

Caroline B. Cooney (novels), Nancy Isaak (teleplay)

Stars:

Kellie Martin, Sharon Lawrence, Edward Herrmann

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kellie Martin	...	Jennifer Sands / Janie Jessmon
Sharon Lawrence	...	Sada Sands
Edward Herrmann	...	Frank Jessmon
Richard Masur	...	Jonathan Sands
Johnny Green	...	Reeve Shields
Jill Clayburgh	...	Miranda Jessmon
Kristoffer Ryan Winters	...	Stephen Sands
Caroline Perreyclear	...	Jodie Sands
Joanna Canton	...	Sarah-Charlotte
Lorri Lindberg	...	Mrs. Shields (as Lori Lindberg)
Leslie Hall	...	Adair
Kawan Rojanatavorn	...	Peter
Paul Dow	...	Jason
Ellen Seltz	...	Lizzie Shields (as Ellen Lee)
Richard K. Olsen	...	L. McDonnell

Storyline

A girl happens to look down at a milk carton one day and she sees herself on the back! Her life gets more stressful as she tries to hide the secret from her parents who she knows couldn't have kidnapped her.

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Plot Keywords:

milk carton | teenage girl | missing child | family relationships | biological parents | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

TV-G

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the book "The Face on the Milk Carton" by Caroline B. Cooney, Janie's birth name is Jennie Spring and her adopted name is Janie Johnson.

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Quotes

Sada Sands: Jennie!
Jennifer Sands/Janie Jessmon: My name is Janie Jessmon. I'm the daughter of Frank and Miranda Jessmon and I want to go home.

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Connections

Referenced in Do You Know Me? (2009)

User Reviews

Decent movie of the week

Kellie Martin plays a girl who sees her face (a baby photo) on the back of a milk carton, and finds out about her mysterious past. It's a good movie, but the book series by Caroline Cooney is much better. They are more mysterious with more attention paid to detail. Of course, they had to cram in two books' worth of material into an hour and a half movie. And for some reason, the characters' names are different in the movie than in the books and some characters are changed or left out altogether. It's good time filler, with strong performances by Kellie Martin, Sharon Lawrence and Jill Clayburgh especially.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 May 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Face on the Milk Carton

Filming Locations:

Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dorothea G. Petrie Productions, Family Productions, Libra Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (as Dolby Surround)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1