Cedo para Beijar

Fortunately the two stars make the derivative premise work pretty well. Seems concert pianist Cynthia (Allyson) can't get an audition with high-powered promoter Wainwright (Johnson). So she pretends to be Cynthia's 13-year old sister Molly. As an apparent child prodigy, she's a sensation as Wainwright takes over her career. Trouble is she has to keep impersonating an adolescent, which creates all kinds of amusing complications when Molly-Cynthia is attracted to the handsome promoter. If this sounds a lot like 1940's The Major And The Minor, that's because they share the same impersonation premise. Of course, that sort of suggestive material is tricky, especially for the airbrushed 1950's. But, on the whole, innuendo is played down in favor of personalities.

Except in height, the bubbly Allyson and Johnson are perfectly matched, so we know the outcome as soon as the credits-roll. And happily they don't disappoint. Though 33 at the time, the youthful Allyson still manages to bring off the age challenge pretty well. Of course, it'a real stretch at times, but wardrobe excels in outfitting Molly in adolescent clothes. On the other hand, poor Gig Young gets the thankless role of the extra man. But this is still early in his career. I don't know how they did it, but Allyson certainly looks like she's playing the concert piano, flying fingers and all. It's great too for us classical music fans hearing segments of Grieg's grandiose piano concerto. I do wish MGM had filmed in color, which better brings out the stars' sparkle. Nonetheless, the 90-minutes amounts to another happy pairing of the two stars, derivative material or not.