User reviews

Hackett and Goodrich were some of the best screenwriters Hollywood ever produced and even when the movie isn't clicking on all cylinders, the dialogue usually is and when you listen to it, you notice the potential for a great movie is always there. Such is the case of Too young to kiss, a plot that had the necessary oomph but a director and stars that go for the easy. The pluses: Allyson is completely convincing in costume and makeup as the twelve year old she pretends to be. Van Johnson's droll and fatigued performance strikes the right pitch more often than not. The mistaken identity plot is handled here much better than it was in The Major and Minor, a movie to which comparisons have to be made, but is a better movie than that one. The ending feels rushed but that is because of the poor execution, in the hands of Billy Wilder who directed the other movie, it would have been gold as the love strokes and magic of the heart would conquer.

I just saw this movie for the first time today. The description reminded me of "The Major and the Minor" which is a movie I have watched over and over. While neither movie is Oscar material both are fun & romantic. If you are in the mood for light fare find June & Van in this one and enjoy.

June Allyson's acting is really good in this film, I think its one of her best performances. Van Johnson gives a good performance but seems a bit uncomfortable in the role. Gig Young delivers his usual effortless and somewhat detached performance in a thankless supporting role.

My problem is that this story and whole film are contrived, being nonsense about a child pianist who is or is not a child, with one awkward set up after another revolving around this one idea. Its a deliberately contrived movie for its star. The whole idea is misguided as an overall movie, but ironically serves its one and only purpose- to be a starring vehicle for June Allyson and showcase her acting talents and charm.

This is a star who gives a fine performance, and this is a starring role custom written for her. It seems like she is in every scene, and she might be. So if you like June Allyson, you will like "Too Young to Kiss", if you don't like her, you won't.

A pleasant film about a Midwestern girl trying to make it in the cut-throat world of professional classical music. It definitely resembles "The Major and the Minor," but it's neither as funny nor as endearing. Still, it's chock full of "popular" classical music, which makes the movie extra entertaining. (The theme that one recognizes from "The Wizard of Oz" is actually Robert Schumann's "The Happy Farmer.") June Allyson is always fun to watch, but her comic talents aren't really given full play here. Van Johnson is a bit too hyper (and a little sleazy); indeed, the whole movie seems a bit too full of nervous energy, as if everyone in it were in a big hurry to get it over with.

While a cute and lighthearted movie, it's a little unsettling that the teacher almost instantly falls in love with Cynthia after he knows for sure she's not twelve...but I suppose I'm reading into this too deep. I got a dreadful feeling at the thought of myself in her shoes, being sentenced to stay inside and not be able to go anywhere, but, other than that, it's a nice film. I suppose.

6/10

This variation on Brackett & Wilder's THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR transposes the story from a military Academy background to the world of concert music. And while Brackett & Wilder's work is run as a purely and vastly enjoyable piece of straight farce, Hackett & Goodrich's script, while not as funny, makes some serious, if understated points about the freak-show aspects of show business.

Van Johnson and June Allyson are good in their roles. Indeed, Miss Allyson shows a lot more range than she is usually given the chance for. Credit long-time director Robert Leonard, who, after a long career was winding down in MGM's B department -- he was directing Oscar winners like THE GREAT ZIEGFELD in the 1930s, but didn't move into the Freed unit in the 1940s, which left him odd man out. Cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg, one of the key cameramen in setting up the glossy MGM visual style, uses a lot of low and askew camera angles.

Yet with all these advantages, there is something mechanical and depressing about the entire production. Brackett and Wilder's effort is time-bound in language and setting, but it is meant to be nothing more than fun and succeeds. This does not. I do not wish to point too accusatory a finger, but Miss Allyson, a very hard-working performer, never developed any of the arts of stardom. She remained, to the end, a capable performer, eager to please and hard working, but she lacks the skills to carry this off. The result is a good movie, not a great one.

In Too Young To Kiss Van Johnson and June Allyson play a classical manager and a budding pianist who has exhausted all efforts to get an audition. Frustrated Allyson pretends to be her own younger sister and gets heard. Johnson now thinks he has a prodigy on his hands.

This gimmick worked very well for Ginger Rogers in The Major And The Minor and does OK here. One guy who doesn't appreciate it is Gig Young whom Allyson is seeing as her adult self. As for Johnson he can't quite explain the strange feelings he's developing, a whole lot like Ray Milland in The Major And The Minor.

Too Young To Kiss falls short of being a comedy classic like the Billy Wilder film. But it is well acted and directed and still holds up well today.

"Too Young to Kiss" is a story with a serious flaw--one so serious that you might want to skip it. Like "The Major and the Minor", it's a film where an adult woman pretends to be a teen...and it's about as realistic as having Santa play a bathing beauty. June Allyson is a bit better than Ginger Rogers ("The Major and the Minor"), but still you cannot help but think it's ridiculous for a woman in her thirties playing a girl of about 12! It strains credibility way past the breaking point!!

Cynthia (Allyson) is an out of work concert pianist and has been trying to get Eric Wainwrwight (Van Johnson) to give her an audition. But Wainwright is a very busy man and keeps canceling appointments with her...to the point where it's obvious she'll never audition for him. So, when she hears he'll be auditioning a group of kids, she dresses up as a girl and performs...and knocks his socks off! But the problem is that when she tries to tell him the truth, he is simply not interested in an adult pianist...he wants to mold young 'Molly' into a brilliant young pianist. So, Cynthia goes along with the ruse and Eric is daft enough to think that Cynthia is Molly's sister...which is all the more dopey since Molly and Cynthia cannot be seen together since they are one in the same person!

The only way to enjoy this film is to turn off your brain and enjoy. If you think too much, you'll most likely find the story a bit ridiculous. After all, she doesn't look 13 AND if she was actually 12, then her relationship with Eric would be REALLY creepy, as she lives with him and spends all her time with him! He even wants to adopt her later in the film! The actors try their best, but the script is a dud...an enjoyable dud...but a dud nevertheless.

Too Young To Kiss stars two actors from the post-war era who seemed to be always coupled together. Van Johnson plays an established impresario whose busy schedule and taste for exotic women leaves him with hardly any time to take talented unknowns seriously. June Allyson plays Cynthia Potter, an excellent musician who is determined to catch his eye despite countless cancellations of appointment on his part. When she hears of a children's audition that he is sure to attend, she stoops to a new level. She dresses as a little girl, braces, bows and all to impress the man. He's hooked, astounded that such talent could come from a 12 year old girl named Molly. He signs her to a contract and takes her under his wing, appalled by the way she is treated by her "older sister" Cynthia and "uncle" (really her fiancée). Slowly the two develop an odd relationship and "Molly" begins to feel awful about duping the man.

One can't help but think of how perfect Mary Pickford would have been in this role had it been created in the silent era. Still, Allyson does a wonderful job in the part, not quite believable as a little girl and yet at times, perfect. This half-way acting makes Johnson's character seem all the bigger an idiot and also gives way for a romantic relationship to bud. Also, did Allyson really do all of the piano performances herself? It would be difficult to have a stand-in do it with some of the shots used. If she did, it is only further proof of how wonderful she was.

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.

Busy concert promoter Eric Wainwright (Van Johnson) keeps canceling his appointments with pianist Cynthia Potter (June Allyson). She is desperate for one chance while her boyfriend keeps pushing her to get married. She discovers that Wainwright is holding auditions, but it's for young performers. She pretends to be her own non-existent 14 year old sister Molly Potter.

The idea has the potential for comedy. The movie is dancing around some dangerous issues. I did laugh once or twice early on. Here's the big issue. June Allyson is in her thirties and looks nothing like a teenager. At best, she looks like a thirtysomething dressed up as a teenager in an SNL sketch. That did get me a laugh. On the other hand, someone who looks more like an early teen could be creepier. All in all, I have to judge this as a comedy. I was more conflicted with the material than laughed at it.

It's a cute movie, but hard to believe a well-shaped and endowed 34 year old June Allyson as a 12 year old piano prodigy, Great storyline, great acting, but ...

This film is simply fun. You can't take it too seriously, the idea of a woman in her twenties posing as a twelve year old - this is not something that happens everyday. June Allyson is wonderful in the lead, and is practically playing two characters. She does manage to look very young, despite her being in her thirties at the time. Van Johnson is his usual lovable self, and this movie is just too cute at times. Poor Gig Young is barely seen, but he does what he can with his role. This movie is too cute!

Did anyone notice that background music written for "The Wizard of Oz" was used in the opening credits and background music for this film? In "Oz", the music plays over the opening scene of Dorothy and Toto running along the road, presumably after encountering Miss Gulch. You hear it many times afterwards. I guess, for this film, they pulled it from the MGM music library, not knowing "Oz" would become such a classic, and that any bit of music from it would be so recognizable over sixty years later. The original piece for "Oz" was (erroneously)titled "Trouble in School."

UPDATE: I have been informed that the above-mentioned piece of music is actually not original to "Oz," but is,in fact, a classically composed children's melody.

"Too Young to Kiss" is interesting to see, especially in this age of awareness towards child rights and their protection. June Allyson, looking like Judy Garland from the 1944 Meet Me in St. Louis, and hardly looking 14, does a good job impersonating a young prodigy, and Van Johnson does all right in his performance as well. However, the movie, in certain scenes, could make the viewer of today a bit uncomfortable. The audience knows in the end that June will confess her legal age, so that no one will be upset or offended. Yet the sexual tension and kisses kind of make one cringe since the plot line is not cleared up at some points with such plot devices as underage drinking and smoking, an older sister who appears to let her kid sister be taken away and cared for by an older single man, etc.... It is interesting to note the Oz music heard as the credits roll and used throughout the movie as stated by another reviewer...The film is one of those old MGM movies that is easy to take and totally forgotten by the next week. June Allyson is terrific in "Good News" and Van much better in "In The Good Old Summertime." Catch those to see them in color and at their peaks).

I saw a person who had an ambition, a desire to succeed but was not given the chance (based on the story) to prove herself. She reached the stage to try most anything (not recommended for all situations) to be heard and prove here ability. If a person is that talented and have exhausted all other means - then sometimes drastic measures are acceptable. The acting was wonderful but I was captivated by the piano music. Wonderful composer and musician (whoever played the music - I assume that June was that talented - if so - GREAT. As far as matters of the heart are concerned - it was was not that far-out and did not overstep the bounds of decency and permissiveness. June (the character) was aware and in control of her actions.