Kiss and Tell

"Kiss and Tell" is a mildly funny family comedy whose main claim to fame is having the teenage Shirley Temple star as the goofy Corliss Archer. She's a bit of a dingbat and gets herself into all sorts of trouble and two families suddenly think that this young lady and her equally young boyfriend, Dexter are married...even though they play characters who are only 15 or 16!

The trouble starts when Corliss' family and Mildred's start fussing at each other over some silly misunderstanding. This causes huge problems for Corliss' brother when he arrives home on leave, because he wants to marry Mildred and they do so secretly. But now with all the arguing, the pair decide to keep their marriage a secret until the new groom gets back from the war. But there's a hiccup...Mildred becomes pregnant and through a misunderstanding, folks think Corliss is an unwed mother-to-be. Corliss doesn't want their families to know about the real wedding and decides since she promised not to tell that she would pretend to be the pregnant one...and names poor Dexter as the father! Is this the end to the lies and craziness? Not on your life. How does Corliss extricate herself...or will she suddenly find herself married to Dexter at their parents' insistence?

This film is surprisingly adult for its time. While teens getting married was not uncommon back in the 40s, being pregnant without being married was a huge taboo...or at least to admit to doing. The whole notion of premarital sex was pretty racy stuff for the day-- especially when it was the 'little girl' America loved, Miss Temple! Overall, a funny but slight film that is well worth seeing. The only serious problem was Corliss' father (Walter Abel), as his character seemed like a cartoonish buffoon much of the time. And, incidentally, Temple returned a few years later for a sequel (it was terrible) and shortly after that, there were two television versions which starred Lugene Sanders as well as Ann Baker. Neither of the shows were particularly successful.