Junior Miss

It didn't take long for "Junior Miss" to hook me in. The dialogue in this light family comedy is unusually lively and laugh-worthy, likely owing to its origins as a play adapted from Sally Benson's autobiographical short stories. Peggy Ann Garner is perfect as wannabe matchmaker Judy. She's a very natural actress for her age: although precocious, she knows knows when to keep it low-key and is never overly spunky in that grating kid actor way.

The movie's best bits are Judy's scenes with her best friend Fuffy Adams, played by Barbara Whiting. Fuffy is a total hoot, reeling off endless movie references and snappy lines while scheming with Judy. Although Fuffy fits the "homely best friend" stock character typically played by someone like Nancy Walker, the movie never mocks or derides her. Fuffy just gets to be Fuffy!

Set during Christmas and New Year's, there's plenty of fun seasonal content, making this a nice addition to any Old Hollywood Christmas playlist. It's puzzling that this this forgotten gem has managed to avoid finding an audience for so long!

I am a huge Peggy Ann Garner fan. Ever since "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn," I have loved that girl and am sorry her career was so short and her private life so tough. I have three of her films in which she starred, all released in 1945. She only was featured in one other film that I know off (Home Sweet Homocide, which I haven't seen).

This film never having been released on VHS or DVD, I paid fairly big bucks to get an excellent tape of this.....and was disappointed. Even though it is labeled as a 1945 film, the same as "Brooklyn" and "Nob Hill," Peggy Ann looks at least two years older. She's no longer the cute little girl. Now, she's a full-fledged teen and this is really a teen girl's movie more than an adult's. Peggy Ann and real-life best friend Barbara Whiting are the co-stars of this comedy.

However, all is not lost. Peggy Ann still shows her tremendous talents, here demonstrating she can do comedy as well as drama in the role of young teen "Judy Graves." I wish I could say the same for Whiting, who plays her friend "Fuffy," but after a shaky start Barbara settles down and her acting is a little more relaxed.

The real star of the film, at least for having the best lines, is the father, "Harry Graves," played effectively by Alyn Joslyn. He was genuinely funny. The boys of Peggy''s oddball older sister Lois (Mona Freeman) also were amusing as they kept appearing at the front door throughout the film. The second half of the film is far better than the first as the comedic lines begin to connect.

This is a delightful film that I love to view whenever I run across it. It features Peggy Ann Garner as Judy, the thirteen-year-old daughter of a middle class family in New York in the forties. Through a procession of misunderstandings, the family is thrown into a series of calamaties during the Christmas/New Years holiday. Of course, at the end, all is well thanks to Judy. Peggy Ann Garner's performance is just perfect, and her relationship with Barbara Whiting, who plays Judy's best friend Fuffy, seems very true to life. I guess this film might seem a tad boring to some modern viewers, but it certainly transports me back to a wonderful time. Be sure to be on the lookout for Mel Torme, who has a tiny role as one of the boyfriends of Judy's older sister. He looks like he is about fifteen years old, but he has that unmistakable voice!

I saw this movie as a pre-teenager living in New York, so I really identified with the main character played by Peggy Ann Garner. The location shots at the ice-skating rink at Rockefeller Center and Central Park in the winter (when Judy and Fuffy are sitting on a park bench eating cookies in their winter coats) are charming indeed. The story will keep movie fans interested. There is romance, generation gaps, family situations all centered around a couple of teen-age pals living in the same apartment building with a big sister thrown in for fun. Every time I see this movie, I am back in 1945 as a ten year old seeing this movie during the summer with my father.

Utterly charming lightweight comedy about two teenage girls coming of age in 1940's Manhattan. Director Seaton and the writers add a number of expert touches that lift the 90- minutes above the ordinary. I love the way the luckless teenage suitors keep shuffling in and out of the apartment as the girls' grouchy dad (Joslyn) gives them the better-be-home-by-ten evil eye. And was there ever a more beguiling early teen than Garner (Judy). What I like most is her utter lack of affect. She's a natural, not particularly pretty, but with a winning personality.

Here Judy has a bouncy neighbor Fluffy (Whiting) to conspire with. Their project is to get recovering alcoholic Uncle Willis (Dunne) together with the lovely Ellen (Marlowe) in order to save what they believe is Judy's parent's marriage. Naturally, complications arise, particularly when it looks like Dad will lose his good job because of the girls' shenanigans.

The movie's adapted from a stage play, which is apparent since nearly all the action occurs in the Manhattan apartment. But notice how things never drag as Seaton keeps moving people in and out with lots of sassy dialog, particularly between Judy and older sister Lois (Freeman). Also, catch a very young Mel Torme as one of the obnoxious suitors in an early walk-on. Hard to believe teens were ever like this, but then it is a movie, and though dated, is still quite entertaining, thanks mainly to the wonderful Miss Garner. In my little book, it's an unexpected sleeper.