My Teenage Daughter
My Teenage Daughter, later Teenage Bad Girl, is a 1956 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Sylvia Syms and Norman Wooland.[2] The screenplay concerns a mother who tries to deal with her teenage daughter's descent into delinquency. It was intended as a British response to Rebel Without a Cause. It was the last commercially successful film made by Wilcox.[3]
My Teenage Daughter | |
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![]() British quad poster by Brian Robb | |
Directed by | Herbert Wilcox |
Written by | Felicity Douglas |
Produced by | Herbert Wilcox |
Starring | Anna Neagle Sylvia Syms Norman Wooland |
Cinematography | Mutz Greenbaum |
Edited by | Basil Warren |
Music by | Stanley Black |
Production company | Herbert Wilcox Productions |
Distributed by | British Lion (UK) DCA (US) |
Release dates |
1957 (USA) |
Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | £181,467 (UK)[1] |
Plot
Valerie Carr is a widowed magazine editor who lives in London and has two teenage daughters, Jan and Poppet. Jan falls for the wealthy Tony Ward Black, who takes her dancing and for drives in his Bentley. Valeria gets a job editing a magazine for teenagers.
Cast
- Anna Neagle – Valerie Carr
- Sylvia Syms – Janet Carr
- Norman Wooland – Hugh Manning
- Wilfrid Hyde-White – Sir Joseph
- Kenneth Haigh – Tony Ward Black
- Julia Lockwood – Poppet Carr
- Helen Haye – Aunt Louisa
- Josephine Fitzgerald – Aunt Bella
- Wanda Ventham – Gina
- Michael Shepley – Sir Henry
- Avice Landone - Barbara
- Michael Meacham – Mark
- Edie Martin – Miss Ellis
- Ballard Berkeley – Magistrate
- Arthur Mullard - Club Bouncer (uncredited)
- Myrette Morven – Anne
- Grizelda Harvey – Miss Bennett
- Betty Cooper – Celia
- Daphne Cave – Deirdre
- Launce Maraschal – Senator
Production
Neagle and Wilcox commissioned playwright Felicity Douglas to write a script about the generation gap.[4] It was known during filming as I Have a Teenaged Daughter.[5]
Janette Scott and Shirley Eaton were announced as possible's to play the daughter of Anna Neagle.[6] Wilcox ended up casting Sylvia Syms after seeing her in a television play, The Romantic Young Lady. She recalled, "I was crashingly ignorant and very young, and Anna and Herbert cosseted me and spoiled me. They made my part bigger as I went along... Their generosity was incredible. They didn't pay me much but it was more than I was paid for my subsequent films [under a long-term contract with Associated British]."[7]
Julia Lockwood, who plays Anna Neagle's youngest daughter, was the daughter of Margaret Lockwood.[8]
Reception
Variety called it "an unabashed sentimental drama, obviously conceived as unsophisticated entertainment... should prove a stout b.o. proposition where the name value of Anna Neagle has potent marquee appeal."[9]
Filmink said the film "was described as Britain’s answer to Rebel Without a Cause, and in a way that’s true, in that it’s about a middle-class teen going off the rails, although it pays far more attention to the adult characters than the Nick Ray-James Dean classic.[10]
Syms said when the film came out "I was, as they say, an overnight sensation" but she "had saddled myself with a seven year contract" with Associated British.[7]
References
- Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p509
- "BFI | Film & TV Database | MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER (1956)". Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
- Harper & Porter p.158
- STEPHEN WATTS (21 August 1955). "Neagle-Wilcox on Youth—Profits-- Random Round-Up of New Ventures". New York Times. p. 101.
- "London". Variety. 13 July 1955. p. 62.
- "Teenage Topics". Nottingham Evening Post. 12 August 1955. p. 8.
- McFarlane, Brian (1992). Sixty voices : celebrities recall the golden age of British cinema. BFI. p. 205.
- Tims, Hilton (1989). Once a wicked lady : a biography of Margaret Lockwood. p. 178-179.
- "My Teenage Daughter". Variety. 27 June 1956. p. 6.
- Vagg, Stephen (22 February 2023). "The Surprisingly Saucy Cinema of Sylvia Syms". Filmink. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
Bibliography
- Harper, Sue & Porter, Vincent. British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press, 2007.
External links
- My Teenage Daughter at IMDb
- My Teenage Daughter at Letterbox DVD
- My Teenage Daughter at BFI
- My Teenage Daughter at Reel Streets