Review of Teenage Rebel

"Teenage Rebel" conjures up images of boozing, knife fights, wild parties, vandalism and a dozen other offenses, none of which are to be found in this film. It's actually the story of a mother (Rogers) who's long been separated from her daughter and has to try, with some difficulty, to re-establish a relationship with her when they're reunited. Rogers plays an attractive housewife, married to architect Rennie, and mother to Swope, a precocious and mischievous seven year-old. One day, she finds out that her daughter (Keim) from a previous marriage is coming for a visit after eight years of estrangement. It seems that Keim's father circumvented the custody agreement by removing her from the United States as a way of punishing Rogers for her infidelity during their marriage. Now that he is about to remarry, himself, he intends to foist Keim onto Rogers, possibly for good. Rogers' joy at seeing her darling daughter once again is dissuaded when she is confronted by the coldest, haughtiest, most-reticent young girl imaginable. Rennie tries to remedy the situation by employing the neighbor children (Berlinger and Gentile) to become friends with Keim. Rogers tries everything from a hands-off approach to old-fashioned "don't use that tone of voice with me!" authority, all to little avail. Eventually, Keim begins to crack and admit that she misses her mother's love. But will it be enough to sustain her when an unexpected rough spot hits? Rogers gives a decent performance here, expressing a range of emotions and conveying a surprisingly frank outlook for the time. She makes sure to include many a glimpse of her still-considerable legs as she trots about in short-shorts and nimbly descends a showy staircase designed by hubby, surely for that very reason. Rennie is also surprisingly contemporary and liberal in his thinking which helps keep the film refreshing, rather than stale and old-fashioned. His dance moves with Rogers out on the patio have to be seen to be believed. Who knew he had it in him? Natwick plays a neighbor with a touch of wit, but doesn't have a lot of bearing on the story. Beavers plays the family maid and she's saddled with tolerating Swope's antics and trying to please the various inhabitants of the house. Billed (incorrectly) as "three stars of the future", Keim, Berlinger and Jergens all give solid, if artificial performances. Berlinger fares best, injecting an amount of real emotion and texture into his teen character. Jergens is fine as well, in one of those wise beyond her years type of teen roles. Keim is appropriately unbearable at the start, but manages to segue into something closer to a human as it goes along. None of these actors was able to parlay his or her career into anything resembling stardom, however. In an odd twist of fate, Berlinger and Keim married in real life a few years after this and remain so to this day! Swope gives a truly wretched performance, shouting all his lines inappropriately and failing to create any sense of naturalness in his portrayal. In one key scene between he and Rogers', she can be seen visibly trying to hold on to the moment and convey some warmth and familiarity between them as he blurts his lines as if he'd learned them by rote. This is a reasonably good attempt at displaying the effects of divorce on a child at a time when divorce was still somewhat unusual. Now, of course, IT is the norm, but in 1956 it was atypical enough to raise a few eyebrows in certain communities. What takes the film out of the realm of gritty realism is the insistence on elaborate, unbelievable sets and flashy costumes for Rogers. However, enough meaningful interaction takes place for the film to warrant viewing. Modern day parents will laugh at what the film-makers considered "rebel" behavior! The worst thing this kid does, besides ignoring or smarting off to her mother, is leave without permission to go to a movie!