Teenage Rebel

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Teenage Rebel
Film poster
Directed byEdmund Goulding
Written byCharles Brackett
Edmund Goulding
Walter Reisch
Based on
A Roomful of Roses
1955 play
by Edith Sommer
Produced byCharles Brackett
StarringGinger Rogers
Michael Rennie
Mildred Natwick
CinematographyJoseph MacDonald
Edited byWilliam Mace
Music byLeigh Harline
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • November 1, 1956 (1956-11-01)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$985,000[1]

Teenage Rebel is a 1956 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Ginger Rogers, Michael Rennie and Mildred Natwick. It was nominated for two Academy Awards; Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction (Lyle R. Wheeler, Jack Martin Smith, Walter M. Scott, and Stuart A. Reiss).[2][3]

The film was an adaptation of the play A Roomful of Roses by Edith Sommer, with Betty Lou Keim and Warren Berlinger reprising their Broadway roles. Teenage Rebel was the first black-and-white CinemaScope film.[4]

Plot

Nancy Fallon (Ginger Rogers) is a divorcee who has trouble communicating with her 15-year-old daughter Dodie (Betty Lou Keim). Left in the custody of her father (Michael Rennie), Dodie feels as though her mother has deserted her.[5]

Cast

Original play

The film was based on a play, A Roomful of Roses, written by Edith Sommer. It was bought for production in 1954 bu Guthrie McClintock and Stanley Gilkek.[6] In June 1955 Patricia Neal agreed to star.[7]

The play premiered on October 17. The New York Times said the acting was "winning" and it was "written with humanity".[8]

Linda Darnell later made her stage debut in a production of the play in Phoenix Arizona.[9]

Production

Drive-in advertisement from 1957.

Film rights were purchased by 20th Century Fox before the play was even produced. In May 1955 Darryl F. Zanuck assigned the play to Sam Engel to produce.[10]

According to writer Walter Reisch, 20th Century Fox had a commitment with Ginger Rogers and bought the play as a vehicle for her.[11] Rogers' casting was announced in May 1956.[12]

Reisch later said it was one of his favorite films, saying "It was a beautiful idea: a girl, the daughter of a woman who had meanwhile remarried, comes to the house to meet her new family. [Edmund] Goulding directed it. We only used the nucleus, the germ of the play, and made a lovely picture, a big success. But it was in black-and-white CinemaScope; again we couldn't get the color camera."[11]

The film was known as Our Teenage Daughter and Dodie before Fox settled on Teenage Rebel. In June 1956 Betty Lou Kenim was cast in her stage role.[13] Filming started in June 1956. The movie was the only film being shot on the Fox lot.[14]

Critical response

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote: "Producer-writer Charles Brackett and director Edmund Goulding have well perceived that the heart of the thing is in the contacts between the mother and the child—in the succession of painful face-offs wherein the mother tries to break through. And they have wisely selected two fine players, Ginger Rogers and Betty Lou Keim, for the roles"[15]

References

  1. Solomon, Aubrey (1988). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. The Scarecrow Filmmakers. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1.
  2. "The 29th Academy Awards (1957) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  3. "Teenage Rebel". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
  4. "Teenage Rebel (1956) – Misc Notes". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on August 3, 2012. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  5. Hal Erickson. "Teenage Rebel (1956) – Edmund Goulding – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  6. SAM ZOLOTOW (November 3, 1954). "LUNTS RETURNING IN PLAY TONIGHT: Edna Best and Brian Aherne Also Are Starred in Noel Coward's 'Quadrille'". New York Times. p. 35.
  7. ARTHUR GELB (July 12, 1955). "STRATFORD GROUP REACHES RUBICON: American Shakespeare Fete Opens Tonight With 'Julius Caesar' as Initial Bill". New York Times. p. 21.
  8. BROOKS ATKINSON (October 18, 1955). "A Roomful of Roses' Opens at Playhouse: Play by Edith Sommer Merits Bouquets Betty Lou Keim and Patricia Neal Praised". New York Times. p. 48.
  9. LOUIS CALTA (July 12, 1956). "PLAY ROLE TAKEN BY LINDA DARNELL: Film Actress Signs Contract to Bow Here Next Fall in 'Harbor Lights' Garbo May Do Play Harris Goes to London". New York Times. p. 15.
  10. Hopper, Hedda (May 10, 1955). "Story of 'Roomful of Roses' Seems to Have Some Thorns". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. b5.
  11. McGilligan, Patrick (1991). Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s. University of California Press. p. 243.
  12. "Diana Dors Signed by R.K.O.". New York Times. May 25, 1956. p. 26.
  13. THOMAS M. PRYOR (June 15, 1956). "REPUBLIC PLANS 18 NEW PICTURES: Studio Will Resume Filming Operations in July With Low-Budget Program Columbia Signs Reinhardt". New York Times. p. 30.
  14. THOMAS M. PRYOR (June 16, 1956). "PROBLEMS SLOW ACTIVITY AT FOX: Story and Talent Difficulties Keep Studio From Planned Film Production Record Tony Curtis to Star Of Local Origin". New York Times. p. 12.
  15. Crowther, Bosley (November 17, 1956). "Screen: 'Teenage Rebel'; Globe Newcomer Tells of Sensitive Girl". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. p. 0. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved June 23, 2026.