The Parent Trap

Hayley Mills is simply marvelous (and I understand she was never this marvelous again) in the role of twins who want to get their parents back together again so one won't have to live with one parent and the other with the other. This concept is, obviously, ridiculous in this day and age -- without a clue as to why they separated in the first place, the girls figure together must be better than apart, because surely a miserable family together is better than a miserable family apart. Sure, whatever. What they didn't know in 1961! Some of the other things they didn't know back then include how to match the speed of a fake background with the actual speed the actors are walking. Did they just not care about stuff like that? (It's Disney, perhaps it's supposed to look artificial.) Or did they just not have the technical know-how to do it right? Heck, the actors look like they're on roller skates! And, one of the songs is quite fun -- "Let's Get Together" -- but the Maureen O'Hara tune is cringe-worthy. O'Hara may be many things, but a lip-syncher she ain't. Probably the most egregious example of how clueless they were is the flippant use of violence, in this case O'Hara punching her husband, Brian Keith. It's worked in as part of the story, not at all horror-inducing. Eep. So, what makes this film worth watching? Mills, working both sides. She flawlessly plays the sisters as separate personalities (except when the story wants them to be alike), and is the perfect mixture of rebel and sweet. Just what any parent would want in a child.

year: 1961
length: 129 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055277/combined