Blue Denim [Blue Jeans] *** (1959, Carol Lynley, Brandon De Wilde, Macdonald Carey, Marsha Hunt, Vaughn Taylor, Warren Berlinger) – Classic Movie Review 7623

Director Philip Dunne’s 1959 drama Blue Denim [Blue Jeans in GB] is a still-fresh-seeming pioneering film on the theme of teenage pregnancy and abortion, and the actors and director Dunne keep it well ahead of its many future competitors.

Pretty but naïve pregnant teenager Janet Willard (Carol Lynley) – ‘so shy, so young’- and cute blue-eyed boyfriend Arthur Bartley (Brandon De Wilde) agonise over a backstreet abortion in this Fifties generation gap drama.

Brandon De Wilde in Blue Denim (1959).

Lynley can’t tell her loving father Professor Willard (Vaughn Taylor), while young innocent boy next door De Wilde seeks his buddy Ernie (Warren Berlinger)’s help when he can’t go to his parents (Macdonald Carey, Marsha Hunt), even though his mom is the calm and supportive type.

The screenplay by Edith Sommer and Philip Dunne is based on a 1958 play by James Leo Herlihy, the author of Midnight Cowboy, and William Noble.

Also in the cast are Nina Shipman, Roberta Shore, Buck Class, Mary Young, William Schallert, Michael Gainey, Jenny Maxwell and Juney Ellis.

Blue Denim [aka Blue Jeans] is directed by Philip Dunne, runs 90 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Edith R Sommer and Philip Dunne, based on a play by James Leo Herlihy and William Noble, shot in black and white by Leo Tover, produced by Charles Brackett, and scored by Bernard Herrmann, with Art Direction by Leland Fuller and Lyle R Wheeler.

Bernard Herrmann’s score was released on CD in November 2001.

The 1958 Broadway play starring Carol Lynley, Warren Berlinger and newcomer Burt Brinckerhoff opened on 27 February 1958 and ran for 166 performances at the Playhouse Theatre.

The film version was released on 30 July 1959, with Lynley and Berlinger reprising their stage roles, but the 17-year-old Brandon De Wilde in his first adult role replaced Brinckerhoff.

Dealing with the issues of teenage pregnancy and then-illegal abortion, the play and film attracted controversy. They had different endings, and the word abortion was removed from the film’s screenplay.

Blue Denim was released on DVD on 16 March 2016.

Marsha Hunt co-stars in Blue Denim.

Marsha Hunt was born on 17 October 1917. Her low-level profile was compounded by her McCarthy-era blacklisting in the early Fifties.

Brandon De Wilde started out at nine in The Member of the Wedding, both on stage and in the 1952 film version. He is also remembered for Shane and Hud.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7623

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