(1957) 2 Bruce Eder Both Ethel Barrymore and director John H. Auer (who had mostly been associated with B-movies) closed out their respective movie careers with this low-key, surprisingly unsentimental, clear-headed drama about an elderly widow and her desire to make amends for the one serious mistake in her life. Based on the story Prodigal's Mother by Ben Ames Williams (Leave Her To Heaven etc.), the screenplay by David Lord and Charles O'Neal puts Barrymore's serene dowager in the middle of a 1950s collegiate setting, in what could have been an overt fish-out-of-water comedy; but the writers, director Auer, and the cast capture precisely the right tone and texture, so that the humor is gentle and the characters are center-stage at all times, and never subordinated to the obvious comedic elements. With Stuart Whitman a little over-the-top in some of his scenes as John Chandler, the title character (or his son -- or is he?), and Jack Larson just right as his best friend, plus Carolyn Jones stealing several of her scenes as the "college tramp" who turns out to be more of a "good" bad girl, Barrymore doesn't carry the entire movie -- indeed, one of the pleasures of watching Johnny Trouble is to appreciate the neat manner in which director Auer, working with what is easily the best cast he ever had for a feature film, balances her serene, sophisticated acting craft with the energy of the cast surrounding her. Barrymore does, in fact, carry the picture, but there's a lot enjoy around her. She also gets a lot of help from Cecil Kellaway, with whom she'd previously worked in Portrait of Jennie, as her faithful former chauffeur; and Jesse White is a pleasure to watch as a cheerfully flustered university official. Most important, the movie avoids the temptation to sink in maudlin sentimentality -- even the resolution is a clear-headed final twist to the story, and one that says a lot about human nature at its best. The only word of caution one might have for modern viewers, in terms of enjoying this film, concerns the ages of the "students" -- as with most movies before the 1970s and 1980s, the producers of Johnny Trouble had no trouble casting 29-year-old Stuart Whitman, 28-year-old Rand Harper et al as college undergraduates, which gives the film a somewhat off-kilter look to twenty-first century audiences.

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Johnny Trouble (1957)

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Suitable for Children

genres

Drama

category

Feature

directed by

John H. Auer

countries

USA

released

1957

run time

80 min.

produced by

Warner Brothers

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by Iotis Erlewine synopsis

In this gentle drama, an elderly widow will not leave her apartment even after her building is slated to be converted into a university dormitory. She refuses to leave because she is convinced that her son, who disappeared 27 years before after being expelled from the college, will come back.

characteristics

- Death Of A Child

- Problems

- Prodigal-son

- Return

- Mother

- Missing

- Love

- Marines

- Romance

- Lost

- Troubles

- University

- Student

- Son

- Romantic

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