Movie Review: The Diary of a High School Bride (1959)
Synopsis: When 17-year-old high school student, Judy, returns from Vegas married to 24-year-old law student, Steve, she assumes everyone will be happy for her. Instead, both her parents and her best friend think she made a mistake, and she is bullied at school. On top of it, Steve's jealousy and pride soon make married life unbearable.
Who's in it? The movie stars Anita Sands, Ron Foster, Chris Robinson, Wendy Wilde and Frank Biro.
Review: I ended up watching The Diary of a High School Bride this morning mostly because I heard it was the double feature usually shown with the recently watched Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow and figured I'd give it a try. I had some doubts about the film, mostly because it sounded like it might be a bit dull/preachy. However, it ended up being surprisingly good.
I think the thing I liked most about this film is it didn't necessarily take a side on the whole teenagers getting married debate and instead focused on Judy's (Sands) specific story as young love turned to marriage and she began to lose some of her innocence. The use of a stuffed dog to represent her childhood was a nice touch as well, along with Sands legitimately being a teenager when the movie was made (versus someone who is clearly much older).
The thing that really stood out for me though was Judy's apparent poor choice in men. Her ex-boyfriend, Chuck (Robinson) was a psychopath who was obsessed with her to the point he was perfectly fine trying to rape her, trying to break up her marriage and even letting her get killed.
Steve (Foster) looked better in comparison but was clearly a cradle robber, and I'm not convinced he even loved Judy, just the idea of having sex with her while she also cooked and cleaned. There was also quite a bit of paranoia on his part, both in the way he believed she was cheating on him with Chuck (despite the very clear evidence she was afraid of Chuck) and how he took offense to her parents buying them new furniture as a wedding gift. Seriously? I wish someone would have done that when my wife and I got married.
In fact, I was a bit disappointed the movie didn't attempt to give more of a backstory about that relationship, including how they met and how they became a couple. There was a 7-year difference in age and the movie hinted he spent time in the military. A better timeline of how she fell in love with him would have helped, though I doubt it would change my mind about him.
One guy I did like in this movie though was her father (Biro). He had a surprisingly sensitive approach to the situation, choosing to let his daughter figure things out on her own while making it clear she was still welcome in his house. It was the opposite of what I would have expected to see in this movie.
I am a bit undecided about the ending, but I think I'll give it a pass. It kept things open-ended as far as their marriage went while still allowing Judy to acknowledge she may have made a mistake marrying so young. Sometimes you don't need closure, just a lesson being learned before the end credits.
Final Opinion: It ended up being a good movie with plenty of drama and a surprising amount of action/suspense. It was worth watching in my opinion.
My Grade: B+
_____________________________________________________________
Here are some reviews of other movies from 1959:
Movie Review: No Name on the Bullet (1959)
Comments
Post a Comment