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The Parent Trap (1961 film)

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Wikipedia article




'The Parent Trap' is a 1961 American romantic comedy film written and directed by David Swift.'Variety' film review; May 3, 2005, page 26.'Harrison's Reports' film review; May 6, 1961, page 70. It stars Hayley Mills (in a dual role), Maureen O'Hara, and Brian Keith. Based upon the 1949 book 'Lisa and Lottie' (German: ) by Erich Kstner, 'The Parent Trap' follows a pair of teenage twins who plot to reunite their divorced parents.

Produced by Walt Disney Productions, 'The Parent Trap' was released on June 21, 1961, by Buena Vista Distribution, and grossed $25.1 million at the box office. It was nominated for two Academy Awards, was broadcast on television, saw three television sequels, was remade in 1998 with Lindsay Lohan, and has been released on digital stereo LaserDisc format in 1986 as well as VHS and DVD in 2002. 'The Parent Trap' was Hayley Mills's second of six films for Disney.

Plot



Teenagers Sharon McKendrick and Susan Evers meet at Miss Inch's Summer Camp for Girls. Their identical appearance causes jealousy, resentment, and a rivalry in which they continually get each other in trouble and disrupt camp activities. As punishment, they must spend the remainder of the camp season rooming and dining together in isolation. They overcome their mutual dislike when they discover they are identical twin sisters whom their parents Mitch Evers and Maggie McKendrick separated upon divorcing shortly after their birth. Eager to meet the parents they were separated from, they decide to switch places, cut their hair identically, and coach each other on their lives.

In Boston with her mother and grandparents, Susan poses as Sharon, while Sharon goes to Mitch's California ranch as Susan. Sharon learns that Mitch is engaged to a beautiful and much younger woman, gold digger Vicky Robinson, who intends to send Susan to boarding school after the wedding. The girls communicate by phone at night. Susan tells Sharon to break up the couple, but failing that, Susan decides to end the charade, and after a happy reunion, Maggie returns her to California. Mitch is upset by Maggie's unexpected arrival, until he learns the truth and is reunited with both daughters. Vicky is jealous of Maggie staying at the ranch.

The girls scheme to reunite their parents by recreating Maggie and Mitch's first date. The ex-spouses are at first drawn together, but then argue over why they divorced. They make up before Maggie and Sharon are to leave the next morning, and Maggie wishes Mitch well with Vicky. To delay the return to Boston, the twins dress alike so their parents are unable to tell them apart. They will reveal their identities only after a family camping trip. Mitch and Maggie reluctantly agree, and Vicky, who loathes the outdoors, is furious. Maggie cajoles Vicky into taking her place, so she can become better acquainted with the twins.

The twins take every opportunity to exploit Vicky's hatred of camping, pulling a series of pranks on her. Mitch finally sees Vicky's true nature as she throws a shouting tantrum, angrily slaps Susan, and storms off back to the city for good.

Back at the house, the twins apologize for their actions. Maggie and Sharon prepare to return to Boston the next day, the twins now resigned to only seeing each other during visits and shuttling back-and-forth between parents. Later, Mitch tells Maggie everything he misses about her and their marriage. Both realize they still love each other and do not want to grow into old, lonely people. Susan wakes up during the night and tells Sharon about a beautiful dream she has where they are bridesmaids at their parents' wedding, a dream destined to come true.

Cast



* Hayley Mills as Sharon McKendrick / Susan Evers, identical twins who were separated shortly after birth when their parents divorced. Each doesn't even know the other exists until they meet at a summer camp.

* Brian Keith as Mitchell "Mitch" Evers, Sharon and Susan's father.

* Maureen O'Hara as Margaret "Maggie" McKendrick, Sharon and Susan's mother.

* Joanna Barnes as Vicky Robinson, a child-hating gold digger who is planning to marry Mitch just for his money.

* Charlie Ruggles as Charles McKendrick

* Cathleen Nesbitt as Louise McKendrick

* Una Merkel as Verbena, The Housekeeper

* Leo G. Carroll as Reverend Dr. Mosby

* Linda Watkins as Edna Robinson

* Ruth McDevitt as Miss Abbey Inch

* Crahan Denton as Hecky, The Ranch Foreman

* Nancy Kulp as Miss Grunecker

* Frank De Vol as Mr. Eaglewood

* Susan Henning as Sharon McKendrick / Susan Evers (body double) '[uncredited]'

Production



The novel was discovered by Disney's story editor Bill Dover who recommended the studio buy it.O'Hara p 417

In March 1960 Disney announced that Hayley Mills would star in 'His and Hers' to be written and directed by David Swift. Swift and Mills had just made 'Pollyanna' for Disney.Looking at Hollywood: Hayley Mills to Play (Both) Twins in Film

Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune 9 Mar 1960: b4.
It was also known as 'Petticoats and Blue Jeans' and was the first in a five-film contract Mills signed with Disney, to make one each summer.Is Young British Actress New 'American Sweetheart'?: Hollywood Letter

By John C. Waugh. The Christian Science Monitor 11 Oct 1960: 7.


Maureen O'Hara signed in June.PRODUCERS PUSH WAR-FILM PLANS: Levy and Mindlin Will Begin 'Longest Day' in March -- 'Terrace' to Open July 15

By HOWARD THOMPSON. New York Times 25 June 1960: 12.
She wrote in her memoirs that Disney offered her a third of her normal fee of $75,000 but that she held out for her quote and got it.O'Hara p 418 O'Hara said her contract gave her top billing but that Disney decided to give that to Mills; she says this caused tension with the studio and was why she never worked with Disney again.O'Hara p 424-426

Production started in July under the title of 'We Belong Together' and went until September.BY WAY OF REPORT By A.H. WEILER. New York Times 4 Sep 1960: 79.

The film was shot mostly at various locales in California. The summer camp scenes were filmed at Bluff Lake Camp (then owned by the Pasadena YMCA, now by Habonim Dror's Camp Gilboa) and the family camping scenes later in the movie at Cedar Lake Camp, both in the San Bernardino Mountains near the city of Big Bear Lake in Southern California. The Monterey scenes were filmed in various California locations, including millionaire Stuyvesant Fish's ranch in Carmel and Monterey's Pebble Beach golf course. The scenes at the Monterey house were shot at the studio's Golden Oak Ranch in Placerita Canyon, where Mitch's ranch was built. It was the design of this set that proved the most popular, and to this day the Walt Disney Archives receives requests for plans of the home's interior design. In fact, there never was such a house; the set was simply various rooms built on a sound stage. Camp Inch was based on a real girls' camp called Camp Crestridge for Girls at the Ridgecrest Baptist Conference Center near Asheville, North Carolina.

Musical numbers



Richard and Robert Sherman provided the songs, which, besides the title song "The Parent Trap", includes "For Now, For Always", and "Let's Get Together". "Let's Get Together" (sung by Annette Funicello) is heard playing from a record player at the summer camp; the tune is reprised by the twins when they restage their parents' first date and that version is sung double-tracked by Hayley Mills (Hayley's own single of the song, credited to "Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills", reached #8 on the US charts). The film's title song was performed by Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello, who were both on the studio lot shooting 'Babes in Toyland' at the time. The campers whistle the 1914 marching song, "Colonel Bogey March", as they march through camp, mirroring the scene from 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'.

Reception



Bosley Crowther of 'The New York Times' wrote that "it should be most appealing to adults, as well as to children, because of the cheerfully persuasive dual performance of Hayley Mills".Crowther, Bosley (June 22, 1961). "Hayley Mills Plays 2 Roles in Comedy". 'The New York Times'. 23. 'Variety' stated that the film was "absolutely predictable from the outset", but was still "a winner" thanks to the performance of Mills, who "seems to have an instinctive sense of comedy and an uncanny ability to react in just the right manner. Her contribution to the picture is virtually infinite"."Film Reviews: The Parent Trap". 'Variety'. May 3, 1961. 26. Charles Stinson of the 'Los Angeles Times' declared it "a comedy unusually well designed for the entire family enough sight gags to keep the children screaming and enough clever dialogue to amuse their parents".Stinson, Charles (June 26, 1961). "'The Parent Trap' Fun for the Entire Family". 'Los Angeles Times'. Part IV, p. 9. 'Harrison's Reports' graded the film as "Very Good" and Richard L. Coe of 'The Washington Post' called it "charmingly lively" even though "the terrain is familiar".Coe, Richard L. (July 11, 1961). "TRULY Plural Is Haley [sic] Mills". 'The Washington Post'. B8.

The film holds a score of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 20 reviews.

Accolades



The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: one for Sound by Robert O. Cook, and the other for Film Editing by Philip W. Anderson. The film and its editor, Philip W. Anderson, won the inaugural 1962 Eddie Award of the American Cinema Editors.

Subsequent developments



In 1961 a comic book version of the film was published, adapted and illustrated by Dan Spiegle.

The film was theatrically re-released in 1968 and earned $1.8 million in rentals."Big Rental Films of 2010", 'Variety', 7 January 2011 p 15

The Disney Studios produced three television sequels 'The Parent Trap II' (1986), 'Parent Trap III' (1989) and 'Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon' (1989). The original was remade in 1998 starring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson. Joanna Barnes also made an appearance as Vicki Blake, the mother of Dennis Quaid's character's fiance, Meridith. Another remake of 'The Parent Trap' is in development for Walt Disney Studios' streaming service Disney+.

In India, there have been several films inspired by 'The Parent Trap'. In 1965, a Tamil language version of the story called 'Kuzhandaiyum Deivamum', starring Kutty Padmini was released. The following year, it was remade into Telugu as 'Leta Manasulu' also starring Kutty Padmini. A Hindi version 'Do Kaliyaan' starring Neetu Singh in the double role was made in 1968. The 1987 film 'Pyar Ke Kabil' also has a similar storyline, as does the 2001 film 'Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi' which has Kajol playing the double role of 23-year-old twins.

Home media



The film was released on a 2-disc special edition DVD in 2002, as part of the Vault Disney collection, with a new digital remaster by THX.

In 2005, the film was once again released in a 2-Movie Collection, which also contained the made-for-television sequel, 'The Parent Trap II' (1986), plus the original film trailer and other bonus features.

The film was released for the first time on Blu-ray, but as a Disney Movie Club exclusive on April 24, 2018. The 1998 remake was also released on Blu-ray the same day.

See also



* List of American films of 1961

References



Notes



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