Details

Release year: 1959

Storyline

Fairly typical 1950s teenagers Arthur Bartley and Janet Willard find their lives turned upside-down after Janet becomes pregnant. Arthur is desperate to tell his parents of the predicament he and Janet are in, but when he can't manage to, he arranges for Janet to have an abortion. The internal turmoil that this causes him finally forces him to tell his father, who races to save Janet from the backroom abortionist.

Top credits

Directors

Philip Dunne

Writers

Cast

Carol Lynley — Janet Willard
Brandon De Wilde — Arthur Bartley
Macdonald Carey — Major Malcolm Bartley, Ret.
Marsha Hunt — Jessie Bartley

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Did you know

• According to Bobby Rupp, this was a movie that murder victim Nancy Clutter wanted to see. He mentions this in the book 'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote.

• The original play ended with Janet following through with an abortion, and she and Arthur realizing afterwards that they genuinely loved one another. Hollywood's Production Code, however, didn't allow for such a development, so the ending was rewritten.

• This originally began as a Broadway play written by "Midnight Cowboy" author James Leo Herlihy which opened at the Playhouse Theater on February 27, 1958, ran for 166 performances and closed on July 19, 1958.