The Parent Trap

US (1961): Comedy/Drama/Family

We get a double dose of Hayley Mills in this Disney vehicle, directed by David Swift. Mills plays 13-year-old identical twins, who meet for the very first time in summer camp. They soon learn that they were separated at a very early age when their parents Brian Keith and Maureen O'Hara divorced. On a lark, the two Hayleys switch places: the one living with Keith goes back home with O'Hara, and vice versa. Keith is planning to remarry the "wrong woman," vituperative Joanna Barnes. The twins conspire to reunite their parents, but the road to reconciliation is rough indeed. It takes a slapsticky camping trip to get rid of the troublesome Moore and to prompt Keith and O'Hara to renew their vows. Cast also features Cathleen Nesbitt, Charles Ruggles, Charles Ruggles, Leo G. Carroll and Nancy Kulp.

The film introduced a hit song, "Let's Get Together," which represented the high point of Hayley Mills' very short-lived recording career. The Parent Trap was based on Das Doppelte Lottchen, a novel by Erich Kastner, which had previously been filmed in German and British versions (real twins were cast in both); over thirty years after The Parent Trap was theatrically released, a short series of sequels were made for the Disney Channel cable service, with a grown-up Hayley Mills back in her original role(s), and two sets of second-generation twins. Baby Boom (1987) collaborators Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer would remake the film with a new cast in 1998. (Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide)

· Film Editing 1961: Philip W. Anderson
· Sound 1961: Robert O. Cook (Walt Disney Studio Sound Department)

2 nominations