Friday '58: The Reluctant Debutante

In yesterday's post, I wrote in my reaction to The Man With the Golden Arm (1956), that one of my favourite film periods is the mid- to late-'50s, and I want to elaborate on that in a new series I'm calling Friday '50s.

Every week I'm going to highlight a different film from this period and discuss it. We'll start this week with one of my favourite decadent films from 1958: The Reluctant Debutante. 

via tumgir

The Reluctant Debutante

"A teenage American girl, while visiting her father, is thrown into London society during the Debutante Season."

Starring: Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, Sandra Dee

Thoughts: This is such a fun film, and Kay Kendall is an absolute delight as Sandra Dee's stepmother Sheila, a woman who wants to desperately keep up with the Joneses during debutante season by escorting her ambivalent stepdaughter through the process. 

Sandra Dee is also wonderful as Jane, the teenage daughter who falls in love with a drummer at one of the coming out parties instead of a nice, suitable bachelor. The movie then follows along as Sheila and Jane try to influence the romantic outcome in their own direction, while Rex Harrison swans around in typical (great) grandeur. 

I'd definitely recommend The Reluctant Debutante.