You already know this: this is great family fun. Get the gang together, throw a couple bags of popcorn in the wave, sit back and have a good time.
The Big Surprise of "The Parent Trap" (1961) is that Maureen O'Hara is can be pretty unlikable through most of the picture. She's pretty much the same hellaciously feisty and fighting Irish witch that married John Wayne in "The Quiet Man" and who often only argued and fought with the poor guy.
However, when she has her sane, loving moments with ex-hubby Brian Kieth, she lights up the screen and "The Parent Trap" blossoms.
Bu of course, the film belongs to delightful little Haley Mills, who didn't stir any romantic feelings in me until three years later in Disney's "The Moon Spinners" which was her first romantic adolescent role when she fell for dashing young adventurer Peter McHenry and visa versa.
In "The Parent Trap," Haley pulls of the minor miracle of playing to herself (delightfully) as twin sisters separated at age one, with each of them going to one divorced parent.
IMPORTANT FUN NOTE: Of course, the fact that Haley's totally British accent is undisguised in two girls who have lived all their lives in the US (one in California, the other back east) is to be blissfully ignored.
Vets Una Merkel, Charlie Ruggles, Nancy Kulp, the always wonderful Ruth McDevitt, loopy composer/band leader Frank "Happy Kyne" DeVol and Leo G. Carroll add a special zing to the festivities.
And the knockout Joanna Barnes is a particularly nasty Harpy who manages to get herself engaged to Keith, much to the dire consternation of the twin Haley's and O'Hara. Will the engagement lead to marriage? Have fun: watch and see.
The Big Surprise of "The Parent Trap" (1961) is that Maureen O'Hara is can be pretty unlikable through most of the picture. She's pretty much the same hellaciously feisty and fighting Irish witch that married John Wayne in "The Quiet Man" and who often only argued and fought with the poor guy.
However, when she has her sane, loving moments with ex-hubby Brian Kieth, she lights up the screen and "The Parent Trap" blossoms.
Bu of course, the film belongs to delightful little Haley Mills, who didn't stir any romantic feelings in me until three years later in Disney's "The Moon Spinners" which was her first romantic adolescent role when she fell for dashing young adventurer Peter McHenry and visa versa.
In "The Parent Trap," Haley pulls of the minor miracle of playing to herself (delightfully) as twin sisters separated at age one, with each of them going to one divorced parent.
IMPORTANT FUN NOTE: Of course, the fact that Haley's totally British accent is undisguised in two girls who have lived all their lives in the US (one in California, the other back east) is to be blissfully ignored.
Vets Una Merkel, Charlie Ruggles, Nancy Kulp, the always wonderful Ruth McDevitt, loopy composer/band leader Frank "Happy Kyne" DeVol and Leo G. Carroll add a special zing to the festivities.
And the knockout Joanna Barnes is a particularly nasty Harpy who manages to get herself engaged to Keith, much to the dire consternation of the twin Haley's and O'Hara. Will the engagement lead to marriage? Have fun: watch and see.