This is not a very well-known MGM film, and it is certainly one of Elizabeth Taylor's least known films. She was around 15 when it originally hit screens, probably 14 when it was made. She has top billing over Hollywood pros George Murphy and Mary Astor who play her parents. S.Z. Sakall is fourth-billed as her music instructor. The story concerns a somewhat awkward and sickly teenage girl whose family smothers her. At times her only bit of happiness is when Sakall is teaching her at the piano. I do think the performances are very good, though. Murphy and Astor are believable as stodgy parents who only want the best for their young daughter; Gene Lockhart who plays a doctor/uncle and Spring Byington as his wife are appropriately fussy and interfering; and Sakall comes in at key moments to brighten things up, in case it all gets too maudlin.
Review of Cynthia
