The Parent Trap (1961)

Directed by David Swift. Starring Hayley Mills, Brian Keith, Maureen O’Hara, Joanna Barnes, Charles Ruggles, Cathleen Nesbitt, Linda Watkins, Leo G. Carroll, Una Merkel, Ruth McDevitt.

Though considered a minor family-film classic in some circles, this predictable bit of identity-swap fluff isn’t nearly as clever as it should have been, and goes on way too long. The well-known (but incredibly implausible) premise finds Mills playing twins that were separated at birth by their parents after a post-birth split; the kids cross paths at camp and decide to work in tandem to bring their parents back together by switching places when they each go back home. The visual effects that place Mills in the same shot as “herself” are nearly seamless, and there are a few amusing moments to be found here and there, but it never takes off as a situational farce should. Mills is certainly above-average as far as Disney child performances go, but she does too little to distinguish the two characters even when they’re not trying to be the other one; O’Hara is okay as the mom, but her innate feistiness is restrained, while Keith’s dad is so gruff and miserable that he’s sometimes outright unlikable. Beware the earworm found in that catchy tripe known as “Let’s Get Together,” performed by the double-tracked child star. Remade in 1998, with Lindsay Lohan assuming the dual role of the twins.

57/100