The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

Director: Irving Reis
Year Released: 1947
Rating: 3.0

Air-headed teen Shirley Temple becomes infatuated with knight-in-shining-armor Cary Grant and gets Grant in trouble with the authorities for what they deem is 'inappropriate relations' (though Grant clearly wants nothing to do with her). Screenwriter Sidney Sheldon cleverly takes a potential Lolita-type storyline and turns it into something innocuous and fun; the dialogue is particularly sparkling and makes me wish today's screenwriters borrowed more than cheap sight gags from classic cinema. Some of it is corny and quaint, as expected - and debonair Grant is implausible as either an artist or a rabble-rouser - but it's still solid entertainment.