| The Parent Trap | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster byReynold Brown | |
| Directed by | David Swift |
| Screenplay by | David Swift |
| Based on | Das doppelte Lottchen 1949 novel byErich Kästner |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Lucien Ballard |
| Edited by | Philip W. Anderson |
| Music by |
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Production company | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 128 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $25.1 million |
The Parent Trap is a 1961 Americanromantic comedy film written and directed byDavid Swift.[1][2] It starsHayley Mills in adual role as a pair of teenage twins who switch places with each other in order to reunite their divorced parents, played byMaureen O'Hara andBrian Keith. Although the plot is very close to that of the 1945 filmTwice Blessed,The Parent Trap is based on the 1949German children's novelDas doppelte Lottchen byErich Kästner.[3][4]
Produced byWalt Disney Productions,The Parent Trap was released on June 21, 1961, byBuena Vista Distribution. It grossed $25.1 million at the box office and was nominated for twoAcademy Awards. It was broadcast on television, and three television sequels followed the later adventures of the twins. The film wasremade in 1998 withLindsay Lohan. It was released onVHS, in digital stereo LaserDisc format (1986), and on DVD (2002).The Parent Trap was the second of six films Mills made for Disney.
Teenagers Sharon McKendrick and Susan Evers meet at a girls summer camp. Their identical appearance causes jealousy, resentment, and a rivalry in which they continually get each other into trouble and disrupt camp activities. As punishment, they must spend the remainder of the camp season rooming and dining together in isolation. They overcome their mutual dislike when they realize that they are identical twin sisters, whom their parents, Mitch and Maggie, separated upon divorcing shortly after their birth. Eager to meet the parents from whom they were separated, they decide to cut their hair identically, coach each other on their lives, and switch places.
In Boston with their mother and grandparents, Susan poses as Sharon, while Sharon goes to Mitch's California ranch as Susan. Sharon learns that Mitch is engaged to a much younger woman, Vicky Robinson, who is interested only in Mitch's money and intends to send Susan to boarding school after the wedding. The girls communicate by phone at night. Susan tells Sharon to break up the couple, but when that fails, Susan decides to end the charade. After a happy reunion, Maggie brings her to California. Mitch is upset by Maggie's unexpected arrival, until he learns the truth and is reunited with both daughters. Vicky is jealous of Maggie, who is staying at the ranch.
The girls scheme to reunite their parents by recreating Maggie and Mitch's first date. At first, the ex-spouses are drawn together, but then they argue over why they divorced. They make up before Maggie and Sharon are to leave the next morning, and Maggie wishes Mitch well with Vicky. To delay the return to Boston, the twins dress and act alike, so their parents cannot tell them apart. They refuse to reveal their identities unless the family takes a camping trip. Mitch and Maggie reluctantly agree, and Vicky, who loathes the outdoors, is furious. Maggie cajoles Vicky into taking her place, wanting to give Vicky a chance to become better acquainted with each twin.
The twins take every opportunity to exploit Vicky's hatred of camping, pulling a series of pranks on her. That night, both sneak into her tent and pour honey over Vicky's feet and leave a small honey trail outside the tent. Vicki awakens the following morning to find two bear cubs licking the honey off her feet to which she has a tantrum over her hatred of the outdoors and the twins. She further says all the trouble she has been through does not make marrying Mitch for his money worth it and storms off.
Back at the house, the twins apologize for their actions; Mitch accepts their apology and says they do not have to discuss the situation anymore. Maggie and Sharon prepare to return to Boston the next day, with the twins now resigned to seeing each other only during visits and shuttling back and forth between parents. Later, Mitch tells Maggie everything he misses about her and their marriage. They realize that they still love each other. The film ends with their second wedding, with Susan and Sharon as their bridesmaids.
The source material,Das doppelte Lottchen, was discovered by Disney's story editor Bill Dover, who recommended the studio buy it.[6]
In March 1960, Disney announced that Hayley Mills would star inHis and Hers to be written and directed by David Swift. Swift and Mills had just madePollyanna for Disney.[7] It was also known asPetticoats and Blue Jeans and was the first in a five-film contract Mills signed with Disney, to make one each summer.[8]
Maureen O'Hara signed in June.[9] She wrote in her memoirs that Disney offered her a third of her normal fee of $75,000 but that she held out for her quote and got it.[10] O'Hara said her contract gave her top billing but that Disney decided to give that to Mills; she says this caused tension with the studio and was why she never worked with Disney again.[11]
Production started in July under the title ofWe Belong Together and went until September.[12]
The production usedsplit screen technology to create the effect of Mills playing both girls, with Susan Henning acting as a body double as part of the filming process.[13]
The film was shot mostly at various locales in California. The summer camp scenes were filmed at Bluff Lake Camp (then owned by the PasadenaYMCA, now byHabonim Dror's Camp Gilboa) and the family camping scenes later in the movie atCedar Lake Camp, both in theSan Bernardino Mountains near the city ofBig Bear Lake inSouthern California. The Monterey scenes were filmed in various California locations, including millionaireStuyvesant Fish's 5,200 acres (21 km2) ranch inCarmel and Monterey'sPebble Beach golf course. The scenes at the Monterey house were shot at the studio'sGolden Oak Ranch inPlacerita Canyon, where Mitch's ranch was built.[14] It was the design of this set that proved the most popular, and to this day the Walt Disney Archives receives requests for plans of the home's interior design.[15] In fact, there never was such a house; the set was simply various rooms built on a sound stage. Camp Inch was based on a real girls' camp called Camp Crestridge for Girls at the Ridgecrest Baptist Conference Center nearAsheville, North Carolina.
In 1962, a year after Disney adaptedDas doppelte Lottchen intoThe Parent Trap, Cyrus Brooks translated the German book into English asLisa and Lottie,[16] an edition still published in the United States andCanada.
In 2014,Das doppelte Lottchen was faithfully retranslated into English byAnthea Bell and republished in theUnited Kingdom andAustralia byPushkin Press asThe Parent Trap,[17] after the hit Disney film. Then in 2020, Australian actressRuby Rees recorded an unabridged narration of Bell's translation forBolinda.[18]
Richard and Robert Sherman provided the songs, which, besides the title song "The Parent Trap", includes "For Now, For Always", and "Let's Get Together". "Let's Get Together" (sung by Annette Funicello) is heard playing from a record player at the summer camp; the tune is reprised by the twins when they restage their parents' first date and that version is sung double-tracked by Hayley Mills (Hayley's own single of the song, credited to "Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills", reached #8 on the US charts). The film's title song was performed byTommy Sands andAnnette Funicello, who were both on the studio lot shootingBabes in Toyland at the time. The camperswhistle the 1914 marching song, "Colonel Bogey March", as they march through camp, mirroring the scene fromThe Bridge on the River Kwai.[19]
Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times wrote that "it should be most appealing to adults, as well as to children, because of the cheerfully persuasive dual performance of Hayley Mills".[20]Variety stated that the film was "absolutely predictable from the outset", but was still "a winner" thanks to the performance of Mills, who "seems to have an instinctive sense of comedy and an uncanny ability to react in just the right manner. Her contribution to the picture is virtually infinite".[21] Charles Stinson of theLos Angeles Times declared it "a comedy unusually well designed for the entire family — enough sight gags to keep the children screaming and enough clever dialogue to amuse their parents".[22]Harrison's Reports graded the film as "Very Good"[1] andRichard L. Coe ofThe Washington Post called it "charmingly lively" even though "the terrain is familiar".[23]
The film holds a score of 90% onRotten Tomatoes based on 20 reviews.[24]
The film was a huge success at the box office.[25] It grossed an estimated $9.3 million in the US.[26]
The film was nominated for twoAcademy Awards: one for Sound byRobert O. Cook, and the other for Film Editing byPhilip W. Anderson.[27] The film and its editor, Philip W. Anderson, won the inaugural 1962Eddie Award of the American Cinema Editors.[28]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Academy Awards(34th) | Best Sound | Robert O. Cook(Walt Disney Studio Sound Department) | Nominated |
| Best Film Editing | Philip W. Anderson | Nominated | ||
| Eddie Award | Best Edited Feature Film - Comedy or Musical | Won |
In 1961, acomic book version of the film was published, adapted, and illustrated byDan Spiegle.[29][30]
The film was theatrically re-released in 1968 and earned $1.8 million in rentals.[31]
The Disney Studios produced three television sequelsThe Parent Trap II (1986),Parent Trap III (1989) andParent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon (1989). The original wasremade in 1998 starringLindsay Lohan,Dennis Quaid, andNatasha Richardson. Joanna Barnes also made an appearance as Vicki Blake, the mother of Dennis Quaid's character's fiancée, Meredith.
In 2018, a potential remake ofThe Parent Trap was considered forWalt Disney Studios' streaming serviceDisney+.[32]
In India, there have been several films inspired byThe Parent Trap. In 1965, aTamil language version of the story calledKuzhandaiyum Deivamum, starringKutty Padmini was released. The following year, it was remade intoTelugu asLeta Manasulu also starring Kutty Padmini. AHindi versionDo Kaliyaan starringNeetu Singh in the double role was made in 1968.[33] The 1987 filmPyar Ke Kabil also has a similar storyline, as does the 2001 filmKuch Khatti Kuch Meethi which hasKajol playing the double role of 23-year-old twins.[34]
The Parent Trap was initially released by Walt Disney Home Videothrough VHS on April 7, 1984, and on May 28, 1986, as part of Disney's "Wonderland Campaign".[35][36]
The film was released on a 2-disc special editionDVD in May 2002, as part of the Vault Disney collection, with a new digital remaster byTHX.[37]
In 2005, the film was once again released in a 2-Movie Collection, which also contained the made-for-television sequel,The Parent Trap II (1986), plus the original film trailer and other bonus features.
The film was released for the first time onBlu-ray, but as a Disney Movie Club exclusive on April 24, 2018. The1998 remake was also released on Blu-ray the same day.
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