Themes: Flight of the Innocent, Fish Out of Water, Cons and Scams
Main Cast: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Diana Lynn, Nina Foch, Raymond Burr
Release Year: 1955
Country: US
Run Time: 102 minutes
Plot
You're Never Too Young is a slapstick-with-songs remake of the 1944 Ray Milland/Ginger Rogers vehicle The Major and the Minor. Dean Martin plays the Milland part, while Ginger's shoes are filled by...Jerry Lewis? Lewis plays an apprentice barber who inadvertently crosses a homicidal jewel thief (Raymond Burr), and equally inadvertently hightails it out of town with the crook's jewels in his possession. Desperate to escape the crook's clutches, and lacking the necessary funds for a train ticket, Lewis disguises himself as a 12-year-old boy so he can travel half fare. He latches onto Dean, a music teacher heading for an all-girls school. After innumerable routines sparked by Lewis's adolescent disguise, the jewel thief catches up with him, leading to a rollicking climactic speedboat chase. Dean Martin has plenty of opportunities to serenade leading lady Diana Lynn (who'd played a supporting role in The Major and the Minor), while Jerry Lewis is in peak form doing his usual "waah-waah-waah" schtick. The original Billy Wilder/Charles Brackett script for The Major and the Minor was reshaped into You're Never Too Young by future bestselling novelist Sidney Sheldon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Arguably the strongest of the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis movies, You're Never Too Young is an enjoyable, daffy remake of The Major and the Minor -- one that takes full advantage of the talents of its stars. Martin is in admirable, relaxed form, delivering a fine performance, but it is Lewis' work that is crucial here. While Lewis has come in for a great deal of criticism -- most of it justified -- for his over-the-top comic style, Young demonstrates that, in the proper circumstances, he can give a performance that fully utilizes that style without going so far overboard as to be damaging to the movie -- or alienating to those who are not naturally drawn to his particular brand of comedy. Part of the credit, of course, goes to Sidney Sheldon's screenplay, which judiciously picks and chooses from the original, keeping the parts that work best for Martin and Lewis and adding a few bits and pieces of its own. If Sheldon's version misses some of the bite that underscored The Major and the Minor, it has an endearing silliness of its own that is more than welcome. Norman Taurog directs brightly, keeping the film fizzing along and getting good supporting performances from the likes of Nina Foch and Raymond Burr. Add in a few Arthur Schwartz-Sammy Cahn songs, and the result is a fun and engaging little confection. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Mitzi McCall - Skeets; Veda Ann Borg - Mrs. Noonan; Margery Maude - Mrs. Ella Brendan; Romo Vincent - Ticket agent; Nancy Kulp - Marty's mother; Milton Frome - Lt. O'Malley; Emory Parnell - Conductor; James Burke - Pullman conductor; Tommy Ivo - Marty; Whitey Haupt - Mike Brendan; Mickey Finn - Sgt. Brown; Peggy Moffitt - Agnes; Johnstone White - 1st Professor; Dick Simmons - Professor; Louise Lorimer - Teacher; Isabel Randolph - Teacher; Robert Carson - Tailor; Hans Conried - Francois; Bobby Barber - Newsboy; Stanley Blystone - Passenger; Richard H. Cutting - Hotel Guard; Donna Jo Gribble - School girl; Bob Morgan - Texan; Gloria Moore - Schoolgirl
Credit
Earl Hedrick - Art Director, Hal Pereira - Art Director, Edith Head - Costume Designer, Norman Taurog - Director, Archie Marshek - Editor, Walter Scharf - Composer (Music Score), Daniel L. Fapp - Cinematographer, Paul Jones - Producer, Edward Childs Carpenter - Screen Story, Sidney Sheldon - Screenwriter, Edward Childs Carpenter - Play Author, Fannie Kilbourne - Short Story Author
Wilbur Hoolick, a barber's apprentice, doesn't have enough money for train fare. Wilbur pretends to be an eleven-year-old in order to purchase a ticket for half price. Meanwhile, a valuable diamond has been stolen and the thief hides it in Hoolick's pocket without his knowledge.
On the train, Wilbur gets the impression that the thief is a jealous husband. He hides in the compartment of Nancy Collins, a teacher at a private girl's school. Feeling sorry for "young" Wilbur traveling alone, she allows him to stay there for the duration of the train ride.
During a stop-over, another teacher, Gretchen Brendan, boards the train and finds out that Nancy is sharing her compartment with "a man." Gretchen hurries to the school to let Nancy's fiancee, Bob Miles, in on this news. In order to protect Nancy's job and reputation, Wilbur must continue the charade of pretending to be a child. He accompanies "Aunt Nancy" to school. The jewel thief follows them in order to retrieve the stolen diamond.
Along the way, Wilbur falls in love with Nancy, although she still thinks of him as a little boy. Eventually the thief retrieves the jewel and a chase ensues. In the end he is captured and Wilbur's identity is revealed.
You're Never Too Young was filmed from October 18 - December 27, 1954. This film is a remake of another Paramount film, The Major and the Minor (1942), directed by Billy Wilder--- his first film as director—and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett.
