BLUE DENIM (BLUE JEANS)

US, 1959, 89 minutes, Black and White.
Carol Lynley, Brandon de Wilde, Macdonald Carey, Marsha Hunt.
Directed by Philip Dunne.

Blue Denim immediately impresses itself as a film of the 50's - its style, fashions, music, dancing, haircuts and in its less permissive mood than we are used to now. It is a film based on a play, co-authored by James Leo Herlihy, author of the novel, Midnight Cowboy. If allowances are made for the style of the times, the film is quite a good presentation of the problems of teenage sex, pregnancy and abortion. The film begins fairly comically and takes its audience off guard as it then settles down as a problem message film.

Blue Denim does not say anything new, but it is a fairly good presentation of perennial themes, perennial mistakes that need looking at and discussing in each generation.

1. The film was obviously made in the 1950's, even though its style, language and fashions have changed, have the problems and the human issues changed?

2. How realistic was the presentation of the High School kids ?their phoniness, pretence, and yet their childish ways and innocence and ignorance? (How did the wisecracks help the audience appreciate the situation ? otherwise it might have been mawkish) ?

3. Were parents and older sisters any different in the 60's? Are they any different in the 70's ? their interests. their inability to feel the feelings of their children, their lack of alertness for communication? (Adolescence is just a phase that children go through and people are meant to understand!)

4. The kids bragged about sex, abortion and so on. How much was this taken for granted permissiveness responsible for what happened?

5. Who pushed whom? Arthur or Janet (the cellar, the basketball match, the compact)? Who was to blame?

6. How ignorant were they when the inevitability of their situation struck them?

7. What did the film have to say about abortion? Even with liberalised situations in many countries, how much is still the same? How were the physical, psychological and moral issues presented?

8. How did Lilian's wedding and the preparations comment on what was happening to Arthur and Janet?

9. How typical was the scene where Arthur tried to communicate with his parents? Who was to blame? Did he really want to tell them?


10. Did you like the way the parents reacted to the situation? Should they have been harder on Arthur and Janet?

11. Was the end realistic? Did Arthur and Janet love each other? Would their marriage have been successful? Did Arthur have any career to look forward to? Had their lives (and dreams) been spoilt?

12. The film was obviously a message film. Did it communicate well or did the preaching and the obvious scenes and sentiment get in the way?