The Girl Next Door (1953)

Twentieth Century Fox produced The Girl Next Door, an interesting 1953 musical about an unusual romance and its effects on the happiness of a young boy. June Haver stars as international stage sensation Jeannie Laird, who returns to America a major star after singing and acting in Europe. Her accountant (Dennis Day) has purchased a house on her behalf, and soon Jeannie finds herself neighbors with a widower, Bill Carter (Dan Dailey), a cartoonist raising a young son, Joe (Billy Gray). Despite her fame, Jeannie falls for the low-key Bill, and he feels the same, causing a crisis of jealousy for poor Joe. The film pretty much follows the course of their relationship and Joe’s struggles to deal with the reality of a woman in his life. Between domestic crises in Bill’s house, The Girl Next Door offers some lavish song-and-dance numbers featuring its two leads. The lanky Dailey is fun to watch, with his ever-present smile and gazelle-like movements, while Haver steams things up with her adventurous dancing and staging of different songs. Dennis Day is charming as an unlikely beau for Jeannie’s best friend (Cara Williams), and his lovely voice makes one think of Irish tenors from glory days past. Special features include a brief documentary on Billy Gray, who later played Bud on Father Knows Best and whose career took a hit when he was popped for marijuana possession. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

Great Movie

We really enjoyed this movie. There are some great musical numbers and dance routines. I recommend it highly. July 17, 2008

Almost lives up to it's great potential.

4.9 stars. I bought this DVD for my mother's 86th birthday, primarily because her very favorite films are the Warner Bros. Doris Day musicals On Moonlight Bay and By The Light of The Silvery Moon -- so our opinion and this review of The Girl Next Door is in comparison to those. When my mom read the box, she was delighted that it stars June Haver (Wake Up And Dream, another favorite) and has Dennis Day (The Jack Benny Program) and Billy Gray, who was also in those two Doris Day movies a year or two earlier. When we watched it last night, everything seemed perfect - yet somehow not quite up to our hopes. The plot's sort the converse of The Courtship of Eddie's Father, but not as poignant. Haver's and Dailey's numbers are fine and the highlight of the film. But Dennis Day doesn't have enough to do - doesn't live up to his potential as seen on TV or in other films like Golden Girl. An added bonus is the integration of a few animated sequences; but they are not of the quality of ordinary Warner cartoons. Gray's performance is fine too, and includes a little dancing. Overall, the film is about on par with our two favorites mentioned above, minus the Penrod setting, and with more modern songs. My mom didn't express any disappointment, other than one of the dance sequence seemed "modern." Her 3rd & 4th favorites are Meet Me In St. Louis (Two-Disc Special Edition) and In the Good Old Summertime, both set 40-50 years earlier, and that being the main difference, I think she's placing this one as about her 5th favorite; if you liked any of those 4 films you'll probably feel about the same. April 3, 2008

Creepy,Haunting,Sad....BRILLIANT!!!

Well my Dear friends at Amazon have gave me hell for doing
a review to a classic movie of total despair! But wrong cover. In this we
have a 16 yr.old girl named Meg who is beaten torched stabbed
raped and than some all from her aunt and cousins. You really
feel for Meg and you just want to set her free and kill her
folks! This is a sad,sad,sad story of a girl who did nothing
to have such cruelty be bestowed on her. Please watch this movie
for you will look at life I believe a little different.
Thanks to my Dear friends at Amazon for telling me about this
great movie and for letting me know about the wrong DVD movie
I covered earlier..."WHEW" I'm glad I fixed that!!! February 13, 2008

LOVE THAN DAN

I HAD FORGOTTEN HOW GRAT DAN DAILEY WAS. THIS WAS A VERY NICE MOVIE. GREAT PICTURE. GREAT SOUND. THE SPECIAL FEATURES WERE WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION. January 27, 2008

June Haver

The Girl Next Door. It was great seeing June Haver again. This was her last picture and right after making it, she went to the convent. The movie is quite spectacular and also stars Billy Gray of Father Knows Best. It was great seeing him, too. He was quite an actor. I'm surprised that he didn't go on with his acting career. It is sad to think that June Haver is gone now. I was shocked to hear that she died in July of 2006. I had just been thinking about her the day before her death, wondering what she was doing now. December 23, 2007

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