Tickle Me: These Dangerous Years (1957)

These Dangerous Years (1957)

British Quad Poster (courtesy of emovieposter.com)

These Dangerous Years (aka Dangerous Youth), is a British youth drama directed in black and white by Herbert Wilcox. Frankie Vaughan plays Dave Wyman, a member of a group of young delinquents that hang out on the Liverpool shore, gambling and getting into minor trouble. Dave is also the son of a decorated war hero. Vaughan gets a chance to perform the title song as part of a singing competition in a local club, where he edges out Dina Brown (Carole Lesley) for the crown. Carole is accompanied there by her roommate and friend Maureen (Jocleyn Lane, as Jackie Lane). Dave is attracted to Dinah and begins to pursue her, even though he is about to enter the army, but Dinah plays hard-to-get.

After Dave is inducted, he continues to get into trouble, but the leaders see potential in him, particularly a chaplain (played by George Baker), and make him the platoon leader. One of the soldiers, who is out to get Dave, fakes orders that cause Dave to lead his group into a live mine field, where one of them is killed. In the fallout, Dave beats the solder that misled them, and thinks that he has killed him. Dave then goes awol, because he does not think that anyone will take his side or believe him about the faked orders. Utimately, he hides out with Dina, the chaplain works to help him clear his name, and all ends well.

These Dangerous Years was the first of four films starring British singing sensation Vaughan to be directed by Wilcox and produced by his wife, Anna Neagle. The film reminds me of the type of youth-oriented films being produced in the U.S. at the time, like Jailhouse Rock, although Vaughan (at age 29) was a little old for this type of role and had a singing style that was probably not quite in line with the more cutting edge youth music of the era. Vaughan performs admirably, in only his second film role, and his singing is rather catchy, even if some of his dance moves look a bit humorous on such a thick, barrel-chested fellow.

Neagle made a smart move in casting Carole and Jocelyn in the female roles. Both were very pretty, hungry starlets that had been desperately seeking attention in the press, and both performed well in this film. Carole received the bigger role and higher billing than Jocelyn, but they were credited together as "introducing Carole Lesley and Jackie Lane." This is the type of role that Jocelyn should have been provided by Warwick Films, who clearly missed the boat with her. Jocelyn displayed a British accent that was not too thick, and she handled light comedic scenes quite well. We get the opportunity to see her dance a bit in the club, and we get to hear her sing a bit, as she hums and sings the Vaughan song on the way back to the apartment (with a very pleasant voice, I might add). I presume that Lesley was lip synching her singing number in the club, but if that was actually her, then she had a surprisingly good voice.

The film launched Carole Lesley briefly, but any momentum that she had was gone by 1964. Sadly, she died of an overdose of pills at age 38 in 1974, which was ruled a suicide. Fortunately, Jocelyn fared better. All in all, These Dangerous Years is an entertaining film that is a must-see for Jocelyn fans. Finally, she was given a chance at a decent role, and she delivered.

These Dangerous Years commenced filming in the first week of January 1957 and was completed by the spring.

The film premiered in Liverpool on June 24, 1957, ahead of its release and opening run in London on July 3. Variety reviewed the film (with a 110 minute running time) in its July 24, 1957 edition based on a July 3 viewing at the Rialto in London, giving it a generally fair review. It called the film "An adult type of deadend kid drama that provides a good vehicle for the radio and disk crooner Frankie Vaughan. It is overlong but presents an entertaining problem of topical interest, the absorption by the army of juvenile delinquents." It applauded Vaughan, saying: "Frankie Vaughan does well in this, his first screen appearance, his main obstacle being his maturity, which is too obvious in the early stages." It added that "Carole Lesley looks attractive" and "Jackie Lane, siste of Joan Collins, is cute as her tough little roommate."

In mid-August of 1957, Lee Mortimer's New York Confidential syndicated column in the U.S. included a note that "When Warners releases the English film, 'These Dangerous Years,' you are going to flip over a babe who puts Loren in limbo. She's Jackie Lane, Joan Collin's kid sister." Perhaps he picked up that erroneous relationship information from the Variety review. Nonetheless Jocelyn was starting to get some real attention.

Warner Brothers originally planned to call the film Misguided in the U.S.

The September 21, 1957 edition of the New York Age ran an article called "Warner Bros. Film Juvenile Drama," which stated: Misguided has been announced by Warner Bros. as the new title for the motion picture drama about juvenile delinquency formerly called 'These Dangerous Years. George Baker and Frankie Vaughan star in 'Misguided,' which introduces Carol Lesley, Jackie Lane, and Katherine Kath."

Vaughan came to New York in October 1957 and again in late February of 1958 to promote the film ahead of its U.S. release in May. Variety gave the film a more tepid review in its June 11, 1958 edition (based on a May 13 viewing in Hollywood with a 97 minute running time) than it had the previous year in London, concluding that the "[j]uvenile delinquency theme lacks needed punch" and that "the characters are unbelievable." It noted that "bright moments" were provided by "Carole Lesley, a looker." As for Jocelyn, it merely commented that "Jackie Lane is pert as Miss Lesley's roommate."

Here is some cool footage of the film's premiere in England:

These Dangerous Years was released on DVD in the UK on the Network label in 2014 (with a 94 minute running time; the film seems to be continually shrinking from its original 110 minute length). I recommend that you purchase this DVD and support the Network label for making this film available in a nice print at a reasonable price. Although it will not play on standard U.S. DVD players, it will play on a region free DVD player or a computer.