UNTAMED YOUTH-1957-Two hitch-hiking sisters Jane (Mamie Van Doren) and Penny (Lori Nelson; THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED) are arrested for skinny dipping by a local sheriff (Robert Foulk). A corrupted judge (Lurene Tuttle; MA BARKER'S KILLER BROOD) sends them to an "agricultural" work farm to pick cotton. It's just a front to provide cheap labor for the mean owner Mr. Tropp (TV actor John Russell). Almost immediately upon arriving Penny breaks into song when in her underwear! Then Jane gets into a cat fight with the owner's former mistress (Jeanne Carmen; THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS). The judge's son Bob (Don Burnett) goes to work there and early rock and roll legend Eddie Cochran leads the male prisoners and sings "Cotton Picker". There's a wild dance number where Jane sings and the old cook calls their dancing "African antics"!
Tropp gives Penny an "audition" at his house but when he puts the moves on her Bob helps her escape. He sics his dogs on her but once again Bob saves her. When Bob complains to his mom about a female prisoner dying and the conditions at the farm, mom reveals her secret: she and Tropp are secretly married. "Man oh man, this is wild ain't it?". To complecate things Bob and Penny fall in love. In the end Penny gets to do a Calypso number on TV!
Rock and Roll, illegal immigration, corruption and teenage (?) rebellion are combined in this far fetched but entertaining musical drama or drama with music maybe??
Director Howard W. Koch had already made BOP GIRL GOES CALYPSO the same year as UNTAMED YOUTH, and would also directed Van Doren again in THE GIRL IN BLACK STOCKINGS. The next year he'd directed Karloff in FRANKENSTEIN 1970.
Thanks for reading!
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