The Girl Next Door (1953)

67% of users liked it
(109 ratings)

This lightweight 20th Century-Fox Technicolor musical stars Dan Dailey as Bill Carter, a widowed comic strip illustrator and June Haver as Jeannie, the title character, a glamorous Broadway star. When next-door-neighbors Bill and Jeannie fall in love, Bill's son Joe (Billy Gray) seethes with… More This lightweight 20th Century-Fox Technicolor musical stars Dan Dailey as Bill Carter, a widowed comic strip illustrator and June Haver as Jeannie, the title character, a glamorous Broadway star. When next-door-neighbors Bill and Jeannie fall in love, Bill's son Joe (Billy Gray) seethes with resentment. Fortunately, Joe's schoolmate (and erstwhile sweetheart) Kitty (Mary Jane Saunders) convinces the boy that the world would be a sorry place without couples, using Noah's Ark as an example. This provides the cue for an extended animated cartoon sequence, courtesy of UPA Studios (then under contract to Columbia: Fox's house cartoonists at Terrytoons weren't quite up to the assignment). Naturally, the film finds time for a few engaging song-and-dance interludes, performed by Dailey and Haver. What really makes The Girl Next Door click is the unforced camaraderie between Dan Dailey and little Billy Gray. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 32 min.
Directed By: Richard Sale
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: May 13, 1953 Wide
On DVD: Nov 13, 2007
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

Cute almost to the point of preciousness this is a lively, very colorful musical. Big musical with flashy numbers that tries to inject some drama into its story but then corrupts that by having them burst into song at the drop of a hat. This was June Haver's last film before… More
Cute almost to the point of preciousness this is a lively, very colorful musical. Big musical with flashy numbers that tries to inject some drama into its story but then corrupts that by having them burst into song at the drop of a hat. This was June Haver's last film before briefly entering a convent and then leave there to marry Fred MacMurray and retire permanently from the screen. Strictly for musical fans.