FIRST KISS TO MARRIAGE IN ONE EASY STEP!........."THE TRUTH ABOUT SPRING"......

The Truth About Spring (1965)     Like millions of Baby Boomer boys, BQ nursed a crush on Hayley Mills........

                  .........so imagine how all of us in those pimple-wreaked, hormonal hordes salivated at the sight of our secret girl getting her teen on-screen smooch.......

                   Fittingly, it came from another Disney film alumnus, the compact stocky James MacArthur.......(built like a Lego figure, he found permanent fame as 'Dano', Jack Lord's "Hawaii Five- O" sidekick.....)

                   The film's so slight, it's barely there.......with tomboy Mills and crusty sea-dog dad (real dad John Mills) living on a boat on the Caribbean and thwarting a trio of hammy,semi menacing crooks (Lionel Jeffries, Harry Andrews, Niall MacGinnis).

                  Dropping by on a yacht comes MacArthur, as a freshly minted young lawyer with all the trappings of polite society.....including sleeping in pajamas, which greatly amuses Hayley.

                  And that's all there is to it, folks........except to say that Jeffries, Andrews and MacGinnis have the time of their lives overplaying their paper-tiger villains.......especially since the skimpy script gives them nothing to work with.......

                    Only one odd glitch, makes this film stand out at all.......the way it leapfrogs its cute romantic couple from chaste, Disney-suitable kissing.......to a marriage proposal.

                    Say what?  Aren't they even gonna date first???

                    All of us Boomer boys could easily imagine holding Hayley's hand and maybe stealin' a kiss.........but in 1965, I think few teen boys' fantasies extended to wedded bliss. (With this sudden, oddball engagement, you can tell this movie was assembled by middle-aged men who worked in 1950's movies....)

                   No matter. 59 years later, BQ still got visit his lost youth and sigh over Hayley all over again......so for that, 3 stars (***)