The Truth About Spring (1965) starring Hayley Mills, John Mills, James MacArthur, Lionel Jeffries, Harry Andrews, Niall MacGinnis, David Tomlinson directed by Richard Thorpe Movie Review

The Truth About Spring (1965)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Hayley Mills in The Truth About Spring (1965)

Spring Bounces Along

Tommy Tyler (John Mills - Operation Crossbow) is a crafty old seadog who along with his tomboy daughter Spring (Hayley Mills - Summer Magic) sail around the Caribbean where if they are not searching for buried treasure are putting on an act to con food and supplies from passing ships. In need of help Tommy brings aboard William Ashton (James MacArthur - The Swiss Family Robinson), a young lawyer, to help with the search and defend their little ship from rivals. But Tommy also has other plans as he tries to do a bit of matchmaking between his young daughter and the educated and well off young man.

Simple old fashioned family entertainment; no pretensions, no darkness or nastiness, no bad language or sex, just old fashioned family entertainment. That pretty much says it all about "The Truth About Spring" because watching it now it comes across a bit of nostalgic family entertainment which relies on its cast, John Mills and daughter Hayley plus K=James McArthur, to provide entertaining characters rather than anything else.

John Mills in The Truth About Spring (1965)

Okay so "The Truth About Spring" has a story of sorts as we have a search for hidden treasure which means dealing with some pirates. But the main storyline is the crafty Tommy trying to set up his daughter Spring with William and with Spring being a plucky tomboy it is not an easy task. It is obvious how it will play out as Spring slowly grows to like the handsome William who to her surprise sleeps in pyjamas but in a simple coming of age sort of way it is quite sweet.

But as I said "The Truth About Spring" relies heavily on all its cast to make it entertaining starting with John Mills delivering a fun performance as a crafty old seadog with a mischievous glint in his eye. But of course it is Mills' daughter Hayley who is the centre of this movie with another fun performance as a plucky young tomboy and she works really well with James MacArthur as young adults falling for each other. Throw into that mix David Tomlinson and Lionel Jeffries and you have a wonderful group of actors who knew how to bring out the humour in their characters.

What this all boils down to is that "The Truth About Spring" doesn't have the most amazing of stories but it has charm, humour and a wonderful cast who knew how to bring out the humour of their characters and it is that which makes "The Truth About Spring" still entertaining.


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