Peter McGinn
Aug 2, 2021
8/10
The Family Way seems to have had a splashy release for a couple of reasons. It involved a topic rarely dealt with: an unconsummated new marriage, and the debut of Harley Mills in an adult role. I know when I was in the throes of puberty I would have been gobsmacked if I had been allowed to see the naked back of Hayley Mills, whom I had boyishly fancied in her Disney movies. It is a pretty good movie in its own right, not rude or crude in its depiction of what would be treated as a sex comedy nowadays but which received a half-serious treatment back then.
It takes its time to develop the characters and the main plot. I read a couple of reviews that suggested that John Mills stole every scene he was in, but I didn’t see it that way. He was good, but I thought Hayley owned nearly every scene she was in. She may have been seen as playing herself or the same type as in her older films, but she was serious when she needed to be, and her character’s innocence and sweetness felt real to me and was the secret ingredient to make you care about their problem.
The only negatives for me involved the brothers. The temporarily impotent young husband had a breakthrough of sorts due to violent feelings that had built up in him. Back then that was no doubt acceptable, but to modern sensibilities having that violence “solve” his problem felt a little worrisome. I also thought the groom’s brother was granted a few too many liberties as he flirted and more or less dated the bride while new hubby was working, but I suppose in a movie without a real villain, tension needs to be built up in other ways.
But I found the movie well worth watching all the way through because of Hayley Mills’ sunny but also layered performance, as well as for the sensitive way it handled its rare subject matter of a virginal wife and what it can do to young love if it is not resolved in time.
