THE UNGUARDED MOMENT (1956)

During the 1940's and early 1950's, former national swimming champion Esther Williams was a major star at MGM. She was usually seen in a series of "aqua musicals" where she spent most of her screen time in bathing suits performing in elaborate, colorful, underwater extravaganzas. After years of success with films like BATHING BEAUTY, DANGEROUS WHEN WET, and MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID, by 1955, and the release of JUPITER'S DARLING, her box office power began to sink. So MGM, taking note of changing public tastes, decided to drain her swimming pool for good. Miss Williams dried herself off and went over to Universal-International to make a neat little crime thriller called THE UNGUARDED MOMENT. It was directed by Harry Keller and based on a story co-written by actress Rosalind Russell.

The plot has Miss Williams playing Lois Conway, a high school music teacher who begins receiving notes from one of her students asking her for dates. When the notes become more explicit she becomes alarmed, but doesn't inform school authorities. One of the notes asks her to come alone to the boys' locker room at night. Foolishly, she goes, and is assaulted by a boy who runs away before she can see his face. As more events occur, she finds out that the boy is Leonard Bennett (John Saxon), a popular football star. When she finally goes to school authorities, no one believes her, partly because she neglected to keep any of the notes as evidence. The police get involved, as does Leonard's father (Edward Andrews). Although the police lieutenant (George Nader) believes her story, Lois loses her job and her reputation until the case is resolved.

This is a very well done film that deals seriously with the problems women go through when they try to get justice for sexual assaults. Miss Conway's high school principal remarks to her that Leonard is  "kind of a god" in town and finds it easier to accept the boy's denials than the teacher's accusations. And Leonard himself taunts Lois with the assertion that no one will ever believe her story over his.

Serious or not, this is still a 1950's fantasy thriller, and it's necessary to throw in a certain amount of exploitation. The teacher, after all, goes to a boys' locker room in the middle of the night to meet with an underage boy who has obvious sexual designs on her. Clearly not the brightest of choices. Nevertheless, the story evolves in such a way that Lois gets the viewer's sympathy throughout.

The film is loaded with wonderful 1950's teenage B flick atmosphere, including a cool hangout called, I kid you not, The Sugar Shop, complete with a juke box playing that new musical form called Rock and Roll.

Esther Williams proves herself to be a decent actress when on dry land. George Nader is a likable leading man. And John Saxon, in one of his first movies, broods convincingly and shows real sensitivity as Leonard. But the top acting honors go to character actor Edward Andrews as Leonard's very messed up father. He manages to steal the picture with no problem.

Seen briefly is a young actress named Diane Jergens, a minor, but interesting teen queen in a few low budget gems of the period (TEENAGE REBEL, HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL). Also featured are Les Tremayne, Jack Albertson, and Edward Platt.

Essential viewing for fans of the 1950's teen angst genre!