Cynthia

With Cynthia, Elizabeth Taylor left the film world of dogs, horses and childhood to play a lovely miss on the brink of womanhood -- and put herself on the brink of a remarkable career as one of Hollywood's great beauties and stars. Taylor plays the title character, a physically frail 15-year-old who uses her musical gifts to break free of her protective parents and then begins to enjoy typical teenage fun and romance (with a suitor played by James Lydon of the long-running Henry Aldrich series, who also wooed Taylor in the same year's Life with Father). The outstanding supporting cast includes Mary Astor, George Murphy and S.Z. Sakall, but it's a radiant Taylor who forever makes Cynthia a girl to remember.

• comedy
• drama