The Parent Trap (1961)

The Parent Trap is a 1961 Walt Disney film. It stars Hayley Mills, Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith in a story about teenage identical twins and their divorced parents. The screenplay by the film's director David Swift was based upon the book Lottie and Lisa (Das Doppelte Lottchen) by Erich Kästner. Kastner derived his version from a Deanna Durbin film Three Smart Girls. The Parent Trap was nominated for two Academy Awards, was broadcast on television, saw three television sequels, was remade in 1998 with Lindsay Lohan, and has been released to VHS and DVD. The original film was Mills' second of six films for Disney

Plot
Identical twins Susan and Sharon are split up by their parents' divorce as babies, with their mother taking Sharon and their father taking Susan. Sharon and their mother live in Boston in their grandparents' home and Susan lives in California with their father.

At age 13, Susan and Sharon ( Hayley Mills ) meet at a summer camp. Their identical appearances initially creates rivalry, and they continually pull pranks on one another. Eventually, their mischief ruins a camp dance. As punishment, they must live together in an isolated cabin and eat at an isolation table until camp is over.

After both admit they come from broken homes, they soon learn they are twin sisters and that their parents, Mitch and Maggie ( Brian Keith and  Maureen O'Hara ), divorced shortly after their birth, with each parent taking one of them. The twins, each eager to meet the parent they never knew, decide to switch places. Susan goes to Boston pretending to be Sharon to meet their mother and Sharon goes to California pretending to be Susan to meet their father without their parents and grandparents suspecting anything.

Sharon learns that their father plans to marry a ferocious, child-hating gold digger and telephones Susan in Boston to tell her their mother needs to be rushed to California to prevent the union. In Boston, Susan tells their mother and their grandparents the truth about her and Sharon switching places, and they're happy to see her again.

After arriving in California, the twins tell their mother about their father's wedding plans and decide to sabotage them. At first, Mitch and Maggie bicker and Susan and Sharon surprise him. Maggie tells Mitch that the girls switched places and he's happy to see Sharon again. Mitch's much-younger, fiance, Vicky Robinson ( Joanna Barnes ), receives rude, mischievous treatment from the girls and some veiled cattiness from Maggie. That evening, the girls recreate their parents' first date at an Italian restaurant with a gypsy violinist. The former spouses are gradually drawn together, though they quickly begin bickering over minor things and Mitch's wedding plans to Vicky.

To delay Maggie's return to Boston with Sharon, the twins dress and talk alike so their parents are unable to tell them apart. They will reveal who is who only after everyone goes on the annual family camping trip. Mitch and Maggie reluctantly agree, but when Vicky objects to the plan, Maggie tricks her into taking her place. The girls decide to pull pranks on Vicky. That night, she spends her time swatting mosquitoes and being awakened in terror by two bear cubs licking the honey off her toes. Vicky slaps one of the girls, telling her she can give her sister her half of it, and ends her wedding plans to Mitch. Later that night, Mitch and Maggie rekindle their love, and the two remarry in the final scene with the twins in the wedding party.

Cast
 * Hayley Mills as Susan Evers and Sharon McKendrick
 * Brian Keith as Mitchell "Mitch" Evers
 * Maureen O'Hara as Margaret "Maggie" McKendrick
 * Joanna Barnes as Vicky Robinson
 * Cathleen Nesbitt as Louise McKendrick
 * Charlie Ruggles as Charles McKendrick
 * Susan Henning as Susan/Sharon double

Production Notes
The screenplay originally called for only a few trick photography shots of Hayley Mills in scenes with herself; the bulk of the film was to be shot using a body double. When Walt Disney saw how seamless the processed shots were, he ordered the script reconfigured to include more of the special effect. Disney also wanted Mills to appear on camera as much as possible, knowing that she was having growth spurts during filming.

The film was shot mostly at various locales in California. The summer camp scenes were filmed at Cedar Lake Camp, in the  San Bernardino Mountains  near the city of  Big Bear Lake  in  Southern California. The Monterey scenes were filmed in various California locations, including millionaire Stuyvesant Fish 's 5,200 acres (21 km2) ranch in  Carmel, Monterey's  Pebble Beach  golf course. The scenes at the Monterey house were shot at studio's Golden Oak Ranch in Placerita Canyon, where Mitch's ranch was built. It was the design of this set that proved the most popular, and to this day the Walt Disney Archives receives requests for plans of the home's interior design.[ citation needed ] Of course, there never was such a house; the set was simply various rooms built on a sound stage. Camp Inch was based on a real girls' camp called Camp Crestridge for Girls  at the Ridgecrest Baptist Conference Center near  Asheville, North Carolina.

Musical Numbers
Richard and Robert Sherman provided the songs, which, besides the title song " The Parent Trap ", includes " For Now, For Always ", and " Let's Get Together ". "Let's Get Together" (sung by Annette Funicello) is heard playing from a record player at the summer camp; the tune is reprised by the twins when they restage their parents' first date. The title song was performed by Tommy Sands  and  Annette Funicello, who were both on the studio lot shooting  Babes in Toyland  at the time.

Awards and Nominations
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards : one for Sound by  Robert O. Cook, and the other for Film Editing by  Philip W. Anderson.

Subsequent Developments
The film was theatrically re-released in 1968. The Disney Studios produced three television sequels  The Parent Trap II  (1986),  The Parent Trap III  (1989), and  The Parent Trap IV: Hawaiian Honeymoon  (1989). In 1963, the ABC  television  sitcom   The Patty Duke Show  debuted using similar filming techniques in a series about teenage cousins (played by  Patty Duke ) with identical twin appearances but with completely different personalities. The original film was remade in 1998  starring  Lindsay Lohan.

In 1965, a similar Tamil film called  Kuzhandaiyum Deivamum  starring Kutty Padmini  released, which was later remade into Telugu as Letha Manasulu and in Hindi as  Do Kaliyaan  starring  Neetu Singh  in the double role.