Editing John Frankenheimer (section)

===''The Young Stranger'' (1957)===

Frankenheimer's first foray into filmmaking occurred while he was still under contract to CBS television. The head of CBS in California, [[William Dozier]], became the CEO of [[RKO]] movie studios. Frankenheimer was assigned to direct a film version of his television ''Climax!'' production entitled "Deal a Blow", written by William Dozier's son, Robert. The 1956 movie version, ''[[The Young Stranger]]'' stars [[James MacArthur]] as the rebellious teenage son of a powerful Hollywood movie producer ([[James Daly (actor)|James Daly]]).  Frankenheimer recalled that he found his first film experience unsatisfactory:<ref>Baxter, 2002: "The experience was unhappy - Frankenheimer had grown used to controlling his technicians..."</ref>

{{blockquote|I have a very high regard for my [television] crews, because I hand pick them; on ''The Young Stranger'' I was given a crew, and I thought they were terrible and treated me very badly. It made me very bitter about the whole experience ... I felt very confined, constricted and a bad director ... There were so many things I thought I could have done but didn't do ... As a result of this experience I was fed up with films and went back to television.<ref>Pratley, 1969 p. 41-42: Pratley quoting Frankenheimer</ref>}}

Frankenheimer adds that in the late 1950s, television was transitioning from live productions to taped shows: "... a live television director was like being a village blacksmith after the advent of the automobile ... I knew I had to get out..." In 1961 Frankenheimer abandoned television and returned to filmmaking after a four-year hiatus, continuing his examination of the social themes that informed his 1957 ''The Young Stranger''.<ref>Pratley, 1969 p. 43: Re: "village blacksmith", Pratley quoting Frankenheimer. And p. 47-48:  Prately notes his return to "ideas, events, places and themes" he addressed in ''The Young Stranger''.</ref> Film historian Gordon Gow distinguishes Frankenheimer's handling of themes addressing individualism and "misfits" during the Fifties' obsession with disaffected teenagers:

{{blockquote|There was an especially true feeling to the problem of the 16-year-old boy who became "The Young Stranger" ... This film, in 1957, at the height of the [[Teenage rebellion|problem-teen vogue]], sounded a quiet note of contrast. In part, its genuine quality might be put down to the fact [both director and writer] were in their mid-twenties&nbsp;– much nearer to the age of their central character [James MacArthur], about twenty himself at the time (but looking younger) ... What made it especially distinctive amid the general sensationalism was the triviality of the boy's misdemeanor: a minor bit of roughhouse in a neighborhood cinema ... The difference between ''The Young Stranger'', which attained a happy ending plausibly, and the general run of delinquent-problem movies was its moderation...<ref>Gow, 1971 pp. 113-114. See also section 5: "Individuals or Misfits" pp 104--116</ref>}}