The Girl Next Door (1953): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1953, The Girl Next Door is a comedy, romance and music film directed by Richard Sale, running about 92 minutes. “Something new under the Musical Sun!” — that tagline sets the tone.

What it’s about. Stage-and-night club star Jeannie Laird buys her first home, and everyone who is anyone comes to her first garden party only to be blinded by smoke from next door. Jeannie charges next door to bawl out her new neighbor and meets comic-strip artist Bill Carter. Bill has devoted himself to his strip, and raising his ten-year-old son Joe since the death of his wife. Joe bases his strip on the everyday happenings of he and his son and is proud of keeping it scrupulously honest. When Jeannie and Bill fall in love, young Joe is hurt, especially when Bill starts using a lot of the father-son time to be with Jeannie. Bill cancels a father-son trip to Canada, and Joe decides to write a letter to Bill's syndicate pointing out that the current plot line of the script being set in Canada isn't honest, since they didn't go.

Who’s in it. The Girl Next Door stars Dan Dailey as Bill Carter, June Haver as Jeannie Laird, Dennis Day as Reed Appleton and Billy Gray as Joe Carter, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 4.0/10, The Girl Next Door has proved divisive with audiences.

Where to watch. In US you can rent or buy it from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies and YouTube. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch The Girl Next Door page.

If you liked it. Fans of The Girl Next Door tend to enjoy Forrest Gump, Parasite, Life Is Beautiful and Fight Club.