MStephenmir, I like the way you interpret it. I think you brilliantly explained why the film DOES in fact work.

As a child, I recall experiencing the same confusion about Julie Harris when I saw this film but I think that's why it works.not only does the character feel odd but the audience feels odd about the actress playing the part. For me it is rather like watching a puppeteer, I recognize that something unreal is taking place yet I still believe in it. I've seen the play performed by young girls and I haven't cared for it as much. I'm so glad that the producers had the wisdom to allow Harris to recreate her role.

That's a thing about it though, it's remarked how much Frankie has grown, nearly finished, like an adult even though she's only 12, and that soldier she met certainly didn't think she was a child and she wasn't trying to look older or anything.

I watched it with my girls and they were all confused about Frankie. They also thought she was a boy. When I told them that she was a girl they still thought something was "off" about her. I think it was her age. Julie Harris is great in the film but it's very obvious she is NOT a child.

That's for certain, first time I saw this movie, I came into it the day before the wedding when Frankie's coming out of her dress and is in her slip and is all upset, and at first I thought she was a boy, then I realized it was a girl, and I honestly believed she WAS 12, or maybe a little older, no more than 14 I would've bet, nowhere near 27, that's why it works, like Mary Martin as Peter Pan, she was 47 years old and you'd never believe it, my own mother thought she was 25 at the time.