Emotional Maturity (1957)

Emotional Maturity is a social guidance film with an atypical darkness not often explored at the time. The movie follows the trials of Dave, whose girlfriend has dumped him, whose father thinks he is a loser, and whose football coach has benched him. Instead of reigning in his emotions as he should, Dave slashes the tires of his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend's car. But it doesn’t end there: Dave’s emotional instability becomes a cascading shower of maliciousness and destructive behavior. Lacking the false and forced wholesomeness of most every film of this ilk, Emotional Maturity is a well produced and piercing film.