Trama

Two high-spirited young students at St. Francis Academy keep things hopping for the challenged Mother Superior and her staff of bewildered Sisters.

Coming-of-age story for two girls, Mary Clancy (Hayley Mills) and Rachel Devery (June Harding), who find themselves as students at the St. Francis Academy, a Catholic boarding school for girls. The story spans three years and follows the girls and their many pranks including setting off fire alarms, smoking cigars in the basement, and putting bubble baths in the nuns' sugar bowls. As the girls mature, they gain a greater respect for their teachers and the commitment and devotion required to be a nun, leading one of them to make a life-changing decision.—garykmcd

St. Francis Academy for Girls used to be a quiet sedate convent school - quiet and sedate, that is, until it was invaded by its newest pupil, Mary Clancy (Hayley Mills). Mary is a hellion who's youthful spirits keep Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell) in a constant state of panic as she and her friend, Rachel Devery (June Harding), substitute bubble bath for the nun's sugar, smoke cigars in the boiler room, and attempt to make a life-mask of the face of a fellow student with quick-hardening plaster. Through it all, Mother Superior is determined to salvage something of worth from the youthful clay.—filmfactsman

Orphaned Mary Clancy (Hayley Mills) is sent by her wealthy Uncle George (Kent Smith) to St. Francis Academy, a Catholic girls boarding school and convent. He has sent her there to straighten her out as she is rebellious (amongst other things, she is a heavy smoker), and is always carrying out her dubious but "scathingly brilliant ideas". At St. Francis, she meets fellow student Rachel Devery (June Harding), recently transferred from New Trends Progressive School. Rachel is a follower, Mary her leader. The two continually lead other students astray, especially Mary's cousin, her Uncle George's daughter, Marvel-Ann (Barbara Hunter). They also butt heads with the school's equally strong willed Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell). Mary and Rachel's antics bring them close to the verge of expulsion, but the Mother Superior feels she needs to be part of Mary's salvation as Mary's primary alternative, living with her womanizing Uncle George is not even an option in the Mother Superior's view. Ultimately, Mary's inner curiosity and keen observances of life around her, supported unwittingly by the Mother Superior and the other Sisters, bring her to a turning point in her view of life at St. Francis, one at odds with her best friend.—Huggo