The Face on the Milk Carton (film)
| The Face on the Milk Carton | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Genre | Drama |
| Distributed by | CBS |
| Directed by | Waris Hussein |
| Produced by |
Dorothea G. Petrie (executive producer / producer) Robert Silberling (producer) |
| Written by |
Caroline B. Cooney (novels) Nancy Isaak |
| Starring |
Kellie Martin Sharon Lawrence Jill Clayburgh Edward Herrmann Richard Masur |
| Music by | Leonard Rosenman |
| Cinematography | Robert Steadman |
| Editing by | Charles Bornstein |
| Production company |
Dorothea G. Petrie Productions Family Productions Libra Pictures |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Release date | May 24, 1995 |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
The Face on the Milk Carton is a 1995 made for television movie based on the book written by Caroline B. Cooney. The movie stars Kellie Martin as Jennie Sands/Janie Jessmon, a 15 year old girl who finds her face on the back of a milk carton and puts the pieces of her past together.
Plot
Janie Jessmon (Kellie Martin) is 16 and living a happy life. She has great parents (Jill Clayburgh, Edward Herrmann) and a best friend, Sarah Charlotte (Joanna Canton), but her world is shattered when she spots a picture of missing child Jennifer Jennie Sands, whom she recognizes as herself, on Sarah Charlotte's milk carton. Janie searches the attic where she finds a trunk containing items from a girl named "Hannah". When Jennie and Janie confronts her parents about the fact that she has no baby photos, they admit that they are her grandparents and that Hannah is her real mother. They tell her that Hannah was involved in a cult and showed up at their door one day with 3 year old Jennie and Janie in tow.
Unable to escape the thought that her parents could have kidnapped her, Janie and her friend Reeve (Johnny Green), track down the Sands family and realize she has exactly the same red hair as every member of their family.
Janie tells Hannah's parents what she's learned, showing them the milk carton. They believe that Hannah may have kidnapped Janie and posed her as her own child. Janie is quickly reunited with her biological parents, Jonathan and Sada Sands (Richard Masur, Sharon Lawrence), and her older brother Stephen and younger sister Jodie. Neither Jennie/Janie nor Stephen are exactly thrilled.
When Jennie/Janie decides to run away back to the Jessmons, Stephen tracks her down at a bus station and tells her when they were little, they had been at a shoe store with their mother and Jodie, and Stephen was supposed to watch her and hold her hand, but he didn't, which is why Hannah had taken her. Janie says she forgives him.
Janie still decides to return to her adoptive parents. Her father Jonathan, though sad, accepts this while Jodie and Stephen don't. However, Janie tells Jodie they are still and always will be sisters. As Sada and Janie are driving back to the Jessmons, she tells her about the day at the shoe store, and Janie says she's sorry she was bad. As Janie leaves with her adoptive father into their house, Sada comes face to face with her daughter's adoptive mother Miranda, who extends her hand to her.
Cast
- Kellie Martin as Jennie Sands/Janie Jessmon
- Sharon Lawrence as Sada Sands
- Jill Clayburgh as Miranda (Javenson) Jessmon
- Richard Masur as Jonathan Sands
- Edward Herrmann as Frank (Javenson) Jessmon
- Johnny Green as Reeve Shields
- Kristoffer Ryan Winters as Stephen Sands
- Caroline Perryclear as Jodie Sands
- Lori Lindberg as Mrs. Shields
- Ellen Seltz as Lizzie Shields
- Joanna Canton as Sara-Charlotte
- Adam Sherengos as young Stephen Sands
- Richard K. Olsen as L. McDonnell
See also
- Abduction, a 2011 film with a similar premise
- Finding Carter, a 2014 MTV show with the same premise
External links
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