[[quoteright:348:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/melody1971_1963.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:348:Daniel & Melody (and Ornshaw, there behind the apple).]]

''Melody'', also known as ''S.W.A.L.K.'' (which stands for "Sealed With A Loving Kiss") is an original British tween RomanticComedy with a side of BromanticComedy released in 1971. Mark Lester and Jack Wild, most commonly remembered for their previous work together in the 1968 film adaptation of ''{{Theatre/Oliver}}'' play a very similar dynamic in a very different setting as Daniel Latimer and his friend Ornshaw attending a typical British school in TheSeventies. First formally introduced to each other when Ornshaw hitches a ride home from the boys' marching brass band with Daniel's mother, the two soon strike up a friendship, with Ornshaw helping Daniel [[EveryoneMeetsEveryone make friends with the rest of the gang]] at school.

Further complicating this dynamic is Daniel Latimer's meeting and [[PuppyLove developing a mutual attraction]] with a girl named Melody Perkins (played by the newcomer Tracy Hyde) even though they're both no more than ten-and-a-half years old. His friends and hers, of course, are [[GirlsHaveCooties somewhat less than approving of this]], as are their school's headmaster, schoolmasters, parents, and relatives. Nevertheless, they persevere in their relationship through various mischevious adventures until they finally decide to get married. Ornshaw, though initially miffed at seemingly having been cast aside for Melody, proves to be a good sport about the whole affair as he officiates at their wedding which [[WeddingSmashers culminates in a massive brawl]] when the headmaster and his staff along with Daniel's mother come looking to retrieve all the students who went truant mid-afternoon to attend the wedding.

Music/TheBeeGees provided the vast majority of the musical score for this film, but Crosby, Stills, & Nash also provided their "Teach Your Children" as the final song to close out the film. While not widely known in North America, ''Melody'' has become quite the classic in most of the rest of the world, and would eventually inspire much of the plot of Wes Anderson's ''Film/MoonriseKingdom''.

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!!Tropes featured in this film:

* AdultsAreUseless: They certainly seem so here, at least to the children. The headmaster ([[PointyHairedBoss of questionable competence himself]]) [[HypocriticalHumor refers in passing to adults from Danny and Melody's parents' generation as "raving imbeciles"]] at one point.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Danny and Melody's respective circles of friends do not initially take well to their romance.
* AlmostKiss: Ornshaw, presiding at the wedding, is just getting to the part about Daniel kissing the bride when the adults attack.
* BromanticComedy: Basically the plot of the first half of the movie.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: As the headmaster points out, there are still a lot of things Daniel doesn't understand about Melody, "although we've only ourselves to blame for that." Muriel also tells her friends to their amusement that [[MissConception "I always thought kissing would bring babies."]]
* GirlsHaveCooties: The attitude of most of the students at school and especially Ornshaw, though a girl named Muriel is shown discussing with her friends how you can get to liking kissing with boys once you get used to it.
* EveryoneMeetsEveryone: Danny meets Ornshaw in a Boys' Band marching orchestra to which his mother specifically sent him to make some friends, and then Ornshaw vouches for Danny when the other boys at school "catch him spying" on their explosives-making experiments. Then a schoolmistress catches them and one of their friends spying on Melody and her friends in a ballet class...
* IndirectKiss: See that apple on the poster? Taking a bite out of the same apple someone else has bitten is considered a symbolic form of kissing, especially in Japan; and yes, it's a very popular movie there.
* OnlyOneName: Ornshaw presumably ''has'' a given name, but everyone only ever calls him by his family name.
** He does - Tom. Although it's only spoken once and easily missed.
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: While the children's view of the adults as rather dimwitted killjoys does have some validity, the adults ''are'', in fact, just doing their jobs for most of the movie. Also, [[StrawmanHasAPoint they do know a lot more than the kids]] about sexuality, if maybe not so much about romance.
* RomanticComedy: the PuppyLove version, taking up most of the second half of the movie.
* SpiritualSuccessor: This movie to ''{{Theatre/Oliver}}'' (sort of) and ''Film/MoonriseKingdom'' to this movie.
* StuffBlowingUp: Those boys sure do love experimenting with making explosives... [[spoiler: and blowing up Danny's mother's car at the end.]]
* WeddingSmashers: The adults aren't too forgiving of the kids' unauthorized leave of absence to go to Daniel and Melody's wedding.

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