Figure 1.--Here are some of the children collected in "The Pied Piper" as Mr. Howard tried to get home to England. The story was based on a novel by Neville Shut. Roddy McDowell plays the English boy. |
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You can also slect the movies available on HBC by using this alphabetical movie listing. At this time only a few movies have been analized by HBC for clothing information, but more pages are being added all the time.
After receiving a shock so severe that his hair falls out, a young boy creates a hair growing formulae with peanut butter. Michael Maillot, Matthew MacKay, and Siluck Saysansay.
An early Jackie Coogan vehicle in which he is constantly getting into trouble. Silent film. This was a "B" movie made on the 1920s. I do not believe it was a full-length movie. The boy who can't stay out of trouble is based on George Wibur's Pecks stories. A circus comes to a small quiet town where Henry (played by Jackie Coogan) and his dog "Buddy" (played by Queenie) reside. Kids get restless at the drop of a hat, so Buddy, Henry and Henry's best pal (played by Charles Hatton) visit the circus. Their mischief causes a near riot when they release a lion from its cage. Our darling little hellion, Henry, is adored by his Mamma (played by Lillian Leighton). However, his Papa (played by James Corrigan), the local store keeper (played by Raymond Hatton) and the rest of the town all know trouble's penchant for finding Henry Peck.
Bill Peck, the title role, is played by Jackie Cooper in this this 1934 remake of a silent film. The films were based on the popular series of books by George W. Peck which were turned into stage plays. Bill of course adores his father and does attempt to be a good boy. Problems begin when his father (Thomas Meighan) tells Bill thar he is adopted. Then obnoxious Aunt Lily Clay (Dorothy Peterson) shows up with bratty cousin Horace (Jackie Searl) in tow. Bill is sorely tempted. Horace proves to be a brat and soon it is Bill getting into trouble. Aunt Lily wants to break the bond between Bill and his father. She wants Horace to replace Bill. Of course Bill comes out on top. Jackie has ample screen time to pout and cry. Producer Sol Lesser reports that Jackie had a littlee troublr crying. He finally solved the problem by threatening to fire director Eddie Cline which upset Jackie. Jackie had a close relationship with Cline. It was all abluff, but Jackie didn't know that.
Many boys in the early 20th century dreamed of running off with the circus. "Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus is about a mischievous boy that did just that. This was the sequel to "Peck's Bad Boy" (1934). The main charcter, Bill Peck, this time was played by Tommy Kelly.
He has a fight with his father and runs away with the circus. There are adventures with the elephants and other circus animals as well as circus performers. Spanky McFarland from "Our Gang" appears as Peck's friend and fellow trouble maker. Ann Gillis who also played "Little Orphan Annie" (1938) also appears. This B film was made for kids. Edgar Kennedy and Billy Gilbert appear as comedic foils to Peck's misadventures. The film is a wonderful period piece for kids rather in the same vein as the Our Gang shorts. Like most kids films of the day, there was at the end of the film a moral lesson. The film was directed by Edward F. Cline who did several W.C. Fields commedies.
There are flashbacks whuch briefly depict a wealthy boy who attends a private school. The film is set in Europe with World War II flashbacks. I didn't watch the whole movie, but I don't think there are any interesting scenes. The boy wears longs.
An old man leaves Sweden with his young son Pelle (Pelle Hvenegaard) and gets a job on a Danish farm. The film is set in the latter 19th Century. They find even harsher conditions on the farm and are treated as virtual slaves. The farm's manager trainee humiliates Pele by pulling down his trousers and whipping him, driving him out into the court yard for everyone to see. Tending the boy's wounds, his father vows to violent revenge. Confronted by the trainee, however, he backs down. Pelle is later beaten by the farm's philandering owner and by the bumbling schoolmaster. The boy eventually decides to leave his father and emigrate to America. You can tell it is not an American film as the film is not prudish. Based on Martin Andersen Nexo's Danish novel, Pelle. The movie was given generally poor reviews, especially the boy's performance. I thought he performed his part quite well. He almost always appears unkempt in ragged clothes.
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This musical is different than other Steve Martin films. A depression era sheet musician salesman affects the lives of those around him. Rather a dull movie, but there is one interesting scene. The movie starred Martin and Bernadette Peters who plays a teacher stuck in a class with drably dressed, bored students. The teacher begins to dream in her dull class. In her dream she transfers them to be a lively, talented group. Sudenly the scene turns into a fantasy scene with all the students appearing in emaculate outfits and launching into a complicated and lively dance scene. The children were casually dressed in a variety of drab outfits, but are instantly changed into all white outfits. The girls all wear white party frocks and the boys wear white short pants tuxedos with white knee socks. Quite a lengthy little scene. There is an good shot of the drummer's suit. They even get up on their tables so you can get a good view of their costumes.
A few boys in shorts and I think kilts can be seen in the street scenes, but only fleeting glimpses.
A childless couple which appear to be perfect neighbors make plans to kidnap the children of a single mother who move into the neighborhood.
The irrepressible Penrod Schofield was one of the most popular American boy characters in the early 20th century. He was a character created by Booth Tarkington. Penrod was depicted as typical America boy, raucous and pooly disciplined, but wih a heart of gold. He was always in trouble. He could tolerate the boys adults seemed to admire and he didn't understand girls. Various boys played the part. Film makers used him in a numbrer of films, including three films starring the Mauch twins. For them Tarkington's Penrod stories had to be tweaked a bit. We don't know much about the early Penrod films, but we are familiar with the Mauch twins' films.
Ben Alexander. This is the first film portral of the classic Tarkington character, Penrod Scofield.
Penrod of course wears knickers. He receives a well-deserved spanking and protests mightily. Unusual as Penrod usually manages to talk his way out of it.
The twins played in some of the Penrod series films (1937-38). Perrod was Booth Tarkington ranbunctious Midwest boy set in the 1900s. These were, however, minor films although I quite enjoyed them. Only Billy was credited, but both boys probabnly appeared. It was released in late February, 1937. Two sequels followed: "Penrod's Twin Brother" later that year, and "Penrod's Double Trouble" in 1938. The squels allowed both boys to appear. The first of these "Penrod" films is the best, I think. "Penrod and Sam" packs a surprising amount of adventure and social commentary into a film just over an hour long. The film also could be described as a "children's melodrama", as well. While both adults and children can enjoy "P&S", the target audience is surely young people. One can easily imagine school-age children in good attendance at an old movie palace seventy years ago, enjoying a Saturday matinee showing. They twins would sometimes flip a coin to decide who got what role.
The Twins second Penrod film was "Penrod and His Twin Brother”. The Mauch Twins' second Penrod film was "Penrod and His Twin Brother”. Another 1930s brat is played by Jackie Morrow in a short film based on Booth Tarkington's "Penrod" stories. Interestingly, Tarkington is the author of the Magnificent Ambersons which showcased perhaps the all time greatest movie brat--Georgie Amberson. His Penrod character, however, could not be more different. Penrod is spoiled by his adoring mother, but rather than a brat--he is the All American Boy, The brat in this film is Rodney Bitts, the obnoxious and bratty son of the banker, played by Jackie. He wrongfully accuses Penrod's (played nicely by Billy Mauch) dog of biting him. Turns out Penrod has a "twin", a tough boy from Chicago named Danny Dugan, played by Billy Mauch's real twin brother, Bobby. And "Danny" even has a dog that is identical to Penrod's dog, which was the dog that really bit Rodney. This mix-up eventually involves the boys in the capture of bank robbers at the film's end.
The Mauch twins also played in “Penrod’s Double Trouble.”
There were also two Penrod films made in the 1950s with Billy Gray as Penrod, although he was called Wesley in the films. I'm not sure why the name was changed, perhaps to avoid paying royalties. The frst was "On Moonlight Bay" (1951). Billy is better known for his role as Bud on the popular TV series "Father Knows Best". Entertaining family film set at the end of World War I, about 1919. It is based on Booth Tarkington's Penrod stories and depicts a mid-Western family led by a stoggy, but soft hearted father, with a love-struck daughter and an 11-year old son--Wesley. The son is nicely played by Billy Gray (who was to become Bud in "TV's "Father Knows Best"). He is a cute little guy and gets up to all kinds of boyish devilment. He hates his piano lessons and teacher who is sweet on his sister. When her boyfriend comes back from the war, he is unhappy that the boyfriend doesn't bop the piano teacher. He gets into trouble for purloining a turkey (to save the family turkey). His father gets out his belt, but is dissuaded my mom. Welsely always seems to squirm out of trouble. He wears over the knee knickers, often as part of a suit. He even puts on a tie without being prompted to do so. There is even a nice party scene with girls in frilly dresses and boys in smart knicker suits.
The second Penrod film will Billy Gray was "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" (1953).
Made for TV movie. A southern boy (Lukas Haas) travels to Washington to visit his dying brother in a POW hospital. He accidentally meets President Lincoln. Lukas wears keepants. In actuality the 1860s was a transitional period. Boys especialy in the eastern cities were beginning to wear kneepants, but many still wore long pants as were common in the 1850s. Lincoln's boys Willie and Tad, for example, bostly wore long pants.
Riveting mob film about protecting a witness and his family. Danny (Nial Lancaster), about 9, has a minor, but central part. No interesting costumes.
T.J. Lowther co-stars in this film set in the early 1960s. He is about 7 and often appears in short shorts. TJ is marvelously sober-faced with none of the self-satisfied tics so common with Hollywood child actors.
Misadventures of a convent school run away. The film deals with girls and not boys, but some of the fantasy scenes are interesting, including a civilization of Amazon warriors.
This Christmas drama is set around the marital problems of two couples. One has a 4-yearold boy who for Christmas wears a checked Eton suit with dark kneesocks. His father doesn't like him playing with dolls.
A background picture shows a little boy in a blue velvet, Victorian-style smock and hat. Another little boy appears in a similar smock dress.
Dickie Moore often played brief bits in the many biographical movies made on the 1930s.
Leif Garrett
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This is the first film adaptation of Peter Pan with which we are familar. Philippe de Lacey appeared in the film, playing one of the boys in the nursery. He is seen hear wearing a sailor suit with Nana, the beloved household dog.
Bobby Driscoll provides the voice only.
This is a rather edgy version of the children's classic.
Television serial with some interesting scenes with Peter as a boy.
Rather appealing Disney live movie with animation (the Dragon) about a dragon named Eliot that appears to a little boy (Sean Marshal) and saves him from the mean Grogan family. The Grogans purchased Pete him from a orphanage and made him do all their work. Many view this as one of Disney's weaker efforts, but I rather liked it. Little red-headed Pete played his part beautiful. (I don't recall any other films he made.) The lady who finds Pete brings hi home and has has him slip on a night shirt. Pete is shy and makes her turn her back. No one believes Pete about his dragon, until the dragon helps them save a ship. The lady that takes in Pete takes him to town to get a new suit. She picks a rather plain knicker suit, but he is suddenly the best dressed boy in school. The other boys also wear period clothes, a few other knicker suits but nothing fancy. A couple boys wear broad-brimmed hats with long streamers down the back. The school marm is a real meany. She keeps her class properly disciplined and they have to walk in a strict line. She takes an immediate disliking to Pete when Eliot causes her petticoat to be ripped off and she thinks Pete did it. Latter on in school she gives Pete a taste of her "knuckle cracker" and then prepares to whack his behind until Eliot rescues him. Quite a sweet little movie. There is a touching goodbye between Pete and Elliot. A reader writes, "I saw was 10 years old when I saw this movie in 1992. It was the day we were departing for London. Actually, to Newcastle. In Newcastle, my Scotts uncle showed this movie but my mother told him I had seen it. I loved dragons!" Another reader writes, "Excellent movie! I remember I got to see it twice in one day! I wanted to see it a third time, but Mom said we had to go!"
A French reader mentions " Un Petit Parisien ", a TV-film of Sébastien Grall from the the book of Dominique Janet. He reports, "Benji a huit ans lorsque son père Claude, prisonnier de guerre est libéré. La famille s'installe à Paris mais la mère meurt d'une longue
maladie. Claude est pourtant nommé au lycée Montaigne, comme professeur de lettres. Depuis le décès de sa femme il commence à mener une vie mondaine, s'entoure de femmes et collabore avec les allemands." That means, Benji is 8 years old when his father Claude, a prisoner of war is released. The family settles in Paris but the mother dies of a ligering disease.
Claude obtains an appointment to Montaigne college, as professor of letters. Since the death of his wife, he starts to carry out a fashionable life, surrounded by women and collaborating with the Germans.
An 11 year old radio serial star who specializes in underworld air dramas becomes mixed up with real crooks.
Western where kids play all the characters. Nothing of any special interest.
Bobby Blake had a small part.
This animated MGM is about a boy's adventures when his toy car takes him through a mysterious gateway. The boy's voice is Butch Patrick of TV The Munsters fame. Milo begins as Butch Patrick, but then shifts to an animated boy. Butch does appear in the film in long slacks with his short back and sides and a nice grey blue zipper up jacket with deep
pockets. It's an alphabetical Mathemagical Musical Movie. It was based on a book by Norton Juster. Butch was a typical late 1960s American schoolboy. A red and white candy striped box or package flies through the air and lands in bored Milo's bedroom and he is talking to another boy Ralph on the phone. He keeps Ralph on the phone whilst he checks out the strange package that flew out of the sky and in to his big bedroom and it unwraps it's self in the first ever clever stop camera motion seen in the late 1960s film genre and it becomes a phantom tollbooth with toolbox and tollgate to and a little red car appears in typical manic whizz around action and Milo checks out the fancy red car and hops in it.
He mucks about by going in and out of the tollbbooth. As a cartoon by, Milo sets off on a wonderful adventure in to the cartoon universe of The Kingdom of Wisdom, Digitopolis. He meets the Whitch'a policeman come judge who has wheels as a way of getting from point A to point B and he meets a funny little Weather Man who flies around the skies with a big batch of coloured airballoons and in a sort of light blue romper suit and he is a brother of the Whitch. He joins forces with Tick Tock a big gold talking dog with a fobwatch as a heart but guides Milo and he meets the Spelling Bee and other fun characters like a bespectacled Dr Cocophone or some funny name like that. There is evil verses good king and the twin princesses of Rhyme and Reason and he the other king is the Mathsmagician and he has the kingdom of numbers. Old king AZAZ is the king of words and has locked up the twins princes in the Kingdom in The Air. You meet The Conductor of Sunrise and Sunset and a lot of nasty charactors to and a land called the Doldrums starts the movie off with ghostly transparent or muddy spirits who love being in the doldrums and want to stop Milo in his tracks. Milo has to face adversity and think his way out of the complexities that is the world of The Phantom Tollbooth. The film is by Chuck Jones of the famous Warner Brothers classic catoons
series. Mel Blanc does most off the voices and Butch does Milo's voice. A reader writes, "I would recommend this film to teachers to get their class to think out in class with their education and not daydream the day away. It is a great film and the children will like it to death as I did way back when I was a bored little schoolboy."
A young boy enters a world of terror when his investigation into his brother's death leads to an eerie mausoleum.
A Confederate woman and a Union captain occupying her farm earn each other's respect. She has a nice boy about 13 or so, but there are no interesting outfits.
HBC does not have a lot of information on this film. It is a German film, but few
other details are avialble. HBC's German film consultant believes that it is
probably East German probably shot in the mid-1970s. The film is Philipp der Kleine, "Philipp the Small" in English. It is about a kid who's small for
his age, and this really bugs him. He ends up with a magic flute and every
time he plays it things around him get bigger (including his cat which turns
into a lion cub and goes to school with him!) Some scenes demonstrate
that even kids walking past in the background are wearing the same style
of clothes as the kids in the flim. Some of the images are a bit fuzzy, but
there's an awful lot of long patterned and stripey socks in this film and they're wearinig them.
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"The Pianist" is an important account of the NAZI Holocaust in Poland, and is sometimes compared with another film on the same subject, "Schindler's List". The film was directed by Roman Polanski and starred Adrien Brody as Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jewish concert pianist who miraculously survived the wholesale slaughter of the Jews in Warsaw during World War II. It is called "The Pianist" (2002). The film is unusually graphic and hard to watch because of the incredible
brutality of the NAZIs, but it was filmed with meticulous historical accuracy including the costuming. In numerous scenes we see boys dressed in the style of 1940s Warsaw. Most of the boys wear various outfits with short trousers and long stockings.
George "Spanky" McFarland
The Pied Piper is about an English boy in France fleeing the Nazis. The film was made in 1942 during World War II, not long after the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) escaped at Dunkirk (May 1940). It was based on a novel by Neville Shut. The film starred Monty Woolley as the main character, Roddy Mc Dowall as the boy, and Peggy Ann Garner as the girl. The film was set in France in June 1940, just as the French surrendered to the Germans and the Germans close the channel ports. A British man, Mr. Howard, on a fishing trip to France. World War II breaks out and he is forced to return to England. Mr. Howard is an elderly germunchon who hates children, but finds himself stuck with a pack of them. He reluctantly agrees to take with him two children of diplomats who are working at the League of Nations. He journeys to the nearest French port to get a boat to England. Along the way he collects an assortment of refugee children. He could get back to England easier by himself, but his conscious won't let him leave them. He starts out with two English children and along the way they are joined by a number of young refugees. He attracts more and more children as he travels through France. Mounty Woolley is taking him back to England. They are crossing NAZI infested France. They argue over American States. Mounty
Woolley claims Rochester is a state and Roddy points out that it is only a city. Mounty Woolly will not have it but concedes to Roddy's arguement on a cross channel fishing boat at the end of the film. This is after Roddy has lost the pride and joy Mounty Woolley's belongings - His fishing Rod. It is clear that by this time man and boy are friends. Roddy dons French clothes, a smock and beret, to blend in with the others. As Roddy was 13 or 14, you wonder if he didn't object to the juvenile costumes. This film is similar in many ways to Happy Road (US, 1957).
A resentful piper leads the children of Hamelin from their homes after the mayor refuses to pay him for ridding the city of rats.
Bobby Blake has a small part.
"Pink Floyd The Wall" was written by Roger Waters, designed by Gerald Scarfe (animator), and directed by Alan Parker. A phantasmagoric musical based upon the classic eponymous progressive rock album, which is, in turn, a semi-autobiographical account of
writer/songwriter Roger Waters' life, and an homage to his late father, who died in World War II, and former band member, Sid Barret, who developed schizophrenia while in the band.
There are two different actors playing the younger version of Rock star
Pink. The Education/School sequence representing all English Public Schools. Theere is also a Desert/Father/soldiers coming home railway scene. The rest of the film is the mental breakdown of rock star Pink, as he sits in his hotel room, wasting away and drowning in psychosis. Interspersed in-between "reality" and animation.
Animated version with Pinocchio in his shorts. Nothing of interest, but a girl in one of those kid movie review shows commented on the shorts. She said, "It is so totally uncool to wear shorts all of the time."
A series of movies based on Swedish novels about a strange red-haired girl. There are usually a lot of other children in the films, sometimes including boys in shorts. See the alphabetical listings for details on each film. A reader who rememembers seeing them with his daughter writes, "There are I believe 3 movies and 13 half-hour TV programs based loosely on the Pipi Longstockings books. For the most part the TV programs diverge quite a bit from the book even if everything in the book is on the film. The girl is
spontaneous and really funny. Children in the 70s really enjoyed this
story which is an underlying feminist story. At first, Peppi looks like
a compliant little girl but she is in fact an extremely clever little subversive."
Rather boring movie rather like a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta set in Victorian England. I watched a good bit of it hoping to see a boy in the back ground in a sailor suit or velvet suit. The costumes in the movie were nice, but I didn't see any boys' costumes, at least in the parts I saw. Christopher Atkins plays a teenage role.
Well done made for TV movie about "Pistol" Pete Maravich (played by Adam Guin?). He is depicted at about 13 years playing high school basketball. Of course he wears jeans except while playing basketball.
A troubled child befriends a group of small, murderous creatures with a taste for human blood.
A very nice boy appears briefly in a nice Renaissance-era, Spanish period costume, tights and bloomers. He is about 10 years old.
Rather brutal, but powerful film about the life homeless street children face in Brazil. The gripping story of their life outside the law. The lead was played by 12-year old Fernando Ramos da Silva who was plucked off the streets of Rio by director Hector Babenco. Fernando won enormous acclaim for the part he played. Unfortunately his career fizzled after a couple of stage plays and 6 months on a Brazilian TV show. He turned to crime. In 1985 he was arrested for burglary and later escaped from jail. In 1987 the police arrived at the scene of a robbery in progress and in the ensuing gun battle, Fernando was shot and killed.
A classmate tries to motivate a community to act when she finds her classmate is suffering from hunger. Lukas Haas plays the son of an unemployed father and his wife in a look at poverty in the United States. A good bit of the films deals with him.
Set in Italy, a rather boring romantic film. Not many children are involved in the film. In one scene while the main characters are romping in the hay, two children come by and peek at them. The interesting aspect is that they are both dressed in smocks. The girl wears a white smock with a big blue bow and the boys wears a light-blue smock with a big white bow. He is wearing shorts and white knee socks.
A coming of age story, focusing primarily on Argentina's troubling political history. I haven't seen it, but I think it deals primarily with young adults. There may be some flash backs and the protagonist teaches at a school.
True story of 11-year old Gregory K who is taken for foster care by a Mormon family with eight kids. He decides to divorce his negligent mother. Gregory is played by Tom Guiry.
A beautifully done movie set in Texas during the 1930s. After the death of her husband, a woman devises a plan to save her farm from foreclosure. She has two children, a boy and girl. The boy, Frank, is about 11 or so and plays his small part very nicely. If I remember right he dresses up in knickers. In one scene he brings the belt to his mother because he says that dad would have strapped him.
A 16-year old teenage orphan must decide whether or not he can compromise his freedom and accept the offer of a home from a kindly Australian tug boat owner. Tony Barry, Carmen Duncan.
Hectic life in a family with four children (all boys?). The mother has trouble keeping up with the boys. The father is a drama critic. I saw this some time ago and I don't remember any interesting scenes. The boys all wear longs. Other kids also pictured wear longs, mostly jeans. There is a nice little school scene where the children do a dance with the teacher.
A girl writes a racy novel and leaves when her prudish family objects. One scene had two small boys in shorts, but I'm not sure they appear again. The older boy, about 9 or 10 wears proper shorts and knee socks. He is playing cowboys and indians and his father announces he will be taking piano lessons.
A London school teacher encounters discipline problems with an unruly group of students from a slum district.
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