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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.
Army officials seek to destroy their latest spy weapon, an 11-year old boy with a computerized brain who has escaped from his laboratory home. Barret Oliver played the part of DARYL and Michael played his father, Andy. Barrett is superb in his part, a real delightful kid. He is the perfect boy and innocent--just as the part requires. Barret did not appear in alot of films and gaveup acting to persue others interests. I think he was a perfect choice for the DARYL role. In one scene he appears in a pair of leisure shorts, while his engaging little friend, Turtle (Danny Corkill) wears jeans. Gradually American movies began to recognize that boys wear short pants. Turtle tries to clue him in on how to be a more realistic boy. Barrett Oliver wore cords long pants, cord OP stle shorts and cotton shorts, with T-Shirts and V collared cotton shirts. He wears shorts to school in once scene and seems to be the only one wearing them. His socks vary from crew to tube. The baseball uniforms were pretty realistic for the mid-80s, if the actual playing wasn't.
Charlie returns to Dublin for his adoptive father's funeral allowing the opportunity to reminisces about the bittersweet relationship. He engages his father's ghost in a discussion of old times. They reminisce over the father's heavy-handed tactics such as when he messed up his attempts to neck with a local girl. The younger Charlie is played by Karl Hayden. I haven't seen the film, but there almost certainly to be boys in short pants.
A successful executive is forced to rebuild his life after his wife of 20 years deserts him and his three children.
A young child finds it impossible to satisfy his parent's expectations and withdraws into a world of his own.
Daemon is a new boy at school. His parents have moved into new neighborhood after his father got a job and he has left his comprehensive for a new private school. The uniform is long pants. Not a particularly interesting made for TV film. There are some allusions to devil worship.
Barnes Wallis in 'The Dam Busters' carries out experiments helped by his 10 year old son.
Damien Omen II is part 2 of the Omen Trilogy which originally started in the 1970s. Currently the Omen Trilogy has been released on DVD celebrating the 25th anniversary this 20th Century Fox Film Production. The film was made in 1978, the second of a three part series. It features William Holden as Richard Thorn, the uncle of Damien. He is the CEO of Thorn, a mighty industrial company. Thorn and his second wife adopt his deceased brother's son, who is actually the child of the devil. Much of it is filmed in a military academy with a long pants uniform. Many teenagers are involved.
Stars Dirk Borgade as a rebellious first mate of a war ship and Alec Guinness as the captain. The crew includes the captain's blond, 13-year old son. The boy is a midshipman and becomes a pawn in Borgarde's efforts to take over the vessel. Bogarde has the senior midshipman--actually an adult--cane the boy repeatedly for petty or nonexistent offenses.
A ridiculous movie. The part of a young teenage boy is played by Jackie Lee Haley. No interesting costumes are involved. Good example of the prudishness of American movies, Haley is shown swimming in his long pants. In the movie almost the whole world has been obliterated by nuclear weapons, but Haley when he goes swimming--won't even do so without his long pants!
Basically uninteresting film, although movie historians may enjoy seeing Fred Astaire with George Burns and Gracie Allen. There is a little curly-haired chap on the household staff who befriends Astaire. He appears in long pants.
This was the last Abbot and Costello film, but I don't know what interesting aspect it had. (Many films are on the HBC list because a reader suggested them, but they did not always indicate why they should be listed.)
Laurel and Hardy film about taking over a dancing school. I haven't seen the film, but can't help but wonder if may be few recalcitrant boys required to take dancing lessons.
A pregnant woman's already complicated life is turned upside down when she and her son are the only witness of a murder and are stalked by the killer.
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Hollywood set the pattern of imitation long ago. Republic Pictures noted the success of the musicals that Sol Lesser did with Bobby Breen. Republic created "Dangerous Holiday" as a suitable movie vehicle for violin prodigy Ra Hould. A young violin prodigy, Ronnie Campbell, with greedy relatives is unhappy about having to practice all day. He is coddled by his parents and handlers and misses playing and roughhouse like a regular boy. He runs away from home and alarms start ringing--it is assumed that he has been kidnapped. Ronnie males friends with street-urchins who come accross a gangster hideaway. Of course the kids outwit the crooks and in true Hollywood fashion, his parents promise to give Ronnie more freedom. Hedda Hopper appears in the film at just the time shee is beginning to become a major gossip columnist. Ra wears sailor suits, both white and blue ones as a prodigy. After he get his parents sorted out he befins wearing a regular suit. HBC readers might want to have a look at the prodigy pages.
A graduate student probes the events surrounding his parents execution as Soviet nuclear spies. Beautifully made movie centering on the events seen through Daniel's eyes. Two boys play Daniel at different ages. As a younger boy he even wears short pants and knee socks. His mother tells him to pull up his socks once. Both boys play their parts very well. The movie is based on E L. Doctorow's novel, while well made it is essentially dishonest. The story is a clear allusion to the Rosenberg trial. The movie portrays the Rosenbergs as committed communists, but innocent of espionage. The Rosenberg's were clearly guilty--although the value of the information they gathered has been questioned. I think it is true that they were two decent people. But decent people can do wrong--sometimes very terrible things indeed.
This Kalem Studio silent film has a cast includng Judson Melford.
"Danny Boy" is one of the large number of "B" movies churned out by the studios in the 1930s and 40s before TV made it big. Jimmy Bailey belongs to a Scout-like movement. His uniform is not the official Boy Scout uniform. Movies in the 1930s often used the Boy Scouts and the official uniform, but this changed in the 40s. A neighbor who mistreats animals is behind the kidnpping of his dog--Danny Boy played by Ace the Wonder Dog. Danny Boy is a World War II war veteran. He is on the verge of becoming vicious because of the mistreatment when he manages to escape. Robert "Buzzy" Henry plays Jimmy.
This movie is based on Roald Dahl’s best selling adventure story about a 9-year old Danny and his father--the best dad a boy ever had! Life couldn’t be better for Danny: a gypsy caravan for a home, a garage where he could work on cars all day and a best friend that never ran out of surprises and inventions of his father. One day their tranquil existence and happiness are suddenly shattered by the sinister and robust figure of Victor Hazell--the new Lord of the local Manor. He is Master of all he surveys, except William’s garage and land, which Hazell intends to acquire by fair means or foul. William and Danny are determined to foil Hazell’s dastardly plan and Danny’s sudden brainwave leads them into a wild, impossible scheme to teach Hazell a lesson. If it comes off it will make Danny the Champion of the World. The movie depicts what the fashion was like during the 40s and 50s. The boys in the movie all wear shorts to school and shows the now outdated methods of punishment.
This 1935 film was made at Samuel Goldwyn Productions and distributed by United Artists. It is about three childhood friends, two boys and a girl. There are sone childhood sceces, but I have not seen them. As grown ups the female charcter chooses one of the men to marry, the other, seized with jealouscy, the rejected loversends his rival off into a dangerous situation during World War I. The stars are Fredric March, Merle Oberon, and Herbert Marshall.
The film was adapted by Lillian Hellman and Mordaunt Shairp from a play by Guy Bolton. Sidney Franklin directed the film and Samuel Goldwyn produced it.
The final scenesare set in England and include three children, appropriate two boys and a girl. The boys wear short pants and knee socks. They have Red Indian outfits for play.
When a father and son both mysteriously disappear at a survivalist training camp, an investigative reporter decides to learn the reason why.
A rabbi's teenage son struggles to survive in 1933 Germany. He is aided by several non-Jews.
A beautifully acted TV movie about a mother and her autistic son. She makes many sacrifices, but in the end they may not have been beneficial to the child. David as a boy of about 10 or 11 is nicely played by Steve Ivany.
Title role played by Reginald Sheffield who was 21 at the time. He was Johnny (Boy in Tarzan) Sheffield's father.
A young orphan grows up in 19th century England, based on the Dickens' novel. Freddie Bartholomew plays the title role of the great Dickens' classic. He was very effective as the innocent David. A man explains to David that he deals with boys like he deals with horses. "I make him wince and smart," the man says. David begs not to be beaten, but he is really thrashed. Another boy, I think it is Tommy Tuttle is also beaten. The caning by Basil Rathbone is one of the most villainous ever depicted in the movies. (Imagine innocent Freddie being caned by Basil Rathbone.)
Robin Phillips.
This excellent remake of the Dicken's classic if faithful to the book and provides accurate reproductions of period costuming. You will be seeing much more of the boy chosen to play David. He has since been selected to play Harry Potter--certainly the bigest child role in recent memory.
A woman makes great personal sacrifices to care for and strengthen her relationship with her mentally challenged son.
This maudlin romance has two boys who appear in short pants. I couldn't stand to see the entire film, but did see two scenes with the boys. In one they are in a living room, both in short pants and knee socks. The older boy is about 12 or 13. In another scene they are outdoor in long-pants red Indian suits.
A father and son mysteriously disappear at a survivalist camp.
Jackie Searl
George "Spanky" McFarland
A spoiled brat (Jackey Haley) of a boy whose mother is trying to get him in the movies, dresses him in girlish blouses with puffed sleeves and frills and very short pants. He even lacey ankle socks. His hair is bobbed and curled. Mothers trying to get their kids into the movies in the 1920s and 30s often did dress them in fancy costumes, but this was a bit unrealistic. I'd say Jackey was about 11. He only appears briefly, but one of the most sissy outfits ever worn by a boy in a movie, in fact it is hard to tell he is a boy. Nathanael West's book is a classic of Hollywood literature, that often dark and satirical subgenre populated by such authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joan Didion and Aldous Huxley.
It is a negative look at the decadent Hollywood of the late 1930's.
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"The Day the Earth Stood Still" is a sciebfiction folm classic. The boy was played by Billy Gray who played Bud Anderson in the long running sitcom "Fatherv Knows Best". He was the inquitive son of Patricia Neal who befriended the very human-looking alien. He wore contemprary American clothes including long pants.
A reasonable film from China. A little chap about 11 is involved as he and his mother or lost in a snow storm. I have no details on the costuming at this time.
" The Day the World Ended" (2001) is about a 12 years old boy (Bobby Edner) who believes his father is a space alien. The boy's adoptive father, played by Randy Quaid, tries to persuade him otherwise. A new school psychologist, a youngish woman, sympathizes
with him and becomes his only friend in their small community. One frightening night, the space alien returns, and avenges his son. The film seems like a horror movie that refuses to itself it seriously; a little self-mockery lies below its surface. Bobby wears a "hoodie", a hooded jacket, sweater, long trousers, and hiking boots.
A business woman's already hectic life is further complicated by an unplanned pregnancy and the unexpected reappearance of an imaginary childhood pal played by Elijah Wood.
The Dead End and related productions are probably the best known films based on the subject of juvenile delenquency. The films were based on a play written Sidney Kingsley (1934). The play "Dead End" was produced on Broadway (1935-37). For the production the producers chose kids off the streets of New York rather than actors. Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn and famed director William Wyler saw the play decided to make a film version (1937). Apprently the Hollywood kids under contract were to clean cut for the role. So Goldwyn brought six of the boys (Halop, Jordan, Hall, Punsly, Dell, and Leo Gorcey) to Hollywood and made the only United Artist's film in the series--"Dead End" (1937). The boys apparently en riot during the shoot, running a truck into a sound studio. The film was a hit, but Goldwyn washed his hands of the boys and sold the film rights to Warner Brothers. As a result the other five films were Warner Brother films. And after the main films there were other reincarnations into te 1950s: The East Side Kids, The Little Tough Guys, and The Bowery Boys.
Roddy McDowall has a bit part.
A man searches for his son who he has not seen since infancy.
Fearing for the safety of herself and her son, a woman leaves her husband, but finds that she cannot escape his violent wrath.
An 8-year old math wizard forgets his philanthropic interests for a school art foundation when he develops a case of puppy love. Enganging movie. The boy wears long pants. Billy Mummy.
David Hollinder
A white boy (I don't know the age) in this classic film is raised by indians in the frontier days of early America.
A courageous young boy, dying of a cancerous brain tumor, observes the effects of his unflagging optimism upon his divorced parents.
A loving family in Knoxsville, Tennessee has to deal with the death of the husband
and father. I remember seing a black and white production of James Agee's A Death in the Family some time ago and this must have been it. It was well done, but not as good as the PBS 2002 production, in part because the family relationships were not as well drawn before the accident. For some reason the film was named All the Way Home, presumably the marketing department thought that "death: in the title would turn away movie goers. The boy in the film, Rufus, gets teased by the older boys. I don't recall the reason. In the 2002 PBS production under the proper title, the issue was his sailor cap.
PBS in 2002 aired an excellent production of James Agee's novel A Death in the Family. Producer/director Gil Cates excellent adaptation is one of those all two few remakes of a classic story that is better than the ofriginal. The result is a sensitive depiction of a young family's struggle to cope with the tragic death of the hisband and father. Much of the success of the film is the tender depiction of the father's relationship with his 7-year old son Rufus and his wife. The production is set in Knoxville Tennessee during 1915 and makes a good faith effort to stay truthful to the Agrr story. Jay Follet engagingly teaches his son to steer a car. Rufus wears a kneepants sailor suit and long stockings. Rufus is only 7, but growing up. He no longer wants to kiss his dad goodnight. He also doesn't like the sailor cap his mother makes him ear. It is his sailor cap though that takes center stage in the film. He dislikes the cap and hides it when he goes to school because the other children, who swear flat caps, tease him about it. After his father treats him to a movie, he promises to get mother to buy him a new cap. His maiden Aunt Hannah does buy Rufus a new cap which horrifies his mother, calling it "flamboyant". She just refers to it as a cao without using the term "flat cap". Strangely she uses the term cap as if Rufus'd sailor cap was not also a cap. I'm not sure just how Agee wrote this sequence. Rufus does not know what that means, but his mother eventually lets him wear it. I'm not sure who the little boy playing Rufus was, but he did a wonderful job.
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Classic story by Thomas Mann about the fatal attraction of a famous, but dying composer to a radiantly beautiful young boy who proves to be an angel of death. Mann's uncharacterictically brief novella Death in Venice is a classic of German literature. It was made into a movie in 1971. The movie, of course set in Venice, was a painstaking recreation of high Edwardian fashions, including many examples of boyhood fashions. Beautifully filmed with a nice sailor suit, but the boy who plays Tadzio is too old for the part and wears a long pants sailor suit. Mann's book is very explicit on the subject, Tadzio wears a short pants sailor suit. It was a real pity because the movie is such a meticulously filmed costume drama. There are even a few boys in short pants sailor suits in the back ground, but they are quite small. Tadzio does have some sailor suits as well as other fashionable outfits and it is a real shame they have long pants. Tadzio does appear in an old fashioned bathing costume which he gets beat up in. I think it was made in Italian with English dubbing, but there is very little dialogue so it didn't make any real difference. HBC is unsure, however, as to just how accurately depicted the fashions were. Another problem is that the boy chosen to play the Polish boy upon whom the film focuses was much older than the boy in Mann's book.
A 14-year old Donald O'Conner has a part.
Mickey Rooney
Poorly made Western about a boy who avenges his parents brutal murder. The short introduction features the boy watching the murder.
A vacationing New York youngster vacationing in Arizona with his mother stumbles across a series of murders.
Epic adventure about the Thuggees cult in India. One reviewer reports a seductive campfire dance by a young boy that is creepy enough to send chills.
A beautiful woman reminisces about her life with her beloved nephew.
A widower may have to give up his son. The boy is about 10 and competently played. I only saw the beginning, but I doubt if there are any interesting costumes.
This 1948 film takes up what was, at the time, a rather delicate subject. The somber theme is relieved by several fantasy scenes which depict Christopher's daydreams. The backdrop of these sequences resemble enlarged sketches to highlight their fanciful nature. While the humor is rather mild, these dream sequences develop our perception of Chris. They reflect his inner struggle with the decision he must make and reveal his self-perception and psychological resources. Ted Donaldson played Christopher Blake. Ted, born August 20, 1933, was a little older than the character he brought to life in the film.
A man expelled from Oxford takes a teaching position at a boys school.
An orphan boy is torn between the girl who takes care of him and the man who taught him to love the sea. Well acted, if a little soppily I only saw the end of it. The boy was wearing longs. Part of the plot puts him in a reformatory when he is caught stealing, I don't know if there are any interesting scenes. Dean Stockwell
Dennis' prehistoric discovery becomes a media event in the made for TV film. All the boys in the movie, including Dennis wear shorts.
Much better film than the made for TV 1987 version. Five-year old Dennis is played admirably by tow-headed Mason Gamble. He almost always appears in longs. Even his pal Joey (who is always in shorts in the comic strip) also appears in longs. This is rather strange as almost all the other neighborhood boys, when visible in the background such as the scene near the end when Dennis returns home, wear shorts. Actually Dennis does appear in shorts, although you almost miss it because of the camera angles. When dressed up for a garden party he is in blazer and proper grey shorts. His sports-style white socks distract a bit from the outfit. (In the comic, Dennis is usually dressed in shorts and saddle shoes for church and other dressy outings.) In many ways the film is a rehash of the Home Alone and other kid-movie situation, kids rebel, destroy property, foil the villain, and come out on top. I thought the inclusion of the disgusting vagrant added an element of evil that is really absent from the Dennis the Menace cartoons. The best acting goes to the girl playing Margaret, a role British readers will identify with Violet Elizabeth Bolt (from Just William). She has one really good line, insisting the boys do something and warns that if they doesn't "I'll scream so loudly, bloody awfully that my Mom will think you tried to murder me. And I'll tell her you did, and she'll believe me, 'cos little boys are like that and little girls aren't."
Rosalind Russell plays a straigh-laced judge (unusual in 1941) who like to sculpt. Walter Pidgeon plays a reporter who concocts a plot to discredit her. Her nephew Freddie (Bobby Larson) appears in a suit on the train. He plays rather a brat role. Later he appears in rather long shorts later and those two-tone high-top tennis shoes. Later he appears in long pants while playing wiyth akite.
Rather boring historical costume drama set during the Napoleonic wars. Desiree's son appears in at a fashionable suit and frilly collar, with the long pants boys wore at the time. (It was men who wore knee britches.)
Doug McKeon
Mystery set in post-war Berlin. There are some very interesting street scenes in such movies set in Europe after the war and during the early 1950s. I haven't seen the whole movie, but about half way through the film there is a nice, albeit brief, street scene. Two older teenagers are seen coming out of a subway in short shorts--lederhosen I think. In another scene a boy about 10 or 11 in lederhosen, and for some reason filthy dirty, delivers a message.
Freddie Bartholomew, Jackie Cooper, Mickey Rooney. According to his parents' divorce settlement, Freddie comes to spend 6 months with his dad, an architect who lives in lower Manhattan, and 6 months with his wealthy mom. Freddie wears a short pants suit and knee socks at the beginning of the film, but for most of the movie after he comes to live with his dad, he wears long pants, shirts, and sweaters like the other boys. Freddie's dad lives in a rough neighborhood, and the school he attends has some pretty tough kids. On his very first day Freddie has trouble from Jackie Cooper, the leader of a gang of toughs. Jackie's father is to be executed that night in prison. Freddie wants to join Jackie's gang and takes boxing lessons to prove himself worthy of membership. He even bests the older and bigger Jackie in a fight. The gang accepts him, and they set out to buy a decent tombstone for Jackie's dad. They try stealing and selling tires, but this doesn't raise money fast enought to suit them. Freddie then suggests they break into a wealthy kid's house he knows of, steal the toys, and pawn them. They're caught during the break in and taken away by the police. It turns out this is Freddie's mom's house, so the police can't procecute Freddie for stealing. He simply wanted to help Jackie buy a grave stone for his dad. The other boys, however, are held by the police. They escape, and Freddie tells them it's the wrong thing to do. He joins them, though, and they hitch a ride from people who turn out to be gangsters. They stop at a cafe owned by a Frenchman, and Freddie, speaking French to the owner, tells him to call the police, the gangsters are apprehended in a shootout, and the Jackie Cooper character realizes it's best to go with the police and serve his punishment.
Stars the pretty-faced Darryl Hickman, then a teen. A group of teenage boys and girls are taken to a police station for questioning about a tragic car accident. They refuse to cooperate. The father of one of the boys arrives, pushes his son in another room and whips him with a belt as the other children listen. Father and son at last emerge. The father announces that the boy is now ready to answer questions. The boy, still in tears, fumbles fixing his buttons after the beating.
Children who escape from a mental institution terrorize vacationers.
The monster child of a former exotic dancer embarks on a murder spree.
We have not seen, but have noted wonderful reviews for The Devil's Backbone. I'm not sire what the Spanish=language title was. It is set during the Spanish Civil War and focuses on an unexploded bomb at an orphanage. This film employs magic in a darker sence. The clip we saw was a suspense-filled sequence a dormitory. The film is claerly a beautifully shot film. The boys wear pajamas. I'm not sure what the orphanage uniform or clothing was like.
B-grade horror movie, but a boy about 10 years old or so plays a central role. He wears jeans.
An English schoolmarm falls under suspicion when one of her pupils becomes a sacrificial victim of witchcraft. Also entitled "The Witches". Mark Lester
Simon Burke, Arthur Dignam, Nick Tate. Set in a repressive catholic seminary for young boys in Australia. A black comedy dealing with the Christian fear of sex. The main character (13 years old) has a serious bed wetting problem and is punished for it. The boys wear long pants. The main character wrestles with authority/religion as they come to terms with their own emotional and sexual identities. A dazzling exploration of the conflict between sensuality and abstraction.
tches".
The documentary "The Devil's Playground" (2001) was directed by Lucy Walker. It dealt with the life of Amish youth in modern America. It was filmed princpally in LaGrange County, Indiana, and in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which are both centers of Amish culture. The Amish were a splinter religious group, originally founded in 1693 in central Europe because they disapproved of infant baptism and insisted that a person couldn't legitimately become a true member of their church until he or she was at least sixteen. At this point they were baptized, joined the Amish church, and swore to live the rest of their lives simply, shunning the ways of the modern world as much as possible. They were severely persecuted in Europe for their views on baptism, and by 1860 had abandoned Europe entirely for life in America. Most of the Amish are hard-working, thrifty, productive farmers, but they have other skills as well such
as carpentry, sewing, horse-shoeing, etc. The Amish educate their children in separate schools through the 8th grade and from that point onward discourage further education as leading to "the pride of life". For this reason also they refuse to use electricity, automobiles, cameras, and many other modern conveniences. But they are not so much against modern technology for its own sake (they do make certain compromises with the modern world) as they are determined to avoid aspects of modern culture that would tend to break-up their close-knit community with its values of self-reliance and helping each
other. The most visible aspect of their essentially rural culture is the horse-drawn buggy--their major means of transportation.
A British lawyer falls in love with his son's governess.
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