Alphabetical Movie Listings: "La-Lh"


Figure 1.-- The boy Esau is the central character, a boy of 11. He usually wears shorts with long brown stockings, a dark colored shirt, and a sleeveless vest.

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. We incourage readers to submit informatioin on their favorite films.

L'Enfance Neu -

See "Me".

La petite - (French)

Suggested by a friend, but I am not familiar with it.

La Strada - (Italian)

Suggested by a friend, but I'm not familiar with it. It is, however, a well known classic Italian film.

Labyrinth - (US, 1986)

A teenagers idle wish to be rid of her bratty brother is taken all to seriously by a goblin king who then forces her to negotiate a danger-filled maze in order to save the child.

Lacombe Lucien - (France, 1974)

"Lacombe Lucien" is a highly regarded French film. It is set in NAZI occupied France during 1944. Lucien is a poor teenage peasant boy in rural France without status and influence. He sees his mother sucumbing to his employer. His father is a POW in Germany. He attempted to join the Resistance, but failed. The Vichy Milice recruits him. Lucien for the first time has money, status, and enjoys it. He falls in love with a Jewish girl--France Horn. She and her father have left Paris to escape being rounded up. Her father rejects him, but Lucien thratens to inform on them. I think the point of the film is to stress the ambiquities in life and that even Lucien who worked for the NAZI allied Vichy Milicie were not all evil. The film was made by famed French producer Louis Malle. Malle did not set out to make aWorld war II film. The original script was entitled "Le faucon" ("The Falcon) and Malle was going to film it in Mexico. Malle was, however, not allowed to shoot it in Mexico or in Chile, because of his left-wing views. The result was a film rewrite setting it in World War II France. The new script title was "Le milicien". Lucien is played by Pierre Blaise. This was his first film. He got good reviews, but died tragically after only a few films. Some French children appear in the film with reasonably accurate costuming such as school smocks. I wasn't too impressed with the film. The dialoufe goes on for ever with little action. It is a typical French film which pictures a bug on a leaf for an extended period and calls it great film making. I found it inferior in every way to Malle's great film, "Au Revoir les Enfantes".

Lad A Dog - (US, 1962)

A friendly collie gives a disabled child the will to live.

(Der) Laden - (Germany, ?)

The German film "Der Laden (" The Shop ") depicts rural life on the German-Polish border in 1919. It has some important illustrations of childrens' clothes in it. The boy Esau is the central character, a boy of 11. He usually wears shorts with long brown stockings, a dark colored shirt, and a sleeveless vest. In some scenes, he wears a Polish collarless shirt which buttons up to the neck like a Russian blouse (the Russian influence, I think). In other scenes we see him barefoot. The action is set in rural eastern Germany just across the Polish border. The border was a new one. Northwest Poland was until Germany's defeat in World War I a part of the German Empire. Poland as an independent country in 1918-19 arose out of the Polish populated areas of the German, Ausrtro-Hungarian, and Russian Empires. The film accuratly shows the shift that was taking place in long stockings colors. Brown-colored long stockings becames increasing common after World War I. This was especially the case in Germany as long stockings were so commonly worn by children there.

Lady Bugs - (US, 1992)

Amusing little film, a passable Rodney Dangerfield vehicle. In this film he is coaching the company's losing girls' soccer team to please the boss. The plot is enlivened by a teenage boy (Jonathan Brandis), about 14, who went on the play a youth in the TV series Sea Quest. The boy plays Rodney's son who he disguises as a girl to give his inept players a chance to win. He wears page-boy bangs and is rather a believable girl. Several scenes of the boy in girls clothes. He giggles at Rodney who dresses up to play his mother.

Lady Bug Lady Bug


Lady from Yesterday - (US, 1985)

A Houston executive's life is turned upside down when his Vietnamese mistress resurfaces with their 10-year old son in tow.

Lady in White -

I know nothing about it, but a friend says that it is a good film.

Lady L - (US, 1966)

An 80 year old woman recalls her life through comical flashbacks. Basically uninteresting movie. As it is set in England, smartly dressed boys do appear from time to time. In one scene when Lady L turns her son over to an English governess who explains that she plans cold baths and discipline for the boy. In some of latter scenes with Lady L and her family, some of the younger boys wear short trousers and knee socks.

(The) Lady Wants Mink - (US, 1953)

Tommy Rettig

Ladyhawke -

A handsome knight and his lovely lady have been cursed by a magician to be separated for ever. A young pickpocket helps them to break the spell.

Lakki - (?, 19??)

Bittersweet tale of a 14-year old abandoned by his father.


Figure 2.--"The land beyond the rainbow" is very interesting for its diverse costuming details. Rainbow-maker, the chief boy of the story, wears a pullover sweater, short trousers (sometimes lederhosen), and very long woolen stockings obviously supported by a Leibchen. Marie wears a peasant dress and also brown stockings except in the scenes where she metamorphoses into a kind of virginal princess dressed all in white (complete with white long stockings). Here we see the two children dressed up for May Day (a major Communist holiday) with Marie in white stockings and the boy in dark brown hosiery with a white shirt.

(The) Land Beyond the Rainbow (Germany, 1991)

This is an interesting German released (1991). Germany at the time was undegoing the process of reunification (1989-91). The title is "The Land Beyond the Rainbow" ("Das Land hinter dem Regenbogen"). It was written and directed by Herwig Kipping in 1991 and is much admired in film circles as a harsh but at the same time beautiful attack on the Communist regime in East Germany during the year 1953, the height of the Stalinist repression. The film is highly symbolic and in many places surrealistic. It concerns a fictional small town called Stalina that theoretically worships Stalin and the collectivist economy in occupied Germany that the Russian dictator tried to enforce. The town is made up almost entirely of rural peasants and farmers who, while praising the regime in absurdly utopian terms, are in fact lazy, shiftless, corrupt, lustful, and cynically hypocritical. Only the children are depicted has having any true idealism and hope and can believe in the essential goodness of human nature and the possibility of future happiness despite the brutality and ugly behavior of their elders.

(The) Land of Far Away -

An fantasy story about Mio, played by 9-year old Nicholas Pickard, whose mother dies in childbirth and whose father disappears. He is raised by an uncle who constantly criticizes the father Mio has never seen. A magician transports the boy to the land of Faraway where he finds his father, the king. Mio meets a friend (Christian Bale) and together they confront an evil boy. The movie was filmed in Stockholm and the Crimea.

Land of the Pharaohs - (US, 1955)

Epic production about the pharaoh who built the first pyramid. A captive Babalonian architect has a little son, about 12 or so, at the beginning of the film. He wears a short skirted costume. I do not know if the costuming was a accurate depiction of historical clothing.

(Der) Landen - (Germany, 199?)

The German movie "Der Laden" ("The shop") is based on a novel by Erwin Strittmatter. The story is most probably about Erwin´s childhood and adolescence and finally his time as a soldier and thereafter. Erwin was a well known writer in East Germany (GDR), but much less known in West Germany. The movie was made after unification. Strittmatter died a few years ago, but his wife (also a well known poetress) lives somewhere in the former East Germany. In this film, the setting was during the 1920s and after was depicted as original as perhaps possible. The children´s clothes seem to be quite accuarately depicted--even the long stockings (not tights) and suspenders of the boys are shown. A beautiful movie on old times in a poor area, Lausitz, near the Polish border.

Landscape in the Midst - (Greece, 1988)

Two children, a boy and girl, travel alone through the countryside searching for their father. The father has left their mother, but the children do not know it. This is not a kid's eye view of the adult world. The boy is played by Michalis Zeke.

Las Adventuras de Un Caballo y Un Niño -




Figure 3.--"Lassie Come Home" was a classic children's book. Roddie McDowall who played Joe wore a short pants suit looking more like a World War II boy than a World War I-era boy.

Lassie Movies

Many movies were made with the popular lassie character who incidentaly was always played by a male collie. The author Eric Knight first published short story "Lassie Come Home" in The Saturday Evening Post. The story proved so popular that he expanded it into a novel. The first and best Lassie film was surely "Lassie Come Home". It also became a major U.S. telvision program--Lassie.

Countdown


Joyous Sounds


Lassie - (US, 1994)

Matt (Thomas Guiry), a snotty 13 year old, is taught a lesson in life by Lassie. A good, if somewhat tame kiddy film.

Lassie Come Home - (US, 1943)

Lassie Come Home is on of the classic films of the 1940s. It starred of course Lassie and a young Roddy McDowell. While an American movie, it dealt will as poor Yorkshire (English) boy and his beloved dog. (As is often the case, this is probably the most well known film about Yorkshire and was made in Hollywood.) It was one of a series of sentimental films shot in America and England which were thought to help support morale during the war. The film was set during the World War I era, but Roddy's costume seems more in keeping with what English boys were wearing during World War II. Roddy continued wearing short pants suits even after coming to America. I'm not sure if his mother in 1943 was still keeping him in shorts outside the studio. This must be oldest major boy star who appeared in shorts for an important film. Roddie wore a short pants suit with knee socks even though he was about 15 years old at the time. It is one of the better films with the main character dressed up in shorts.

Lassie's Great Adventure - (US, 1964)

A boy and his dog are stranded in the Canadian wilderness after trapped in a runaway balloon. Very disappointing film. Timmy (Jon Provost) wears jeans and this is just a long version of the TV serial. Pity as Jon was a competent actor and with a decent script and direction he probably could have turned in a reasonable performance.

Lassie: A New Beginning - (US, 1978)

En route to California, Lassie becomes separated from the two orphan children she loves when they are placed in a foster home.

Look Homeward


(The) Magic of Lassie


(The) Miracle


(The) Road Back


Voyager


Unknown (US)

One Lassie movie features a young Tommy Rettig and two friends.

Last Action Hero - (US, 1993)

This Arnold Schwarzenager action vehicle includes a charming little side kick, Austin O'Neal. He is 11 years old and makes a quite personable young actor. Pity though that the film bombed.

(The) Last American Virgin - (US, 1982)

A teenager reluctantly joins his friends in adolescent escapades.

(The) Last Butterfly - (Czechoslovakia, 1991)

Accurately done fiction depiction of the Holocaust. A French gentile mime helps Jews at Terezinstadt (a Czech showcase camp) prepare a special performance to impress visiting Red Cross officials. The Frenchman knows that the Jews he selects will at least temporarily be spared the transports to the death camps. He chooses mostly children. At a rehearsal the children mouth NAZI words, "We are fine in the City of the Jews." Under the noses of the guards, he prepares a special performance, an elaborate version of "Hansel and Gretel," rows of children in flame red costumes waving their arms to stimulate the consuming fire of the witch's oven. Other children wearing the compulsory Star of David, are pushed screaming into the flames.

Last Chase -


(The) Last Circus Show - (US, 1975)

A boy from a broken home pleads to see a circus before he dies.

Last Couple Out/Sista Paret Ut - (Sweden, 1956)

Bj..orn just can't win. When mom's adultery is revealed, his diplomacy just makes matters worse and he gets scolded by her lover. Then he gets into trouble at a party. A school teacher finally helps out.

(The) Last Dance (U.S., 2001)

The dancing in the film is excellent. The story could have been more engaging. There is more hip-hop in it than ballet but the ballet that is in it is really good. Worth going to see for the dancing. One dancer reports that this is a totally "awesome" movie. She is on the dance team at her church, and they do mostly contemperary dance, but throw in some ballet and other things (even though none have had actual ballet training, or any other for that matter). She writes, "One of my best friends and me went to see it together, and we both loved it. It is definately worth seeing whether you are a big hip-hop & ballet fan or not."

Last Day of Summer - (UK, 19??)

Lovely little made for TV movie about a boy about 13. His parents are dead and he is being raised by his Bohemian brother. A nurse his hired for his baby sister. She is fat and awkward, but after a rocky start they become very close. There is a nice scene where he tries on a red blazer and cap for his new school, which inexplicably is a comprehensive. He wears summer shorts and in one scene is sun bathing. It has in HBC's view a very unsatisfactory sad ending--however sad endings are often seen as more realistic.


Figure 4.-- Here we see the illegitmate son of Charles II as a teenager. He was given the title of Duke of Monmouth. The still here looks like Monmouth is an older teenager, but in the film a point is made to mention that he is 14 years old.

(The) Last King - (US, 2004)

"The Last King" (2004) is about the reign of King Charles II one of Britain's Stuart dynasty. The chief boy character is King Charles's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth. The film shows him at about the age of 11 being presented with his mother's ring while Charles is still in exile in the Low Countries. Later he is depicted at the age of 14 in London after his father has been restored to the throne. The film was directed by Joe Wright. Rufus Sewell plays Charles II. Diana Rigg plays the Queen Mother, Henrietta Maria (widow of Charles I). Christian Coulson plays the Duke of Monmouth as a teenager.

(The) Last Mimzy - (US, 2007)

"The Last Mimzy" is a 2007 U.S. film with a couple of literary connections. The title is taken from a line found in Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky": "mimsy were the borogoves". The film is based loosely on Henry Kuttner's 1943 short story with the same title. Two children, a brother and a sister, find what appear to be toys and take them home. The toys are actually objects transported through a time portal from the future. The "toys" enhance the children's intellectual and telekinetic powers to the wonder of their parents and teachers. The little girl grows particularly fond of what seems to be a toy bunny, which she names Mimzy. Mimzy is a form of artificial intelligence and is the last of many such forms to be sent into the past, or our present, to try to save the human race. Genetic mututions, caused by pollution and war, imperil human life in the future. A scientist sent them into the past, hoping that they could be returned with healthy DNA that could be used to save humanity. SO far, none of the other Mimzys had been returned. The children in the film gradually come to understand what Mimzy is and what must be done. The film suggests that children's sensitivity and intelligence have not yet been "contaminated" by the conventions of the adult world. After a harrowing brush with governemnt authorities, the children are able to send Mimzy back to her creator with a healthy DNA sample. The little girl, fearful after her escape from Homeland Security, hugged Mimzy and cried. The DNA was sufficient to repair the damaged human gene pool. The child was revered as something of an earth mother in the future.

(The) Last Metro - (France,1980)

A Paris theater try to stay open during the NAZI occupation. A little blond chap about 10 or so who lives across from the theater appears throughout the film. He always wears grey shorts and knee socks, even during the winter scenes, with one exception.

(The) Last Emperor - (US, 1987)

Movie about the last Manchu emperor of China. The first part of the movie was about him as a boy. He grows up around the palace eunuchs and is spoiled and indulged.

Last Flight of Noah's Ark - (US, 1980)

A boy and girl stow away on a flight that crashes on a tropical island. Ricky Schroeder was about 10 years old. Ricky has a full shock of hair for the film. He always appears in long pants--even on the deserted tropical island. This is a good example of how American film makers hesitated to costume boys in short pants, even though boys by the 1980s had begun to commonly wear shorts. It is set on an old B-29 and a deserted island where they encounter Japanese sailors who are still holding out.

(The) Last Remake of Beau Geste - (US, 1977)

Two brothers become involved in the Foreign Legion while attempting to preserve their adopted family's honor. A section at the beginning with the characters pictured as children. The boys are pictured at two ages, about 6 and 12. One boy was played by Philip Boland and the other by Nichoilas Bridge. The 12-year old boys wear Little Lord Fauntleroy velvet suits with lace collars, some of the most elaborate ones pictured in the movies. The Fauntleroy and other scenes with the children, unfortunately, are agonizingly brief. This is the remake with Marty Feldman and Michael York.

Last Starfighter - (US)

Scifi film where a earthling and his lizard-like side kick single handedly destroy an alien armada. On earth his circle of friends includes a little tyke about 10 or so.

(The) Last Volcano - (US, 1950)

Johnny Sheffield

(The) Last Wagon - (US, 1956)

Tommy Rettig's last movie. He was about 14 years old. He played a typically perfect boy. He accompanies some older kids who want to go swimming. The older kids send him away "so he can't peek." He gets too close to rapids and almost drowns.

Late Summer Blues - (Israel, 1987)

Universal story of life under the shadow of war. The film captures the innocence and idealism of youth offset with the grim realities of war.

Lazarillo - (Spain, 1960)

An impoverished woman gives her son, Lazarillo (Marco Paoletti) to a blind beggar hoping he will take care of the boy. The beggar proves to be cruel and the boy runs away. He also has a bad experience with a priest. A well dressed squire proves to be too poor to take care of the boy. He is eventually taken in by a troop of actors.

Le souffle au coeur - (French)

This is an excellent film set around the experiences of a young teenager. French schoolboys at a Catholic school wear short pants amd white kneesocks. See Murmer of the Heart.

Leadbelly - (US, 1975)

Story of the famous black song writer and guitar player and his experience in the segregated South of the 1930s. The only scene with boy's clothing is when he is brought to play before the "Captain" and his family, all impeccably dressed in summer white sits and dresses. There is one little boy with his hear still in bangs. He is about 7 or 8 years old and wears white, in his case a short pants suit complete with white knee socks.

(The) League of Gentleman - (England, 1960)

This is a British film about an ex-army officer who recruits high-class misfits with guilty secrets to help him plan a bank robbery. There's not much depiction of boys' clothing until the scene where the bank robbery is taking place. A small boy between 10 and 12-years-old is seen taking down car registration numbers and in doing so, he unknowingly takes down the registration of the ex-army officer's car. This eventually leads to the arrest of the gang members. The boy is wearing a dark gabardine raincoat and school cap. Its a case of blink and you've missed it as he only occupies less than half a minute of screen time.

(The) Learning Tree - (US, 1969)

A blunt, bittersweet remembrance of growing up black in a small town in Kansas.

Leave Her to Heaven - (US, 1945)

Rather trashy movie about a neurotic family. Darryl Hickman

Leaving of Liverpool - (England, 200?)

This is a TV production about a Liverpool church children's home. Liverpool of course is an English city, but it has a substantial Irish population and many of the children involved were Irish. It was a mixed home in terms of gender and religion. This film was set around 1951. To give the children a "better" life, the church decided to export the kids to Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. I think the Christian Brothers were involved. They were a well known Irish order, deeply involved with Irish education. I think the early 60's, they ceased to have anything to do with irish state education. They are active in Catholic schools in msany countries, including America and New Zealand. The majority of these children (some who were only supposed to be in tempory care,) where sent to the Dominions irrespective of parental permission.


Figure 5.--Chaja in "Left Luggage" is the daughter of a couple who, each in their very different way, are trying to cope with memories of the holocaust. A non-observant young woman, she becomes a nanny in a Hassidic family. She has little understanding for the family’s rules and rituals. The two boys here are Simcha's brothers and two of the six children that Chaja cares for. These two play just a minor role in the story. The real star is Simcha, the boy who doesn't speak until Chaja teaches him.

Left Luggage (Dutch, 1998)

A HBC reader mentions "Left Luggage". It was the debut as a producer of Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbé. With Laura Fraser as Chaja and Adam Monty as Simcha. Further: Jeroen Krabbé as Simcha’s father and Isabelle Rossellini as his mother. Story: Antwerp, the Seventies. Chaja is the daughter of a couple who, each in their very different way, are trying to cope with memories of the holocaust. A non-observant young woman, she becomes a nanny in a Hassidic family. She has little understanding for the family’s rules and rituals. Simcha, much to the distress of his parents, doesn’t speak at age four. Chaja takes to the boy and a her love opens him up and induces him to speak. Uttering simple, single words at first, he finally asks his father the traditonal questions at Seider. Then fate catches up with them as Simcha drowns in the pond of the city’s park.

(The) Leftovers - (US, 1987)

Jason Presson

(The) Legend of Billie Jean - (US, 1985)

Boring teenager angst film, but it does show contemprary fashions in the 1980s. Many boys wear the short shorts that were widely worn before the long baggy shorts began to appear.

Legend of Milly Joe - (US)

The protagonist (Christian Slater?) has to put on a dress to evade the police.

Legend of the Boy and the Eagle -


Lena: My 100 Children - (US, 1987)

Nonfictional account of Lena Kuchler-Silberman's efforts to help scores of Jewish infants to escape postwar Poland to Israel. Many scenes of little boys in dresses because of a shortage of boys' clothes. Also scene of a little boy impersonating a girl so the German's can't figure out that he is Jewish.

Lent (UK, )

Lovely little TV movie about a boy being raised at a prep school by his grandmother who owns the school. He does not get on with the headmaster and tries to get him fired. The boy wears shorts.

Léolo - (Canada, 1992)

Leo lives in a Montreal hovel with his strange family. The mother loves the boy, but is obsessed with his bowel movements. He is convinced that his mother was impregnated by an Italian tomato. Much of the movie is set when Leo is 12 years old and feeling the first pangs of passion. The film is a European-like film which deals realistically with childhood and not a typical American Disneyesque movie.

Let the Balloon Go -


Let's Dance - (US, 1950)

An ex-actress asks her former dancing partner (Fred Astaire) to help her retain custody of her son from her rich mother-in-law who is trying to take the boy away from her. Richard, the 6-year old boy, is being raised in a ritzy home under the tutelage of Nurse Gorman. The plot is rather sugary, but the film is just a vehicle for Fred Astair's dancing. I'm not sure who the child actor is. He is surrounded by women in his great grand mother's home. Richard wears a short pants suit. He also wears a bow tie, sweater, shorts, and knee socks. In court he wears a blue short pants suit with white ankle socks.

Let's Sing Again - (US, 1936)

Billy (Bobby Breen) runs away from an orphanage and joins a traveling circus. The 9-year old boy is taken in by a kindly old carnival performer. Circus life and back stage theater surround this drama of a broken home and child custody. Meanwhile the orphanage owners want the boy back to exploit his singing talents. During a recital at a high society performance, he suddenly realizes that a man singing is his long-lost father. What a tear jerker! Not sure about the costuming, but the orphanage boys wear overalls.









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Created: January 9, 2001
Last updated: 10:11 PM 7/8/2008