*** boys clothing depictions in movies: alphabetical "Lia-Little L" listings








Alphabetical Movie Listings: "Lia-Little L"

Liam
Figure 1.--"Liam" provides a realistic look at how working-class boys dressed in Liverpool during the 1930s. Anthony Borrows plays Liam.

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 encourage readers to submit information on their favorite films.

Liam - (England, 2001?)

A HBC reader reports viewing Liam. It is a film about a 7-year boy old boy living in Liverpool. Excellent movie in the same vein as Angela Ashes, but much better. The time era is very early 1930's, family father working in the shipyards when there was a major lay off that took place. The family is Catholic and many scenes were at the school, classroom and the church. Many boys were involved in the movie, especially the classroom scene. As Liam prepares for his First Communion, little Liam tries to make sense of the confusing adult world around him. Liam and his friends are having to come to terms with the economic, political, and social changes in Britain although they have no real understanding of those chanhes. All boys wore short pants and there was a major scene in the church where all the boys for their first communion wore short pants suits. The girls were wearing all white, but the boys were wearing suits of various types. They were from working class and poor, but the families found ways to present the boys for their first communion in a dressy type of suit. The colors were mostly brown and blue. The shoes were all types. Liam did wear white knee high socks for this occasion.It was 1930's period of dress of boys from working-class families. Most critics gave this a four star rating. Anthony Borrows plays Liam. It was a BBC film production.

Lies My Father Told Me - (US, 1975)

Jeffrey and Yossi Yadin. A young Jewish boy grows up in a Canadian ghetto listening to magical tales told to him by his grandfather whom he idolizes. In one scene, the father in a rage goes into the boys room with a belt and beats the boy who resists. It is very realistically done, perhaps one of the most true to life depictions of a belting in any film. It was precisely how a strict real life father would have punished his boy. The mother gets the grandfather to intervene and later comforts the boy in bed, "Does it hurt she whispers." The boy can not accept his father's explanation when his grandfather disappears.

(The) Life and Times of a She Devil (US, 1983)

MTV production. A little boy gets dressed up in his step-mother's satin teddy.

(A) Life in the Balance - (United States, 1955)

A Life in the Balance was a crime thriller directed by Harry Horner. It was shot in Mexico City. There are a lot of scenes from Mexico City's colorful carnival. The boy in the film wears casual shirts and jeans as was common in the 1950s. The movie was a crime thriller directed by Harry Horner. Lee Marvin dominates the action A Life in the Balance. He plays a psychotic murderer, who a curious Mexican boy follows--young Jos� Perez. Jose's father, a musician played by Ricardo Montalban, is accused of an unexplained series of killings. His son is of course convinced of his farher's innosence. Jos� Perez plays Paco Gomez. Antonio Carbajal also has a part.

Life in Thy Hands (Soviet Union, 1959)

We do not know much about the Soviet film, "Life in Thy Hands" (1959), but it provides some fascinating scenes depicting family life. We see a small boy squatting on the floor in the presence of his middle-class parents. The father seems to be whittling a piece of wood, and there are toys spread out around the little boy. He is wearing typical boy's clothes of the 1950s in the Soviet Union--short trousers with brown long stockings and supporters. Notice that there is a hole in the stockings at the knee of his left leg of his stockings. These Russian films are interesting in part because they provide glimses of ordinary family life, something most of us in the West know nothing about. How accurate they are is another question. We suspect that this presentation of middle-class life is fairly accurate. What is less obvious is that Soviet films tend to show families that are reasonably well off in Soviet terms. How representative this is we do not know.

Life is Beautiful
Figure 2.--The boy in "Life is Beautiful" wears a peaked cap and romper suit with strap shoes. HBC is not sure how common such outfits were in 1940s Italy.

Life Is Beautiful - (Italy, 1998)

This aclaimed Italian film deals with a father's attempt to disguise the horrors of the Holocost from his son. I think the film rather trivializes the Holocost. Also small children in the camps were usually kept with the mothers and were the first to be murdered. The boy wears a romper suit and matching peaked cap with strap shoes and white ankle socks. I'm not sure how common such outfits were in 1940s Italy.

(The) Life of Emile Zola - (US,1937)

Dickie Moore plays Pierre, the son of Cpt. Drefus who is unjustly accused of spying. He is first seen in a charming domestic scene where he and his father is playing with an elaborate collection of toy soldiers. He wears a smart kneepants sailor suit with long dark stockings. As it is a black and white film, I do not know what color the suit is, but presumably light blue. The scene would have occurred about 1895. He is seen again briefly when the French secret police come to search the Drefus home. Both scenes occur indoors so the hat that he would have worn is not depicted.

(The) Life of Jimmy Dolan - (US,1933)

Mickey Rooney

Life on the Australian Prarie - (Australia, 1996)

A HBC reader has reported a wonderful Australian TV-movie--'The Valley Between'. It is a two disc movie, which I think it was produced for TV. Almost 5 hours in length. The American release title is 'Life on the Australian Prarie', perhaps playing on the popularity of 'Little House on thev Prarie'. It is about a German family that immigrated to Australia in the 1920s. All the scenes are in this valley with a one village store, one room school house, and a grange hall. It is about Bruno who has three sisters and a strict father. They showed farm and school life with all the chores that boys and girls were required to do in this era. There were grange hall dances, Lutheran church services and the different styles of clothing required. All the boys always wore short trousers up to the age of 15 or 16. Our reader writes, "My wife and I found this movie quite charming and brought back old memories of the farm chores you had to do. One scene the pastor of the church was invited to their farm house and the boy was waxing and polishing the floor on his hands and knees for his visit. The mother said: 'I want to see you face on this floor'."

Life with Father (US, 1947)

A really wonderful film set about 1880 in New York. Through a series of reminiscences, a man recreates a childhood spent with his eccentric Victorian father. A financier rules his numerous family, consisting of his wife and his four sons, with the meticulousity of a bookkeeper.This comedy's plot is simple: get Father baptized. It was quite a well done film about a large New York family in the 1880s. The family was an affluent one. It was a well done period costumed film, with a lot of different period outfits shown--especially for the two younger boys. A kind hearted wife and her four sons find ways of manipulating an otherwise tyrannical father. The well-ordered household becomes unglued when the wife finds out that her husband has never been baptized. The two youngest boys wear very attractive costumes, both with knee pants and long stockings. The youngest boy, Harlin (Derek Scott), has to be the best outfitted boy in any major movie. He wears kilts in two scenes and a lovely blouse with lacy collar and cuffs in another. I understand he objected to this when they shot the movie. He his rather young, I'd say about 6 years old, but his outfits are great. He wore an especially smart kilt suit outfit when his mother went shopping with the boys. It is a sort of blue-gray outfit with matching jacket and kilt, both with all kinds of black trim. He wears his kilt outfit with a big floppy beret with a long tassel. The kilt is above the knees and he has long stockings. His frilly blouse with the lacy collar and cuffs are also very nice. The lace collar is enormous and the lace intricate. Presumably his knee pants are velvet, but it is hard to tell from the film. It is clearly a Fauntleroy-type outfit, but he doesn't wear a jacket with it. All the little details in his and the slightly older boys outfits, such as ribbons hanging from the back of sissy boy hats are done perfectly. Harlan's Sunday best hat is especially nice, broad-brimmed sissy hat with a long streamer. Its very unusual for such outfits to be so accurately pictured in movies. They are surely some of the best sissy outfits depicted in the movies. The next oldest boy is about 10, perhaps 11 and not dressed nearly as well. He does, however, wear kneepant suits, including a sailor outfit.

Like Father, Like Son - (US, 1987)

A noted heart surgeon gets a second chance at adolescence when his personality is accidentally switched with that of his teenage son (Kirk Cameron).

Like Grains of Sand - (Japan)

Rather a long film about the relationship between highschool boys.

Lily Christine - (UK, 1932)

Freddie Bartholomew

Lily in Winter - (US,1994)

A lonely white youngster in 1957 secretly follows his black nanny home to rural Alabama at Christmastime.

Lincoln in the White House - (US,1939)

Dickie Moore

(The) Lion Has Wings (England, 1939)

"The Lion has Wings" was made by London Films 1939. Thereare scenes of British education and children out doors doing Physical training. The different schools go from Kindergarten to high school.

Lions for Breakfast - (US,1979)

Two young brothers, an old drifter, and a dog experience many hair-raising adventures as they pursue their dream of a better life on a farm. Jan Rubes and Jim Henshaw.

(The) List of Adrian Messenger - (1963)

A British school boy about 13 has a small part. He appears in various outfits, including a long pants suit.

Listen Darling - (US, 1938)

Pinky Wingate is concerned about her widowed mother. She wants to remarry, but Pinky wants to make sure she finds just the right person. She is afraid her mother is about to make a big mistake. So Pinky talks her friend Buzz Mitchell (Freddie Bartholomew) to help her. They proceed to kidnap Mrs. Wingate and take her on an extended husbanding hunting expedition. Not a part that I would have imagined for Freddy. Mrs. Wingate is duly locked in a trailer. They then set out with little brother (Scotty Beckett) to find that perfect husband.

The Little Adventurer
Figure 3.--Mark Lester is seen here in "The Little Adventurer", but HBC can find virtually no information about the film.

(The) Little Adventurer - (1975)

For some reason, Mark Lester's performance in the 1972 film "The Litle Adventurer" seems to get little mention anywhere. An internet search, for example, turns up no information on the film. Hopefully a HBC reader will provide us some information. A single record from Japan carried some of the music. Cream was a record label based in Hollywood, California. This film appears to be quite obscure. The only information we have uncovered is that its release date appears to be 1975, and Mark is the only credited cast member in the Internet Movie Database page for this film. Other than that, it's a blank webpage. We wonder if Mark made this in Japan as he found it more difficult to obtain movie offers as a teenager. A HBC reader writes, "I'm not sure if "The Little Adventurer" was made in Japan, although this record suggests that it may have been. There is some Japanese music and a young Japanese kid in it. The fact that so little is known about the movie may be because it was a Japanese production."

Little Arliss -


(The) Little Ballerina - (UK, 1947)

Features a teenage Anthony Newley.

Little Big League - (US, 1994)

Unimaginative kiddy baseball film. A 12-year old (Luke Edwards) inherits a baseball team. He appears with some friends showing 1990s American clothing styles. There is one funny scene where the boy's mom is fussing over him. The boy complains, embarrassed that some one will see. His mother assures him that no one is looking until he looks at the big screen in part TV to see the whole seen on TV being shown to a packed stadium.

Little Big Man (US, 1970)

A fine film with Dustin Hoffman as a very, very old Jack Crabb, who recounts his life in a series of flashbacks of how he resided between American Indians and whites from his childhood. It paints a vivid and sympathetic picture of an American Indian�s way of life and how they lived from day-to-day. This is an excellent film depicting not only white boys clothing, but also those worn by Native American boys. In the role of the young Jack Crabb is Ray Dimas, while the adolescent Crabb was played by Alan Howard. The film reminds me of Richard Harris' "A Man Called Horse" (1970).

Little Boy Blue - (US, 1910)

'Litle Boy Blue' was an early silent film produced by William Nicholas Selig (1864�1948). He was a pioneer of the American motion picture industry, brining movie making to California. The plot focuses not only on the title character, but also his mother. It is a very sentimental plot which appealed to early films. It might be called a paean to motherhood, a theme we ee in many early movies as well as stage plays and movies. The boy in the title are separated very early in the film, but mom never gives up hope that they will be reunited. She never sees him as a boy again, but after he is all grown up. The photography and acting stood out among early one reelers, but the plot is rather rediculous. There are other films with this title, but this was the first one.

Little Boy Lost
Figure 4.--One of the most heart-rending aspects of World War II was the children who perished oe lost or were separated from their parents. There were large numbers of displaved children in Europe after the War. "Little Boy Lost" is a classic film made about the huge problem of assising these children.

Little Boy Lost - (US, 1953)

One of the most heart-rending aspects of World War II was the children who perished or were separated from their parents. Tragically childre were the most vulnerable and least likely to survive. The BAZIs actully targeted Jewish childrem. There were large numbers of displaved children in Europe after the War and this included children. "Little Boy Lost" is a classic film made about the huge problem of assising these children. Notice that Hollywood has not addrressed this problem in Viet Nam, Iraq, or Afghanistan. In "Little Boy Lost", a reporter finds an orphaned boy who he thinks may be his lost son. The boys' nattionality is left ambiguous sonhe can represent displaced children in general. The boys wear fairly accurate costumes, including shorts and smocks. The orphanage boys all wear knee socks. A few boys wear smocks, but for some unknown reason they appear to be the older ones. The biggest boy in the first class scene is wearing a smock, but without a wide white collar. The main character has rather an appealing personality. There are some older boys at the orphanage. Near the end of the movie there are more class scenes. Chtistian Fourcade plsays the title character. Scott Grimes also plays in the film. The principal adult role is played by Bing Crosby.

Little Boy Lost - (US, 1959)


Little Boy Lost - (US, 1979)

The beautiful, but isolated Australian bush is the setting for this true adventure of the thrilling search for a lost 4-year old boy. Tommy Barry, John Hargreves, Nathan Dawes

Little Buddha - (US, 1994)

A little American towhead is believed to be the reincarnation of an important Buddhist teacher. The little Seattle 9-year old is intrigued by Buddhism and finds that he may be an important Buddhist priest. One reviewer says the film has "the wild-eyed innocence of a fable." Not a very good film, but the little American boy is rather endearing in his part.

Little Crum - (The Netherlands, 2001)

This contemporary film about an orphaned Dutch boy and his dog in the 1920s based on a book by one Chris van Abkoude, who also wrote Pietje Bell, the book every Dutch boy grew up with, that is before they all stopped reading and started playing computer games. The film is archived under the Dutch-language title Kruimeltje.

Little Darlings - (US)

All about girls. It is about a bet between two girls at a summer camp to see who looses their virginity first. Tatum O'Neal and Kristy McNichols.

Little Detective -


Little Dragons - (US, 1980)

A gang of motor cycle toughs and kids trained in karate band together to rescue a kidnapped friend.

(The) Little Foxes - (US, 1941)

Uninteresting Southern Gothic movie. The family has two children, one is a boy about 6 or so who wears shorts. He makes on appearance on the stair case where he objects to being kissed.

Little Friend -

(The) Little Fugitive
Figure 5.--Lenni Norton is tasked with carrying for his bothersome little brother Joey. Lenni and his friends are bored and decide to have a little fun by playing a joke on the gullable younger boy. Big mistake. The low budget novice film is kind of a juvenile version of 'Ferris Buler's day off'. The costuming is spot on for the early 1950s. The boys probably wore their own clothes.

(The) Little Fugitive - (US, 1953)

Lenni Norton is tasked with carrying for his bothersome little brother Joey. Lennie and his friends are bored and decide to have a little fun by playing a joke on the gullable younger boy. Big mistake. The low budget novice film is kind of a juvenile version of 'Ferris Buler's day off'. This low budget novice film made an impression in 1953, in part because of the acting of two non professional child performers. Movie historians credit the film for influencing the French New Wave. It is remarkable because of its realistic style and groundbreaking use of nonprofessional actors in lead roles. The boys are Richie Andrusco in the title role of Joey Norton and Richard Brewster as his older brother Lenni. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story. It was also shown at the Venice film festival where it was earned the Silver Lion. The Library of Congres has since been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. It was designated as being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The film is set in a lower middle-class neighnorhood of Brooklyn. An older brother, Lennie, (about 11 or 12 years old) is assiged to look after Richard, his little brother (about 6 or so), while their mother looks after their ill grandmother. Lenni and his friends of course are dismissive of the gulliable Joey and decide to have some fun and play a joke on him. Big mistake.Lenni and his friends use a toy gun and some catchup to convince the little guy that he has killed his brother. Lenni's friends tell Joey that the police will catch him and put him in jail. Joey is terrified and runs to the nearest elevated train station. He gets off at Coney Island--New York's seaside ammusement park. Once at Coney Island, Joey seems to forget his situation and spends the day wandering around the arcades, pony rides, and beach�-essentially, a little boy's paradise. He is especially attracted by the ponies. He obtains money for snacks by collecting and cashing in pop bottles. He spends the night sleeping under the boardwalk. His frantic big brother finally finds him. The low budget novice film is kind of a juvenile version of 'Ferris Buler's day off'. The costuming is spot on for the early 1950s. The boys for this rock-bottom low budget film probably wore their own clothes. I was watching an interesting show on PBS where an American cartoonist recalls his years in Czechoslovakia. This Czech Communists used the film as propaganda to convince work camp inmates of how decadent America was.

Little House on the Prairie: Look Back to Yesterday - (US, 1983)

I haven't seen it, but it might be flash backs to the TV series. It includes a boy (Matthew Laborteaux) who once appeared in the title TV series in a fancy velvet suit.

Little House Under the Moon - (China)

Three young boys are left to fend for themselves and get into mischief. Father is in prison and mother is dead.

Little Indian, Big City - (France, 1995?)

A French boy (Ludwig Briand) is raised as an Indian in the Amazon. His estranged mother is living Peace Corps-style in the Amazon. The Indians name him "Cat Pee." His dad finds him and takes him back to France. The boy has trouble wearing clothes and adjusting. Rather an effective actor, about 12 or so. He wears his loin cloth and goes about climbing, of course, the Eifel Tower. The film was popular in France, but poorly reviewed in the States. (One example: "This charmless farce makes the average Hollywood film look like a bloomin' masterpiece.") The witless dubbing into English may be part of the problem. The story line is extraordinarily trite. The father as a result of his son's attachment to nature, awakens to the meaning of life.

(The) Little Kidnappers - (Scotland, 1954)

Two Scottish orphans in turn of the century Canada lavish their affection on a baby that they find unattended in the woods, creating a furor. It is a charming period film with wonderful performances by the two boys. The film has accurate period costuming. "The Little Kidnappers" was the title for the American release. The original British title was "The Kidnappers".

Little Lord Fauntleroy (US, 1921)

Plucked from the sloppy streets of 19th Century New York to live in a mammoth English estate, young Cedric finds himself swaddled in the trappings of wealth. He inocently proceeds to teach his dour and miserly grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, to once again embrace life and happiness. Film legend Mary Pickford, America's Sweetheart, plays both Little Lord Fauntleroy and his mother, in this early silent version. A double-exposure camera trick allows Mary Pickford to play two roles in this 1920s classic. I believe that this was the first film productions, at least the earliest one I know of.

Little Lord Fauntleroy (US, 1936)

Classic story by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Freddie Bartholomew plays Cedric, but costumes are very disappointing. He wears long pants with an Eton collar, but has a nice sailor suit. Mickey Rooney plays the boy his mother tries to pass off as the real heir. Jackie Searl also appears. I saw a portrait of Freddie in a lovely proper velvet Fauntleroy suit, complete with lace collar and patent leather shoes. It must have been made for publicity shots I don't remember it being used in the film. Rather a pity.

Little Lord Fauntleroy
Figure 6.--Cedric Erol's life changed dramatically when he became Little Lord Fauntleroy and went to England. Ricky Schroeder played Cedric in the 1980 made for TV version.

Little Lord Fauntleroy (US, 1980)

An improvised American boy from Brooklyn learns he is a heir to an English estate. I do not yet have information on the making of this version of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Some films of course are first conceived and the producers and directors then go looking for the actors. Other folms are conceived as vehicles for stars. This may have been the case for this version of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Boys in the 1920s-60s had short hair and established child stars, like Freddy Bartholmew, would probably have objected to wearing ringlet curls or even uncurled long hair. In addition, this might not have been inkeeping with the somewhat surprising, but consistent desire of many directors to "desissify" Cedric in the film. Popular hair styles changed in the 1970s and many boys were now wearing long hair. Ricky Schroder had bangs and longish hair and it was thus not much of a streach to have him grow it a big longer, making him the perfect selection for the role of Cedric. Some nice touches. Mother tells a visitor as she sews Ricky's lace collar. "He will look so dear in it, but won't he hate wearing it!" Then they laugh uproariously. Lovely scene. Ricky tells the nurse that he can dress himself when she comes into his bed room to dress him in the morning. Actually it is interesting that on several occasions he explains to others that his outfits are against his well, he tells Mr. Hobbs and Dick, for example, that the clothes are part of his job. I believe that he also tells someone that he wouldn't want the boys on Hester Street (back in the States) to see him, but I could be wrong about that. Several nice outfits. He wears two different velvet suits, one black the other blue. He looks lovely in them, especially with his lace collars and cuffs and his beautiful longish hair. In one scene he wears a broad brimmed sissy hat, but without a ribbon in back. He also wears a sailor suit, but again the pants are below the knees. He wears Mary Jane patent leather shoes, but the black socks make it difficult to see. No curls, however, which I guess is too much to hope for. It would be interesting to know what Ricky really thought of these outfits.

Little Lord Fauntleroy (UK, 1995)

The BBC in 1995 produced another version of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Ironically the same young American actor, Michael Benz, that played in the Mike and Angelo Fauntleroy spoof, played Cedric in the newest BBC dramatisation. He appears to have been about 10 or 11 years old in the film.This film was condensed from the BBC television miniseries.

Little Lord Fauntleroy - (Russia, 2003)

This is a Russian production of "Little Lord Fauntleroy". The Russian title is "Radosti i pechali malen'kogo lorda". Cedric is played by Alexei Vesyolkin . We have no information about the production at this time. The producers appear to have modified the costuming from the velvet suit and lace collar. Notablt the great dane has been replaced with a lap dog.

Little Lord Fauntleroy Outfits

Boys appeared in Fauntleroy suits in a wide range of movies and not just in productions of the Burnett classic. For the most part the boys only had small roles There were only a few actual productions of Little Lord Fauntleroy. We will list here some of thevfilms that we havevnoted.










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Created: January 9, 2001
Last updated: 3:13 PM 4/21/2019