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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.
"The Bicycle Thief" is a powerful film about a poor man and his son. To support his family the man has to work. And his job requires a bucycle. He has a job pasting signs. After his much needed bicycle is stolen, he searches through Rome for it with his small, plucky son Bruno (Enzo Staiola). The boy is about 8 or 9 and wears shorts. Classic of Italian neo-realism. In Italian with English subtitles. It was given an honorary Oscar in 1949. It routinely appears on lists of the greatest films. It is revered in Italy as one of the foundations of Italian neorealism and post-War Italian film making. A HBC reader writes, "It seemed to me that the people who produced this film were very much influenced by Charlie Chaplin, time and time again I was reminded of the atmosphere of the silent era. The film is in black & white, the sound track is not of high quality, in fact, if the speech had been removed, the remaining music and English subtitles would have produced a classic silent film. One more thing that struck me forcibly was the relationship between the father & son, it could almost have been Charlie Chaplin & Jackie Coogan in,"The Kid", especially towards the end when they both sit together on the edge of the sidewalk ; it produced almost the spitting image of the famous poster of Charlie Chaplin & Jackie sitting on a doorstep. I also found that the pathos in some of the scenes was very reminiscent of Chaplin." A factor in the production values is probably World War II. One reason that Italian films have so many gritty outdoor scenes was to keep budgets low.
12 year old Josh (Jared Rushton) thinks that he is to short. He makes a wish on a creepy, neglected fortune telling machine and wakes up in his father's body, still clad in his cartoon-character underpants. Unfortunately the movie centers to much on the adult side of the equation, although his buddy from school is featured extensively. There is even one scene where his friend is pictured with him gym class. This is probably the best of the 1988 movies about little boys in adult bodies.
This is a Paul Robeson film. Fobeson was an expat Black American living in France during the 1930s. Robeson was a wonderful actor, but because he was Black and sympathetic to Communism, found it difficult to make films in america. The film is British and the story line is about an over protected British boy who runs away from home. Paul Robeson goes in search of him. It is thought he has been kidnapped. The plot develops and the boy is found by Robeson but the boy tells him that he will say that Robeson was the kindmnapper if he tries to take him home. Then the boy really gets kidnapped. Somehow the police come and
rescue the boy. He is reunited with his parents. I think Paul Robeson has been arrested and is in jail. The boy does the right thing and makes his parents get Robeson out of prison. This they do and ask Robeson to come back to England and be the boys mentor. Some great singing but the film is hardly shown and critics dismiss the film despite it being one in which Black Actors have a more meaty role and take the lead in which they fall in love. They are not stereotyped into being happy go lucky survants. This film could not have been made in America at the time. we have few details on the costuming other than the boy wears short pants and kneesocks as was common in Britain at the time.
Thriller about a psychopathic handyman. A paper boy appears briefly, I think in knickers. Interesting because by the early 1950s it was rather unusual to see knickers in America.
Mickey Rooney
A city bread boy sets out to track down a deadly cougar. I tried to watch this. It began with an adult and I was so tired I went to bed. I'm not sure if a boy is involved, sometimes the reviewers use "boy" to mean a young adult.
Mickey Rooney
A minor Margaret O'Brien vehicle which included Butch Jenkins.
Jerry Barker (Ralph Meeker), a crook with a record of extortion, by pure chance encounters a Danny Lambert (Peter Votrian) a runaway boy in a Colorado state park. This is the only film that I have noted that Peter made. He instructs Danny to hide in an abndoned park tower. Barker uses the opportunity to extort Danny's rich father. Danny's father anxious to ger back his son, pays the $0.2 million ransome. The panicking boy falls from the tower. After obtaining the money, Barker finds the boy has fallen and is dead. He throws the boy off a cliff and it is not found. Barker takes off, but first buries the money. The FBI becomes involved and tracks down Barker, but there is no body and the patoff loog is not found. Barker is only tried and sentenced for extortion. Barker finds himself doing time with hardened criminals led by Rollo Lambert (Broderick Crawford). They plot a breakout so that they can recover the buried loot.
Jimmy is an Australian schoolboy aged about 13 years. He plays soccer and is a bit of an entrepeneur with big ideas--hence the title of this made-for-TV film which is also called "High Hopes". He is a Polish immigrant boy with big idea's hence the title of this film. and runs a small after school business which interferes with his schoolwork. His mum is widowed and works as a dressmaker'sewer at Gallea's a clothes maker. His mother cannot read English, so he translates his school reports (grade report cards) to her but decieves her with his progress. Mother is widowed. Evetually the school contacts her about his poor progress. Jimmy makes pocket money selling homemade mulch called 'Black Magic', but has to give up making it because of the fat lady next doorand his poor school reports. Mum bans him from working. They have a nosy neighbour who is always complaining to the authorities about the family. Mother puts up with a snobby snotty nosed neighbour who hates ethnics and who makes trouble for her and her boy. Justin Rosniak, a well- known Australian child actor plays Jimmy. He wears grey shorts (Midfords'Stubbies or King Gee), the summer uniform, at his Catholic high school in Melbourne as do other boys in this film.
Cattle men and wheat farmers combine to have a railroad built near their land. David Ladd
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This John Wayne western is set in 1909, I think in Arizona. Big Jake, John Wayne of course, goes after his grandson, Little Jake, who was kidnapped. The boy first appears before the kidnapping taking piano lessons wearing a rather city looking velvet suit with knee length pants and grey stockings even though he lives on a ranch. His grand mother is bringing the boy up strictly. No blue jeans and cowboy hats. He has never met his grandfather as he restrained from his grandmother. The suit is worn with a plain, large white rounded collar, lace at the cuffs, and a cream-colored bow. This appears to be an reasonably accuare costume, but I wonder how many boys wore an outfit like that on a ranch, except for church or special occassions. Boys in the 1900s did wear white stockings with velvet suits, but dark stockins were more common. After a very violent kidnaping, Big Jake arrives to begin tracking down the kidnappers. He asks for an article of the boy's clothes so that the dog can help track the boy. He is given Little Jake's broad-brimmed hat with the ribbon hanging down the back. He really gives it a disgusted look when it is presented to him, but doesn't comment.
A young kid goes after the man who mercilessly beat his father, intending to kill him.
A French Canadian orphan (Gilles Payant) finds work with a wealthy kennel owner and embarks on a series of adventures with a champion Irish setter. The boy is about 14. The main character is a charming blond boy, but in the bit I watched the costuming was rather nondescript.
Unlikely comedy about two boys, a white suburbanite and a black ghetto boy (Ricky Busker and Darius McCrary) who come to each others assistance. They turn in creditable performances, but unfortunately it is a typical American movie which instead of presenting real kids in real-life situations, throws in all sorts of unlikely situations, such as a scene where the boy drives like a professional auto racer. It is such a pity that instead of a real situations and believable dialogue that American films insist on car chase scenes and shoot outs. Given a reasonable script these boys could have turned in good performances.
Uninteresting drama about the relationship between a boy and a girl and a family of sacquitches. I only caught glimpses, but it looked totally uninteresting.
This British ballet film won the audience award at the 2000 Edinburgh Film Festival. It is a touching drama about a boy with dreams of becoming a ballet dancer, a dream that his family and friends can not share and find offensive and threatening. Billy is an 11-year-old boy who wants to be a ballet dancer against the background of the mid-1980's miners' strike. This British ballet film won the audience award at the 2000 Edinburgh Film Festival.
Horror story set around a school in a small New England town. Children are pictured. All the boys wear long panrs.
Perhaps an "Our Gang" short. A boy is being spanked for lying to his father. Spanky watches and puts a plate in his pants.
Two young boys in the rural South try to train a mutt. The boys, a white boy and a black boy, wear overalls. This was Billy Lee's best performance as a child actor.
Two boys try to train a mutt to be a championship bird dog in this Disney version. Again the boys mostly wear overalls. The dog may be the best part of the film. Johnny Whitaker.
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This is the classic story of a friendship between a beautiful black colt that could not be tamed and a boy, Joe Evans (Mark Lester). The film was made 2 years after Mark's blockbuster appearance in 'Oliver'. He had grown up quite a bit. The film is very loosel based on the classic novel by Anna Sewwll, but does not follow the text. The Mark Lester version is the fourth feature film adaptation of Anna Sewell's story. It is one of the most popular children's books, especially with girls. The movie was directed by James Hill. Lionel Bart provided the rousing score.
The cast also includes Walter Slezak, Uschi Glas, Patrick Mower and John Nettleton. The producer shot it on location in both Ireland and Spain. Joe's father has a free holding on a large estate and promises the new black colt to his son Joe. The two grow up as playmates. When the good natured sqire passes away, his sadistic son who is want to abuse animals, forces the Evans family off the esate. They even lose Black Beauty who is mistreated by the Hackenschmidt circus. Joe is disdraught to get his cherished stalion back.
The film has received decidedly mixed reviews. It is a remake that probably did not need to be made. The purpose seems to been to capitalize on Mark's popularity.
I haven't seen this, but MTV carried a five part TV serial on the famous classic.
A group of Anglican nuns face a variety of pressures as they attempt to maintain a convent school and hospital in the Himalayas.
Based on Walter Farley's Black Stallion books. After being rescued from the island on which they were shipwrecked together, a boy and a horse enter the race of the century. Some beautiful photography in the islands scene. One reviewer calls it one of the loveliest children's films ever made. Kelly Reno wore a short pants suit on the boat
and regular kids t-shirts and jeans the rest of the film.
A boy travels to the Sahara Desert to find his beloved Arabian stallion. Not nearly as good as the original. Kelly Reno
The son of a college professor gets involved with thieves.
A British school boy is kidnapped in an effort to discredit his father who is an secret agent. The opening scenes show the bow and his friend playing with their airplanes. The boys are in their school uniform, blazers, and short trousers.
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This film is very loosely based on a celerity at the time, a man who escaped from a Georgia chain gang and wrote a book about the terrible conditions. This film is set in Oklahoma. An innocent John Ingram escaped from a southern chain gang and built a new life as a oil fire fighter. William Ramey, an old "friend" finds him because of newsreel coverage of oil fires Ramsey is the person who actually ciommitted the crime Ingram was convicted of. . He blackmails him and eventually gets him sent back. He tries to serve his term, but is forced to escape again. The film starred Edward G. Robinson. Bob Watkins play his son.
After his mother dies, a 13-year old boy is forced into a painful, awkward reunion with his rock star father--a man he has never known. Nick Mancuso, Byron Thames.
A young governess proves to be the undoing of three men and ultimately herself.
Disney kiddie adventure. Preston Waters (Brian Bonsall) is a 11-year old computer wiz. Some crooks run over his bike and to avoid an inquiry leaves a blank check. Preston writes in $1 million and goes on a kiddy spending spree. Preson is an engaging little fellow and the film is a cross between Familiy Ties (where Brian play Michael J. Foxes little brother) and Home Alone. Contemporary costuming depicted.
Nice movie about a group of misfits at a summer camp which are put in a cabin called "The Bedwetters." One blond boy gets tossed in the lake for bed wetting wearing his underpants. After a bungled raid they are all paddled by other boys in their underwear as the other boys watch like an audience. The leader (Billy Mummy of Lost in Space) is effective as the rebellious leader. Miles Chapin, Darel Glasser, Bob Kramer, Marc Vahanian, and Barry Robbins
Mickey Rooney
A blind Vietnam veteran protects the son of a friend sought by the mob. A little chap wears jeans throughout the film.
Also called "Cauldron of Blood".
A hungary little blob from outer space arrives and starts to spread. Science fiction remake, not my cup of tea. Some boys are involved. Donovan Leitch plays a clean cut teen hero. I think Kevin Dillon plays another teenager. Michael Kenworthy also appears.
A woman leaves her husband because she believes that she is no good for him. Stars Marlene Detrich. Dickie Moore.
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Blondie was a comic strip created by Murat Bernard "Chic" Young. It was syndicated by King Features Syndicate. The strip was first published on September 8, 1930. The strip proved to be a big hit. The initial strip was about Blondie Boopadoop, an easy going flapper who frequented dance halls, a bit racy for the 1930s. The strip eventually go to Blondie and her weathky boy friend Dagwood Bumstead who came to dominate the strip. They married in 1933. Dagwood was the the son of a wealthy industrialist. His upper-crust family disoned him for marrying Blondie who had a lowly family background. (Wealthy indistrialists were not very popular in the 1930s.) Dagwood was forced to get a humble job with the J.C. Dithers Construction Company. Julius Caesar Dithers proved to be a terror of a boss. He was always attempting to fire poor Dagwood. Dagwood is not exactly the perfect employee. He messes up big assignments and is for ever showing up late to work and falling asleep at his desk. And to Dither's special irritation keeps asking for araise. Blondie make a conversion from flapper to very proper suburban wife. Blondie and Dagwood from the beginning take up residence in the suburbs. Their neigbors are Herb and Tootsie Woodley. Soon a baby arrives, named "Baby Dumpling" who eventually becomes Alexander. Next their daughter named Cookie. The family is complete with thei dog--Daisy. Other important charactwrs are Mr. Beasley (the mailman), Elmo Tuttle (a neighborhood kid who likes Dagwood), Cora Dithers (who dominates her husband ), and Lou (who owns the diner where Dagwood eats lunch). A series of films appeared in 1939 and the early 40s. The films ncluded a charming blond boy of 3-6 years old (made over several years) who plays Baby Dumpling and is dressed in a sailor suit and other small boy outfits. Usually he wears rather short shorts, but rarely knee socks. They made quite a number of these films between 1939-42.
Made for TV movie about growing up in NAZI Germany. The film uses English speaking German boys. Many nice boys wearing nice short pants outfits, many with white knee socks. Some boys wear short pants as a suit, others with their Hitler Youth uniforms. In one scene where a boy and a girl are caught in a tent together examining themselves by a prudish adult. The boy and girl units of the Hitler Youth were strinctly seoperated. Very sad though what happens to the boys, especially the Jewish boy. One of the boys was played by Jeffrey Frank. A British reader provides sxome interesting information about the production.
"Bloom" is adapted from James Joyce's classic Ulysses, Bloom takes place on June 16, 1904. The day provides a kind of gateway into the consciousness of its three main characters of the book: Stephen Dedalus, Molly Bloom and the exceptional Leopold Bloom. A scene from the movie shows two young boys playing ball on the beach and they are asking the ladie for their ball back. They boys appear later in the film in brief sequences.
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After losing her only child, a woman opens a home for orphaned children in an effort to place them with families. Her primary concern is foundling children born out of wedlock. Many prospective parents refused to consider adopting children born out of wedlock. The children except for Tony have very small parts, mostly being seen in the background. They are accurately depicted in early 20th century clothing. The heroine's son was pictured briefly at about 3 years old, dressed in a blue velvet knicker suit. Saddly the boy is killed in an accident. The film was an early technicolor production. Most movies at the time were shot in black and white. The film is based on the an actual person--Edna Gladney. Her sister commited suicide when she learned that she was a foundling from an illegitimate birth. America and other countries kept records on a person's background. Deficiencies such an illegitimate birth would follow one throughout their life, appearing not only on birth certificates but documebts like passports. This complicated all kinds of life actions such as college admissions, marriages, jobs, ect. While certainly a tearjerker, the film effectively addressed a serious problem that made it difficult for children to be adopted and then stigmatized them all their adult lives. Mrs. Gladney after losing her only child has to learn to give up the children she cares for. The most difficult was the crippled boy Tony that she nurses back to health.
Diverting but little-known little Shirley Temple film. She plays along side a little boy, about 5 or 6 years old. Johnny Russel plays the part wonderfully. He wears lederhosen and knee socks and a frilly night shirt. One scene set in a sort of heaven for children waiting to be born has the girls in pink and the boys in little blue Greek-light dresses. The boys appear to be wearing little blue pants underneath. This was done at about the same time as Judy Garland's "Wizzard of Oz". The director of "Wizard of Oz" had wanted Shirly Temple, but MGM would release her. "The Blue Bird" was Fox's answer to the spectacularly popular MGM "Wizard of Oz" which made Judy Garland a star. "The Blue Bird" with Shirley was not very popular and was the end of her series of hits. Some film historians speak highly of "The Blue Bird", but the film going public did not.
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We know very little about this film silent film, except that French-born Phillipe De Lacey was in it. Presumably it deals with the famous Sir Thomas Gainsborough "Blue Boy" painting. In comparing Phillip's costume to the Gainsborough painting, the costumers clearly ried to carefully reproduce the costume shown in the portrait.
Brandon DeWilde plays a teenager in a romantic film about troubled young lovers. Brandon was 16 at the time, but looked younger.
An adventure about a father and Snook, his son, on their tuna boat which is wrecked during a storm. Everyone on the boat except Snook (Greg Rowe) is injured.
Giles Budin, Daniel Very. A French boy is sent to England for the summer to improve his English. He is a sensitive 13-year old boy who has his first experience with girls. Later he becomes infatuated with his summer sweetheart's 16 year old boy friend. Taunted by cruel school mates and confused by his own feelings, he confines to one of his teachers who takes advantage of him.
Lovely film about a boy growing up in China amidst the sweeping changes of the 1960s. His father is sent to the country for thought reform via labor. During the Cultural Revolution he is teased and taunted by the Red Guards. Beautifully acted. The boy is pictured at about 5 and 11.
Irish writer, H. de Vere Stacpoole, wrote a romantic novel in 1907, The Blue Lagoon: A Romance. It proved to be a great success and was made into several film versions. Stacpoole's father was a doctor of divinity at Trinity College and the headmaster of Kingstown School. He died when his son was only 7 yeras old. His Canadian born mother had to support the family.
The first movvie version of the boy/girl shipwreck story Blue Lagoon was made in 1948. It starred Jean Simmons and co-starred Donald Houston and was shot in the Fiji Islands.
Another Chris Atkins epic, this one based on the classic Blue Lagoon stoey about two ship wrecked children who grow to adolescence on a remote Pacific island. The only survivors of a ship wreck are two children, Richard and Emmeline) and the ship's cook. They are washed up on a remote, but beautiful, deserted island in the Pacific Ocean. The cook an old man dies, leaving the boy and girl alone to fend for themselves. They quickly manage to deal with therir starnge new enviroment. They use survival techniques the cook taught them before he died. As time passes the innocent children mature and without realizing what has happened, Emmeline becomes pregnant and has a baby which forces the new parents to grow up There is a lovely short introduction with Chris and Brooke Shields as children, both on the beach and underwater. Before the shipwreck the children are pictured in Edwardian outfits. Randal Kleiser made this version in 1979 and it was released in the summer of 1980. The script is generally disappoinging, especially when compared the classic book, as is the acting. The scenery shot at Yasawa Islands (Fiji) is undeniably spectacular. The theme music is "Emmeline" named after the main character, played by Brooke Shields.
Cute story about time travel. Huckleberry Fox visits his grandad when he was a boy.
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