You can also slect the movies available on HBC by using this alphabetical movie listing. We have several few movie reviews, but even so only a few movies have been analized by HBC for clothing information. More pages are being added all the time. We would be very interested in any film reviews or information readers
Two Scottish boys lost their father in the Boer Waragainst the Futch Afrikaaners. The orphaned brothers Harry (Jon Whiteley) and Davy (Vincent Winter) MacKenzie have to leave their native Scotland to live with their remaining relative, their grandmother (Jean Anderson) and disagreeable grandfather (Duncan Macrae). Their grandparents live on a primitive homestead. His son's death has left him emittered against the Dutch, including Dutch neighnors. This results in Harry having a fight at school with a Dutch boy. Then Harry falls down a cliff and is helped to get home by the young community doctor, Futchman Willem Bloem, who of course is in love with MacKenzie's daughter, Kirsty. Given MacKenzie's animosity, the doctor and Kristy have to carry on a secret romance. Theboys for their part desperately want a pet dog. Their grandfather adamently forbids it. So Harry and Davy do the next best thing, they 'kidnap' an unattended baby. They care for him in a shack. When finally found, the infant baby proves to be the child of MacKenzie's Dutch neighbor who has been the target of his animosity.
A young prodigy is caught between his working-class mother and the director of an institute for gifted children. This is Jody Foster's authentic portrayal of the experiences of a gifted child. She plays the boy's mother and directs the film. Tate who is about 10-years old is effectively portrayed by (Adam Hann-Byrd). He wears longs in all the clips I have seen, but areader tells us that when Jodie Foster takes the boy on a TV show, he wears a dark short pants suit with dark ankle socks.
Two newlyweds struggle to make a life together amid the social turmoil of pre-Hitler Germany. The man has a tough boss with an obnoxious kid. He comes in the shop on his way to school. He has a book bag and wears longish shorts and knee socks. Quite a nice scene, but he doesn't appear again.
Classic Louise May Alcott's story about a 15-year old orphan raised by criminals, but finding compassion and understanding at a small country orphanage. A family of brothers experiencing the joy and pain of growing up. Not very interesting costuming. One little guy wears below the knee knicker-length pants. The cast includes some of the principal child stars of the early 1930s.: Junior Durkin and Dickie Moore as well as David Durrand, Tad Alexander, Richard Quine, Tom Bupp, Ronnie Crosby, George Ernest, Buster Phelps, and Donald Bucks
Full length remake of the 1934 version of L.M. Alcott's family of brothers. Two ex-cons find a child in a basket and raise him as their own son. As a rough, card-playing, smoking street-wise teenager he has a change of heart when his foster father tries to swindle the kindly owners of a small country orphanage. No really interesting scenes, but their is one modest tub scene. Jack Oakie and Jimmy Lydon.
Shirley Temple movie where she plays an orphan who brings a hotel for theatrical players to life. I haven't seen this, but there is a real ST movie where she plays a girl who runs the local gang of kids. She makes the bully exchange clothes with a yonger boy who wears a fancy velvet suit. This could be it.
Shirley Temple movie where the adorable tot is taken in by a small-time gambler. I don't think this is the one, but in one of these Shirley Temple movies, she befriends a mild-mannered boy who wears a velvet suit. She befriends him and makes a bigger bully boy wear it.
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The original name for this film was 'Army Brat'. It was based on the 1943 Tommy Wadelton novel of that name. By the time the film was made the War was over. MGM used its newest child star Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins with his characteristic lisp for this family drama. The tile was changed for distribution to to 'Little Mister Jim'. THe original plan was to recreate the cast of 'Our Vines Have Tender Grapes" (1945)--Butch Jenkins, James Craig and Frances Gifford. The result, however, had a very disappinting box office. The plot is following his mother's death, the son of an army officer (Butch Jenkins) tries to console his father who has turned to alcohol for comfort. The film is set in a postwar army camp. Returning GI families live in Quonsets. Eventually father and son are saved when they eventually come to see that life has to go on.
Brian, a boy about 13, has monster problems. Brian is played by Fred Savage who had a popular TV show--"The Wonder Years". Brian not only dreams about monsters under his bed, but actually discovers them. He befriends Maurice played by Howie Mandell. Maurice as a monster proves to be more mischievous than evil. In one scene the monster pulls down Fred's jeans leading him in his underwear in front of a girl monster. Maurice lives in the "under the bed world" where he takes Brian. He teaches him the secrets of the little monsters and they have a variety of adventure. Brian at first enjoys the advemtures in the vast subterranean world. Maurice becomes his best friend. Eventually Brian realizes he has to leave the unfder tge bed world and Brian or he will become a Little Monster himself. Viewers see the film differently. Some see it as comic romp or a spoof on monster films. Others see various dark meanings behind the film. Fred as Brian wears outfits done in contemporary styles. The film itself is rather outlandish. Fred's little brother Ben, about 8 or so also appears. Ben subsequently appears in the very popular 1990s TV show--"Boy Meets World." He has the same charming smile that he has in the TV show.
The boy is played by a teen-age River Phoenix. Uninspiring film about an American teen age who wakes up to find his parents are spies.
See '(Le) Petit Nicolas'.
Nuns are teacing orphans at a convent in the Italian countryside outside Rome. An airline's jet planes flying over their convent school and disrupting classes in the school where the nuns are teaching th orphans. The vibrations from the flights were also damaging the beautiful fresco of their patron saint. Sister Celeste (Catherine Spaak) and Mother Rachele are driven to Rome by Spugna, the convent handyman. They take on airline executive Livio Bertana (Amedeo Nazzari) about rerouting the flights. This is the beginning of a campaign that includes a visit to his home. The nuns give Bertana no peace in pursuing their efforts to get Bertanato change the airplane routes. Sister Celeste sees a chance for getting what she wants. Damiano (Sandro Bruni), one of the orphana from the convent, stows away in the car. They go to his Bertana's home. His mistress, Ella, is charmed by littl Damiano. While all this is going on, a colleague seeking his job accuses Bertana of incompetence. The nins need money to buy airline stock so that they can attend the stockholders' meeting.
Spugna enters and wins the prize at a judo contest. Bertana resigns his job, but the nuns take over the meeting. They actully save Bertana's job. He of course in gratitude, agrees to change the air routes. Then he marries Elena and adopts Damiano. The nuns are notvdone. A nun from a neighboring town bisits the convent and complains about jets passing over her school. Sister Celeste assures her tht there is nothing to worry about, she has a dear friend can solve the problem.
Orvie's mother doesn't like dogs. She tlls him that he cannot have a dog. Orvie finds a stray and keeps it for a day and when his mother objcts he runs away. Johnny Sheffield plays Orvie Stone. The plot is rather hokie, but Johnny is such a charming little fellow that he makes the film worth watching. RKO planned to turn this Booth Tarkington story into a series of "Orvie" films. The film, howevr, did not do well at the box office. The franchise idea, as aesult was dropped. Johnny had begun making Trzan films. Thus this is one of the few films that he did not appear as either Boy or Bomba. Johnny wears long pants in the film. Knickers wee declining at the time, but still worn. Hollywood was apparently ahead of the fashiin curve and almost always costumed the boys in long pants for films set in contemprary times.
A teenager (Curt Cameron) makes a pledge to find a playmate for his developmentally disabled (i.e pc-speak for retarded) sister. Some little chaps are seen briefly at the orphanage, but the are all in pajamas or longs, no interesting costumes as it is the middle of winter. One boy has a major part, a black boy about 9 or so--who plays his part rather well.
Landing in the Sahara Desert, a pilot meets a tiny prince from another planet wonderfully played by Steven Warner. The Prince is very young. He is searching for knowledge and understanding. I think I have seen this, but remember nothing of special interest. The costuming is very disappointing.
Shirley Temple movie adapting Frances Hodgson Burnett's book about Sarah, a wealthy little girl at an exclusive boarding school. When her father and his tuition payments disappear, a dour, tyrannical headmistress makes her a char girl at her exclusive school. This is the first film production of the book. The part was of course tailor made for Shirley Temple. She played the role with a costume including long black stockings. A reader writes, "My interpretation is that long stockings, considered as an undergarment, were always seen as shameless for girls by American film makers and thus consequently prohibited. Why then Shirley Temple wore them? I don't know. Maybe because this story is a sad story and black stockings fitted better. (She also wore them in "The ittle princess". Take note that in
all her early films, she was always in very short skirt or dress with ankle socks. I'm not sure why she didn't wear neesocks which were quite common at the time. Strangely her dresses which by today's standards might be seen a little shicking were accepted in the 1930s. There is a reason for that. Shirley Temple was considered as a symbol of the American way of life for childhood. Nothing shorley could do was wrong. (She was not exactly the goody-goody two shoes depicted. At a picnic she omce nailed Mrs Roosevelt who was bending iver with a sling shot.) She was so much cute with her curly hear that every mother dressed their girls, or wanted to, like her. Symbol of health, joy of life, freedom in gestures so far from those pickering stockings and uncomfortable suspenders. It fitted the new wave of Dr Spock's king-child so far from the protestant ethic."
Remake of the 1939 Shirley Temple film. Excellent turn of the century costuming. A mean headmistress makes life miserable for Sarah and the other girls even before her tuition payments stop. No boys are involved. Well done film, but as one reviewer explains, boys will fidget.
The old black and white Kids comedy shorts entitled The Little Rascals, also called Spankey and Our Gang, or more commonly Our Gang. It has wonderful glimpses of children's clothes in the 1930s. Some of the episodes even touched on the outfits. Some times fancy clothes were worn by the kid who acted "better then every one else" for being well to do, and in more than a few episodes, found himself falling or being pushed, fully clothed, into the water or mud, and coming away quite soaked. One HBC contributor reports that he had heard that Bill Cosby, the American comedian/actor, purchased the rights to all these wonderful films because he felt the black character, Buckwheat was an offensive stereotype. It may be true because even with 100 cable channels, he never sees any The Little Rascal shorts any more. They used to be a TV rerun staple. One reader informs HBC that all early appearances of Buckwheat have him dressed as a girl. His mother apparently put him in dresses to get him into the movies.
Little boy dresses up as a girl in a frilly party dress and wig to sneak into a surprise party for a little girl. Froggy appeared in this one.
Alfalfa disguises himself by dressing up in a chiffon party dress, long blond wig, and girl's shoes.
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Nicely made remake of the classic series. A major talent hunt was conducted to find non-professional kids that looked like the original stars, Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Froggie, etc. The boys mostly wear long pants. There are some interesting scenes. There are several kids, but Alfalfa is a played by a charming little 9 year old (Bug Hall). In one lovely scene, Alfalfa and another boy are trying to run away from some bullies. They hide in a costume room and decide to dress up as girls in ballet tutus. (The boy playing Alfalfa complained on an TV special about having to do this.) They soon find themselves in the middle of a ballet lesson, surrounded by girls. Apparently he had taken ballet lessons and was proficient at it. The director had trouble making him f\dance like an awkward boy as required by the script. In another scene Alfalfa is being chased by a dog and he is only wearing his underpants. He jumps into a swimming pool and looses his underpants. He turns around to see Darla, his girlfriend and an obnoxious boy with her laughing at him. In the TV show about the movie Alfalfa was pictured in a kilt and velvet jacket. I don't know if that actually made the movie.
An elderly con artist joins two teenage runaways in love on a mad dash across Europe with their parents and the police in pursuit. The French boy is utterly charming, but just a touch to old. No shorts except a few younger boys in the background during scenes in the park.
Jonathan Silverman plays a college boy who puts on a dress to gain to gain access to a sorority.
A group of neighborhood boys join forces with a veteran to rescue dogs from a kennel that is stealing them and then selling them for laboratory experiments. A few of the boys wear shorts. Disney. Peter Smith.
A young boy whose father was wrongfully imprisoned gets caught up with delinquents. Jackie Searl
An upstanding lady of the community decides that the Little Tough Guys would make good companions for her self-centered son.
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Michael, a little shepherd boy played by Johnny Whitiker, arrives in Heaven. Johnny doe a very nice job with his part. The made for TV musical was a Hallmark Hall of Fame production. It.is about Michael trying to adjust to Heaven. He has aot of trouble and tries to go back to his parents. It is based on the children's book by Charles Tazewell. Michael is a shepherd boy living in Biblical times. He is suddenly transported to Heaven on his 8th birthday. He doesn't understand what is happening and where he is. A guardian angel named Patience, played by none other than Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster), is assigned to help Michael and show him the ropes. Tony Randal also has a part GwynneGiven that the film was made in 1969, the special effects are dated. You can even see the wires making the chracters fly. The music actually sung by the actors, including Johnny. In our jaded age, some will think it soppy. One commentator suggests, "... this would be a good film to force naughty high school students to watch while doing detention." The specia; effects could use and update, but the music stands very well at is.
One HBC reader rembers viewing "The Littlesr Hobo" when he was about 6 years old. It is U.S. film from 1958. The main character is a German shepherd owned by a farm boy. The boy was played by Buddy Hart, who had a continuing role in the "Leave It to Beaver" TV show as one of Wally's friends. In the film the dog saves the boy's pet lamb from a predator, but then, like a hobo, climbs aboard a freight train and ends up in a distant city. A wealthy girl, confined to a wheelchair and with no companions, finds the dog and takes him home with her. For a time the dog is her one and only friend, but again by freight train, finds his way back to the farm and his original owner. The girl is distraught from losing her canine companion, and her family searches for the dog. When the boy and the girl meet, he understands that as much as he loves "the littlest hobo", that the girl needs the dog more than he and gives her his beloved pet. The clothes were contemporary and appropriate for the film's setting; the girl (Wendy Stuart) wore dresses that looked well made and expensive and Buddy Hart wore long trousers and jeans and casual shirts. At the time the film was made, Buddy was about 13/14. He played Wally's friend, "Chester Anderson", in the first two or three seasons of "Beaver". One scene from "The Littlest Hobo" (I remember now) is particularly effective. After Buddy sells his pet lamb for slaughter, he regrets his decision. The German shepherd leads the lamb back to the farm by the rope tied around its neck. Motorists and passers-by are bemused by the sight! By this time Buddy was crying, sorry that he'd sold his lamb to be killed, and was delighted to see both lamb and dog again! Wish I had a better image of the clothes to relate. I believe Buddy only wore farm clothes, nothing dressy. A really touching and beautiful film. Our reader reports, "I saw it with my brother when I was about 6. WTBS showed it about Christmas time nearly 20 years ago, and I don't think it's run since. Seems like a lot of these nice old films have been consigned to the vaults, judged too old fashioned for modern tastes."
Nicely made Disney production based on the Rosemary Anne Sisson story about three children in Edwardian Whales who try to save the pit ponies when the local colliery (coal mine) is mechanized. The two boys are from a miner's family, nice but their shorts/knickers are not to exciting. The girl, however, has a real biddy of a governess (rather befuddled rather than sinister) and wears pinafores, prissy dresses, a sailor dress, broad-brimmed straw hats with a ribbon. The boys are Alastair Sim and Peter Barkworth. The boys try to figure out how to sneak the girl into the mine, finally they decide to the horror of the little boy to dress her up in his clothes. The poor disgusted boy is left dressed in her pantaletts and coat while the other two march into the mine.
A little peasant boy named Pedro (Andres Velasquez) runs away with a magnificent, but abused horse after it is unfairly ordered destroyed by its cruel owner. Pedro Armedariz and Joseph Calleia.
The fact-based story of pediatric immunologist James Oleske, who was one of the first U.S. physicians to detect AIDs in children.
Mickey Rooney
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This is one of a number of post-War movies about returning servicemen. Pilot Leo Gogarty (Gene Kelly) after a fast-moving courtship marries Margaud Morgan (Marie McDonald). He ships out to war only hours after the marriage. He is in for a surprise when he returns from the War 3 years later. His new wife is not how he remebered her, in part because her father made a lot of money during the War. She is now a socialite and demands a divorce. The two set about try to figure out how to make a klife together as America makes the transition to peace. The film provides a platform for some kelly dance numbers. They appear yo have a son.
Square dancing plays a very funny role in the charming little film "Lloyd (aka The Ugly Kid)" made around 1998 near where I live. It gives a pretty good idea what kids think of square dancing today. Plus the film is an excellent representation of the clothes kids wear in California (T-Shirts, shorts, etc.).
Freddie Bartholomew grows up to be Tyrone Powel. No particularly interesting costumes. At the beginning Freddie's pal Horatio (Lord Nelson) is birched by his father before he goes off to sea. "You'll feel my birch rod," the father says. Horatio replies bravely, "Shall I go into the study and take down my britches?"
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