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.
Why are so many novels about children, one wonders about why so many of these dreadful horror movies are made? A 5-year old boy uses his deadly powers to destroy those who become suspicious of his strange birthright. I believe the boy appears in a short pants suit.
I don't like these horror movies. Damien is about 13 or so and he goes to a military school. Several other boys. They all wear long pants.
Sentimental fantasy with the devil getting chased up a tree. The boy, Pud, wears short pants. He is about 8 or 9 years old. Johnny Sheffield played the role on Broadway. Bobs Watson played Pud in the film. The grandfather was played by the beloved actor Lionel Barreymore. At the end of the film, thecdevelil takes both the grandfather and Pud. Julian, Beulah Bondi plays "Granny" Nellie. Hans Conried appears in the film. Conreid was a popular actor on American television in the 1950s. Barrymore plays Gramps Julian Northrup. As in many of his films, he is a good-spirited curmudgeon who absolutely dotes on his grandson Pud. Gramps is delifgted with Pud and his boyish mischief. Pud's parents have tragically been killed in an automobile accident. There is an evil spinster aunt trying to get Pud's inheritance. Mr. Brink played by Cedric Hardwicke playsthe angel of death came to get them. Brick visits the family again, but is foiled. Pud and Gramps discover that anyone who gets into an apple tree in the backyard cannot get down until gramps tells them they can come down. Thus the two conspire to trap Mr. Brink in the tree. The film is what the British call "sappY". and Americans call a "tear jearker". This was the accepted movie appeal at the time.
Classic movie about a tension between a daughter and elderly father and their finally coming to terms with each other. Old family tensions surface when the daughter returns home and leave their grandson (Doug McKeon) who also manages to come to terms with his grandfather. He wears shorts.
Entertaining family film set at the end of World War I, about 1919. It is based on Booth Tarkington's Penrod stories and depicts a mid-Western family led by a stoggy, but soft hearted father, with a love-struck daughter and an 11-year old son--Wesley. The son is nicely played by Billy Gray (who was to become Bud in "TV's "Father Knows Best"). He is a cute little guy and gets up to all kinds of boyish devilment. He hates his piano lessons and teacher who is sweet on his sister. When her boyfriend comes back from the war, he is unhappy that the boyfriend doesn't bop the piano teacher. He gets into trouble for purloining a turkey (to save the family turkey). His father gets out his belt, but is dissuaded my mom. Welsely always seems to squirm out of trouble. He wears over the knee knickers, often as part of a suit. He even puts on a tie without being prompted to do so. There is even a nice party scene with girls in frilly dresses and boys in smart knicker suits.
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This film was released after America entered World War II, although it was begun while Britain fought the Germans alone. The German Blitz of London engendered great sympathy for the British while America was still officially neutral. English boy refugee (Roddy McDowell) stars as Hugh Aylesworth--a very polite English boy who has been evacuated to America during the German bombing ("the Blitz") of London. Hugh is welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Andrews (Don
Douglas and Katherine Alexander), a typical small town Anerican family. They of course are charmed by their young guest's
impeccable English manners. Less impressed is the Andrew's own son Don (Freddie Mercer). He not not only feels rejected, but looks on Hugh as an interloper and a constant irritant to his once tranquil uncomplicated American life style. Hugh's school uniform, complete with cap, blazer, tie, short pants, and kneesocks certainly does nor raisre Hugh;s stock in Don's eyes. The girls are, however, most impressed. in short pants and blazer comes to an American small town. He is teased about his shorts by the local boys, all in long pants of course. Roddy was 13 or 14 at the time, although he looked younger. You wonder if this might have actually happened to him when he came to the States in 1941. Hugh in typical English fashion manages to prove himself a "regular guy" when he helps Dom deal with a particularly thraentening bully at school (Stanley Clements). Unfortunately we have never seen the film on shown on TV, unlike many of Roddy's other films.
The silent film On the War Path is in the AFI/Rippen Collection. It was produced by Kalem in 1911. The cast included: William West, Jane Wolfe, Judson Melford, Alice Joyce, Carlyle Blackwell, Robert Chandos, Frank Lanning, and George Melford (Judson's father). A boy (Judson Melford) hears two old settlers describing their Old West fights with the Indians. This inspires the boy to defend the family cabin himself when Indians return to attack. The other settlers had sought refuge in a military fort. The boy hero stays in his cabin to fight. He is finally rescued by a half-breed trapper.
A 14-year old Donald O'Conner has a part.
A high school student is pursued by a vampire who requires the blood of male virgins to maintain her eternal youth and beauty. I don't like horror films. Jim Carrey.
A widowed author's life is changed by a man she meets at her deaf son's boarding school. The boy is a toe-head who wears bangs. He is about 6 or so. I'm not sure if I've confused this, but I recently saw a similar film on TV, at least the last half, and the boy is about 12 or so. His hair is parted in the middle. You can tell it is a Danile Stelle story as the boy is a really attached to his mother, hugging her a letting her kiss him. Most boys that age would have been a bit embarrassed. The boy always appears in longs.
A man is left alone to care for his children when his wife walks out on him.
I'm not sure about this one. I think it is a Carry Grant film where a boy appears in a suit, I'm not sure if it is a short or long pants suit. A theatrical producer forms a partnership with a boy who has a dancing caterpillar.
Epic portrayal of the friendships, loyalties, and betrayals of Jewish gangsters over a period of 40 years. Reviews of this film vary. One reviwer sees it as a "A poorly done film". There is a long section with the main characters as youths. ome of the boys wear knickers as the film begins I believe about 1920. The film is Sergio Leone's epic of friendship and betrayal. The film centers on five youths who begin their life of street crime just in the early days of Prohibition and mature to gangsters. The film reviews have been affected by the length and violence depicted the movie and necessary cutting in some screenings. The film is quite long in its original version (about 4 hours). Several versions of the film were distributed in order to satisfy local censors. About 1985 or 86 NBC presented the first TV version in a two part presentation, heavily edited for
content, length, and commercial interruptions, of course. The result is that some versions are more coherent than others; and that is important in this convoluted, slowly evolving tale. A HBC reader reports, "NBC's presentation was my first time to see this controversial - for violence - film, and, I was quite taken by the movie. The gritty realism, attention to period detail, the music, and the unaffected performances by the young actors were splendid. I saw AMC's version last night--first time I'd even thought about this film in some time, but I remembered how much I like it."
Henry Winkler movie. He is pictured as a spoiled boy at the beginning, outfitted in a longpants suit.
Typical Disney family movie. Set in the 1880s which could have meant some interesting period costumes. Much of the family band are girls. All but one of the boys wears longs. The younger boy wears below the knee shorts with both black and white stockings. He wears a big bow with one of his suits. Kurt Russel
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A film to bear in mind for Christmas (it's been shown for the past few seasons)
is a 1994 film starring Henry Winkler, called One Christmas, set in the South during the early 1930's. A very nice adaptation of a Truman Capote story. Exccellent depictions of 1930's clothing are found in this film. A boy being raised by aunts in Alabama spends Christmas with his father in New Orleans. The boy takes the bus from his grandma's house in rural south Alabama, to spend Christmas with his high-rolling, high living Dad (Winkler) in New Orleans. Dad takes one look at son's well-worn clothes and homemade haircut and takes him to get a new blue short pants suit and a "gentleman's haircut". No complaints from the youngster--he's equipped for the big city. Rather a somber made for TV movie. The central character is an 8-year old boy, Buddy (T.J. Lowther). Buddy is a bit on the sullen side, but a refreshing change from the precocious brats normally seen on TV. He wears short pants. For most of the movie he is in either a brown or blue short pants suit. Usually he wears short socks, but at the very end he is wearing blue knee socks with his blue short pants suit. He makes friend with a black boy about his age who wears knickers.
A promise that an orphan will receive a model car leads to zany adventures (Haven't seen this one.)
Clay O'Brien plays a white boy raised by Indians. He is eventually taken away from them, but runs away in an effort to get back. He stumbles across James Garner who is on the run. No interesting costuming or situations. James Garner pulls him over his lap, but decided not to spank him. He makes friends with a little girl played by Jody Foster. A Disney movie complete with camels.
A disillusioned young mother discover the power of love through her children's belief in Christmas. Harry Dean Stanton
Theplot is old-school Disney: British nannies outwit a Chinese gang for possession of a microfilm hidden in a dinosaur's bones. Two boys, ages about 11 and 9, appear in most of the film in their school uniforms. The uniforms are faithful replicas of a British school
uniform: black peaked caps and blazers with yellow school crest on cap and blazer's breast pocket; white shirt, gray jumper, black and yellow striped ties; gray school shorts and gray kneesocks; and black lace-up shoes. The film appeared to be set in the 1920s. Rather a senseless plot. Also some of the men (Chinese spies, English secret agents, etc.) have interesting memories of their childhood nannies.
Interesting film about the saving of Denmark's Jews when the NAZI's attempted to round them up. Only one boy is pictured, a youngish boy (say 10 or so). He is the only boy in a ballet class and wears tights for his pratice.
'The Open Road' is an early travelogue filmed by Claude Freiese-Grene using his father's Biocolour film system. It was a two color additive system which mixed black-and-white and color frames. When the film was projected at 24 frames per second, the two colors seemed to merge, creating the illusion of natural color as a result of the persistence of vision. The Biocolour system was not developed techically any further because of the inherent limitations of a two-color system and prgress in America, Germany, and elsewhere on three-color film systems. The film ws shot on a car journey between Land's End in England north to John O'Groats in Scotland (1924-26). It was the first English film providing any realistic color images of England. The idea was to create a series of 26 short films which could be shown as weekly episodes in movie theaters. It was a great idea for introducing the Biocolour system to the movie going public. It was first exhibited at trade shows where it was aclaimed for the beauty of the color images (1925). Modern readers will not be as impressed, but it was spectacular to film audiences in the 1920s who had never seen any realistic color images before. And they provide us today a wonderful, rare color record of Britain in the 1920s.
Silent film with Micky Rooney in his first movie.
Ordinary Magic from 1993 (based on a book that has been published under two different titles, Ganesh and Ordinary Magic) stars Ryan Reynolds. Ryan plays the son of Canadian parents who migrated to India during the turbulent 1960's. He was
born raised in India and considers himself Indian. When his widowed dad dies, he is sent to live with an aunt in Canada. His devoutly Hindu ways puzzle and amuse the locals. His "passive resistance", however, triumphs over a greedy land developer at film's end.
Ryan was about 16 when this film was made but looks a few years younger. In the scenes set in India he wears a collared white short sleeve shirt and dark blue shorts and goes barefoot. In Canada he wears a bright red plaid baseball style cap for winter and a matching
parka in winter scenes. In warmer weather he wears contemporary styles, but for his standoff with the developer he wears a only white, Indian style pants. The film has quite a lot of charm, though the ending is a bit simplistic.
After an attempted suicide, a boy must contend with the death of his brother and strained relationship with his parents and friends. Based on a novel by Judith Guest.
Enjoyable film about an orphaned Austrian boy. The Austrian title was "Singende Jugend" ("Singing Boys"). It was marketed in America as "An Orphan Boy of Vienna". The main character is abused as an apprentice and taken in by a poor musician who manages to get him accepted by the Vienna Choir Boys. The movie has many boy characters. The boys all wear shorts, except in their school/choir uniform--a sailor suit with long trousers. It features the famous Vienna Choir Boys. The boys' roles are taken by the actual choir boys themselves with no names given but the first names of the characters they play. The orphan boy is called Toni. The choir school is run by the Catholic church. There is a scene with the boys on a outing in Tyrol wearing shorts. This is one of the few films in wich the Vienna Choirs Boys are involved. It is a warm, if somewhat soappy, little film that has been compared to "The Sound of Music" and is full of some great music if you appreciate boy choirs. In German with English subtitles.
Russian film about a successful poet seeks his lost brother. The bittersweet memories of his adolescent years come tumbling back: his life as a starving street beggar, a World war II orphanage. Set around a boy's learning experiences at a (boarding?) school. In Russian with English subtitles.
Fabrice Josso
This is a French Canadian film. The story takes place in the region of Quebec during the 1950s or 60s. For some reason, that I don't qiute understand, a few orphans are held in an
assylum, which is run by nuns and guards. They're given drugs, if they try to rebell against the rule of the place. However, one of them can escape from it. As the head of the assylum has to go, another one of them is send to an orphanage to start a new live. (Possibly by Mr. Duplessis, the Primeminister of Quebec, who dies at the end of the film. But I'm not sure about it.) This is only part one, I don't know anything about the other parts.
The boys mainly wear shirts with "pullovers" without sleeves, some of these have
a V around their neck others are crew style. The V-necks have a blue stripe around the neck. One boy wears a vest over his shirt and another one just a pullover without a shirt. About two of them wear ties. As for colors, there is a wide range, and some have [musters?] on them. They wear long trousers.
Film biography of the famous playwright. I don't know if it includes a scene with him as a boy.
Another film, set in the 1930s, that was filmed around 1972, is entitled The Other. It is a scince fiction film set in New England. It is one of those awful satanic movies--but this is better than most. The film is set around twin boys, Chris and Martin Udvarnoky. The boys deliver a good performance. The twins fall under the influence of the supernatural. Both boys wear short pants. Usually they are costumed in play shorts, but once they even dress up in white shirts and navy blue ties, shorts, and knee socks. Only one glaring flaw--they both had early 1970's hairstyles. The movie is set in New England during the 1930s. A HBC reader reports that the boys were wearing very short tan shorts with a elastic back. They wear these shorts through much of the film. Our HBC reader, however, does not think this type of shorts were available during the 1930s. One of the boys wears a very british looking short pants suit for a funeral. A HBC reader gets the impression that the movie the 6th Sence is a take off of this movie.
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One of the most instantly recognizable movie features of the 1930s are the Our Gang shorts. These productions are fascinating glimpses into American children's clothing for morethan two decades (1922-44). Some of the episodes even work the clothing into the story line. They were produced by Hal Roach, first on his own and then with MGM. The "Our Gang" children supposedly arrived at the studio at 8:00 am and went home at 5:00 pm. The studio claimed that they were all in bed by 8:00 pm. The children attended the "Gang School House" run by the famed Mrs. Carter. Roach later commented on the Our Gang series, saying that "They were a special kind of child. Today you would have to have a contest to find one like them. They talked and acted exactly like children really do. And that's what made "Our Gang" so popular." The boys were Alfalfa (Carl Switzer), Buckwheat (William Thomas), and Spanky (George McFarland. Others included Dickie Moore, Jackie Cooper, Bobby Blake (then billed Michael Gubitosi). George continued in the series until 1942, 2 years before it ended. Also see Little Rascals. Our Gang used to be a TV staple, but today is rarely seen. HBC is unsure as to how the children were costumed. They often wore rather ragged clothes, but as they were well paid for their acting this had to be costuming. Some of the fancier clothes, howevr, could have been clothes they actually wore.
We appear to jave losrt the film title here. Dickie Moore, then about 5, must go over his father's knee for something that the boy did not do. It must have left mothers in the audience teary-eyed as the boy suffers the injustice manfully.
The film "Our Mother's House" is about the five children of an invalid mother. When the mother dies, the eldest girl tries to keep them together as a family unit. They kill people who try to investigate. Eventually the no-good dad returns. There are three boys, Jiminy, Louis, and ????. The boys wear a variety of outfits, including shorts and sandals. The oldest is about 13. Mark Lester played the stuttering Jiminy. One reader reports that Louis had a good singing voive. Jack Clayton directed this offbeat film and Mark made a big impression on the film maker that was to play big dividends.
Two young people experience the vicissitudes of life in a New England town, based on a Thorton Wilder play. We have little information about the film version, but we do have some information about the play.
Residents of Benson Junction, a small Wisconsin town, share their joys and sorrows. The movie is based on George Victor Martin's popular 1940 novel by the same title. The small real life farming community of Benson Corners, Portage County, Wisconsin was Martin's inspiration for the book. It is a paean to small town America. The screenplay was the work of Dalton Trumbo. It was his last film before being blacklisted because he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1947). He subsequently won two Academy Awards under other names. Margaret O'Brien insisted later that the movie was largely ignored because of Trumbo's political difficulties. Trumbo was an undeniably brilliant screen writer. Had his career ended here, America would have losr several important films. He like many other liberal Americans were, however, unaware of 1) the threat posed by the Soviet Union, 2) the terrible crimes being committd by the NKVD, and 3) the extent of the Soviet espionage effort. While the excesses of the Cold war anti-Communist effort are widely discussed today, the threarts and dangers are comminly minimized. The plot is about the Norwegian-American residents of a small Wisconsin farming community. It is a look at the joys and tragedies of life as seen through the eyes of a widowed, Norwegian born Wisconsin farmer ovingly raises his daughter. The film is set in contemprary times during World war II Butch Jenkins in this bit of classic Americana appears with Margaret O'Brien, then at the top of her career. The plot unfolds through the viewpoint of O'Brien's character, little Selma. She expeiences the childhood adventures: making friends, a pet calf, Christmas, a frightening expeience down a torential river, a barn fire, and a ride on a circus elephant�s trunk. The title may seem familiar, it comes from the King James Bible. It reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." [Song of Solomn 2: 15]
See "My Apprenticeship."
An innocent farm boy is haunted by both drug dealers and the police.
One of Mickey Rooney's Andy Hardy movies.
Claude Jarman Jr.
A young Jew (Noam Zylberman) disagrees with his Orthodox family over his Bar-Mitzva.
Roddy McDowall has a bit part.
Rich kids versus the poor thugs in 166 Tulsa. Based on S.E. Hinton's novel. Ralph Macchio, Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise.
One of those dreadful Slvester Stylone fight movies, but a nice boy has a prominent part as Stylone son. The father is spending time with his son to get to know him and learn his respect. It explores the twin themes of single parenting and arm wrestling. A truck driver is reunited with his long lost son (David Mendenhall) against the wishes of his possessive grandfather.
A trucker tries to renew his relationship with his estranged son while preparing for an important arm-wrestling contest.
Disturbing chronicle of alienated middle-class 14-year olds in a suburban planned community. Matt Dillon, Michael Kramer, Vincent Spano.
A trucker tries to renew his relationship with his estranged son while preparing for an important are-wrestling contest.
Enjoyable little movie with Kurt Russel. Goldie Hahn plays an obnoxious society air head. She is rude to everyone including a carpenter working on her yacht. She develops amnesia and in revenge he takes her home to his shack, telling her that she is his wife and they have four terribly behaved kids, ranging between 7 and 13. The boys are fun in their parts. They wear non-descript period clothing, all long pants even the younger boy.
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