Figure 1.--Here a boys choir director finds a poromosing boy singer at a small town prphanage in the 1971 Soviet film "Boys". Notice the lsb osat the orphanage director wears. The boy wear suspender shorts with long stokings or perhaps tights. |
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We can think of only a few movies about orphans and orphanges. Film makers like to present talses about orphans, but are less like to dwell on their orphanage experiences. Quite a number of films have brief scenes set in orphanages, but this is only a minor part of the film. Here we are primarily interested in films that include at least important scene or two in the orphanages. The most famous of course are the movies based on Oliver Twist. There are both American and British versions. The best known is the musical version "Oliver!" with Mark Lester. One major film is "Boys' Town" (1938) with Spencer Tracey and Mickey Rooney. The most famous film about a girl orphan of course must be "Annie" (1982). There are a few other films such as Disney's "Pollyana" (1960), There was also a silent version. There is the Argentine film "Chiquitas" (2001). We note a Soviet film "Boys / Mal'chiki" (1971). Hopefully readers will recall filns that we should add to this list.
The most famous film about a girl orphan of course must be "Annie" (1982). The adventures of a spunky red headed orphan. Of course it deals with girls. The film is set around an orphanage. It is based on a beloved comic strip character.
Orohanages are 19th century institutions designed to deal woth the prphaned children in the growin industrial cities in Europe. Earlier the small numnvers of orphan children were taken in by family and friends in rural communities as well as Church charities. Anthiny is a founding taken in by a convent.
We note a Soviet movie about orphanages and choirs. The main character of the movie is a boy Zhenya Prokhorov. First he lives in an orphanage located in a small village Lipovka. A Russian reader tells us, "I'd say the depiction of the orphanage is rather realistic." We have noted reports of very poor conditions at Soviet orphanages. We do not know much about thatm although we have begun to collect some information on orphanages. One fact that seems true is that children from orphanages were less likely to get into good schools and pursue university educations. The orphage in the film is depicted as a realtively pleasant place. The director of a boys choir boarding school, seeking talented boys, visits this orphanage and discover that Zhenya has a very good voice. He takes Zhenya to the boarding school. There Zhenya lives with other boys, learns music along with the usual school lessons like maths or geography and so on. Later Zhenya is chosen as a soloist of the choir and becomes popular. But later, after his voice breaks, he needs to forget about his former glory and to find his own way in music from scratch.
The film "Boys' Town" provides an inspirational look at Father Flanagan's famed Boys' Town. It highlights Father Flanagan efforts to assist underprivildged boys. Spencer Tracey wonderfully plays Father. Tracy won his first oscar for "Captains Courageous" and his second for "Boys' Town". This is probably Rooney's best perfirmance as a dramatic actor. This is perhaps not saying much, but that is perhaps being unfair. I have never been much impressed with Rooney's acting. Father Flanagan had quite a challenge building Boys' Town. He faced resistance from the courts, the community, and others. He sought to deal with boys' the coomunity had largely givn up. on. The boys were orphans or from homes that could not care for them. Whitey Marsh (Rooney) wants to be a gangter until Father Flanigan drags him to Boys' Town. The Home is disrupted by the rebellious new arrival. It is the boys at Boys' Town that eventually change Whitey's mind. There are of course several boys involved in the film. Although set in the 1930s, all but one waers long pants. Only one boys wears short pants--the smallest boy wears very long shorts.
The title in Spanish Chiquitas: Rincon de Luz means "Litte Ones: Place of Light" refering endearingly to children. Belén is a young charmer of 20 years who, at the request of two fantastic personages, a young goblin and the wise person of the library, begins to become more assertive. Belén finds a book left in the library from which pages come out the laughing and weeping of boys. Belén decides to contact a group of orphans lodged in a dismal and sad orphanage run by a Colonel and his collaborator, Marl (Alejandra Flechner). Both are admired by the inhabitants of Villa Golden Red deer who contribute to the maintenance of the Home of Orphaned Children. Particularly the Intendant of the village, supports the Colonel and Marl, since she does not know their true intentions. The children in the film wear quite a number of different costumes.
This beloved Shirley Temple vehicle had perhaps the most destinctive leading credits of all her movies. Her trade-mark curls begin flashing on screen before we see her smiling face. The plot is loosely premised on the the Jane Webster story "Daddy Long Legs" which was a Broadway hit in the 1910s ahd fimed in 1931 with Janet Gaynor and Warner Baxter. "Curly Top" is perhaps the most popular movie Shirley made. The movie has a Dicksonian beginning. It opens on a dark, stormy evening at the Lakeside Orphanage. A group of pefectly behaved little girls, Shirley (Elizabeth Blair) march upstairs in perfect order. The girls wear bib-front overalls. We are not sure about the costuming. I don't think American orphanages outfitted the girls in overalls. The well-to-do bachelor Edward Morgan (John Boles) becomes enchanted with curly-haired orphan, Elizabeth Blair. Elizabeth has an older sister, Mary. Morgan arranges to adopt both using the alias "Mr. Jones." As spends his time with them, he falls in love with Mary. Shirley also made 'The Littlest Rebel' in 1935. They were two of the most popular films of the year. One of the film’s musical numbers was 'Animal Crackers in My Soup', one of Shirley's best loved numbers.
The most famous orphanage films of course are the movies based on Oliver Twist. There are both American and British versions.
Lovely musical version of Oliver Twist. Staring a young Mark Lester who was superb in the role. The acting was first rate, but the costumes were disappointing. Jack Wild played Dodger. Sir Carol Reed produced "Oliver!", a musical version of the Dickens' classic. The book had been done several times before: Jackie Coogan played Oliver in 1922, Dickie Moore played the part touchingly in 1933, and John Howard Davis appeared in the 1948 production that featured Alec Guinness' marvelous interpretation of the sly Fagin. Sir Carol needed to find a child that could sing and dance as well as act. About 2,000 boys applied and 250 actually auditioned. Clayton recommended Mark to Sir Carol and he was offered the role soon after his audition. "Oliver!" emerged as one of the colossal productions of the 1960s. It was the version thay I have been most impressed with. I was impressed with Mark's lovely performance. Some believe that his performance was lost in the competition with the strong cast. One reviewer wrote "The focus of the movie is so wide, and the logistics of the production is so heavy, that Oliver himself, dutifully played by 9-year old Mark Lester, gets flattened out and almost lost, as if he had been run over by a studio bulldozer." I think, however, that Mark's performance was superb. He played a boy completely adrift, totally incapable of controlling his situation and swept along by events and the people he comes into contact with. The feeling of powerlessness and vulnerability were critical to the part and perfectly executed. I rather agree with a New York Times reviewer who wrote "Young Mark Lester as Oliver has a kind of golden innocence, untainted by self-conscious adorability of the typical child actor, and a marvelous pure boy soprano voice. He is shy, yet game and a perfect foil for Jack Wild's Artful Dogger." Gene Shalit noted "Mark is an ideal Oliver; angelic and sweet voice..." The film was a huge financial success, grossing over $16.8 million (an impressive amount in 1969) in the U.S. and Canada alone and won the 1969 Oscar as the Best Picture.
The first version ofPollyanna was a silent film. It was a classic Mary Pickford silent. The orphan boy in the film wears knickers and often goes barefoot during the summer as was customary at the time.
An orphan's optimism transforms a feuding town, supposedly in Alabama--but the movie gives more of the ambience of the midwest. Disney production staring Haley Mills with a small role for a cute Kevin Corcaran (?) who is about 10. Haley Mills was really quite superb in the role. The whole film is a real tear jearker. Set in the early 1900s. It is a costume extravaganza, at least for Pollyana, but the boys' costumes are very plain. The local orphan boys wear knickers and the girls sailor suits. There is one scene at the fair which looks like a boy in a sailor suit, but it must have been a girl. Rather an appealing story, but nothing of special interest even though it begins with boys skinny dipping in the swimming hole.
The 'Young don't cry' was one of several fimms shot about juveile delonquets. This was a film written as a vehicle for Sal Mineo who was a rising star at the time. Teenage Leslie Henderson (Sal Mineo) struggles against brutal bigger boys at a orphanage. He becomes assoiciated with a convict (James Witmore) trying to escape from a prison located close to the orphanage. The convict had been unjustly sentenced, but is using Leslie to further his escape. The association with the convict helps Leslie learn to stand up to those abusing their power. We note that Georgia prisons were terrible places. The chsin gangs were infamous. We are not sure, however, about the orphanages in the state. Typically state facilities were not well fubded. The movie was shoty on location at the Bethesda Home for Boys in Savannah, Georgia. Given the depiction, one wonders why they would cooperate with the prioduction. Presumably there was healthy fee involved. A notable feature of the film was the positive roles ofvtwo blacks. Holly was at the gime just beginning gto change hoe blacks were depicted in its films. The orpohanage like schools and other sttes facilities were strictly seggregted.
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