In Love with Life

This ultra-low budget quickie is actually quite good – although it's clear that a good chunk of the action was missing from the version I saw (which ran about 50 minutes, while IMDb gives a running time of over an hour). The story is typical Hollywood hokum, designed to pull at the heartstrings of anyone with a nurturing nature. Crusty (but wealthy) old grandpa agrees to care for his daughter's son on the condition that she never darken his doorstep again. Fortunately for her, a mild-mannered teacher hired by Grandpa to teach the boy takes a shine to her. There must be an early scene in the film when these two meet, as later she admits to taking his wallet when they were sat on a bench in the park, but this wasn't in the version I saw. This being a film that has fallen into the public domain, I imagine there are countless versions floating around the internet and on cheap DVDs.

Little Dicky Moore is the little boy who's the focus of all the maternal angst, and he's quite good. He doesn't overact like Shirley Temple or Jackie Cooper, and he isn't so cute and lovable that you feel like you're having your emotions manipulated for cheap gain by cold-hearted movie directors. Perhaps this lack of cuteness explains why he never made it as big as Temple or Cooper.

What does stick in the memory about this film is a quite frankly mind-boggling sequence set in some kind of kiddie's café. The entertainment is provided by kids, one of whom is a little female tot, no older than four or five, dressed up to resemble Betty Boop who sings provocatively to her audience. Anyone trying to film a scene like that would probably find themselves up on all manner of charges today, but back then it was probably just a cute novelty with no ulterior motive on the part of the adults involved. Little Betty is followed by an equally young dance troupe who try to perform a Cossack dance with predictably – but wholly unintentional – hilarious results.

Another Dickie Moore oddity here. Along with Tomorrow's Youth, Moore sure had the weepy-kid-caught-in-the-middle-of-an-adult-situation market covered, didn't he? Here, he plays a kid who is handed off to his rich Grandfather when his Mom realizes that the life he would have there would be more stable, and plus, since she took off quite a while ago with a man Grandpa didn't approve of, he is quick to kick her out of the house and leave the grandson with him So this is a very Stella Dallas situation. But luckily, the old man's assistant, played rather stiffly by Onslow Stevens, takes a shining to the woman, and agrees to give her news about the boy, while she's trying to eke out of a living. Now, the story is pretty treacley, with a LOT of sap for you to weep over, and a fun little twist ending reflecting the Stock Market Crash of 1929, AND the treatment of seniors during this era (compare it to now, it's interesting). But I think what this film will be truly known for is the AWESOME, how shall I say it, a part amusement area, part concert hall, filled with hideous looking robotic moving clowns AND a floor show that will just leave you drop-jawed with it's Betty Boop imitator, played, yes, by a kid who looks no more than 5 years old, and then a dance routine with, AGAIN, a bunch of 5 year olds. Knowing the coordination levels of these kids of course, this makes the dance all the more amusing. The audience is filled with kids, some of which look bored out of their minds. (love the 4 year old cigarette girl)

This is worth the viewing alone.