The First of May

The Fist of May is a great family film. This is a nice story of a foster child meeting an older woman in a nursing home, bonding with her and running away to join the circus with her. The film is well acted. Julie Harris is wonderful. The kid who played "Corey" is a fabulous actor. Even Joe DiMaggio was great.

This film looked great, sounded great, was well acted and well directed.

Cory (Dan Byrd) is an 11 year-old who has been bounced around in the foster care system for years. Not surprisingly, he has some behavior problems (who wouldn't in a case like this) and he's going to yet another foster home. Cory isn't easy to love and when he learns that the foster family is having a child of their own, he assumes they don't want him and he runs away with a most unusual old lady he's met...Carlotta (Julie Harris). Carlotta hates the old folks' home she's in...and loves to find an excuse to leave.

Eventually the pair find a circus...which is great since Carlotta worked most of her life in circuses. The pair get jobs with the circus and things seem to be going pretty well...though you know sooner or later, they are bound to be caught.

The film was made somewhat on the cheap. Despite this, it did have some familiar faces. Aside from Ms. Harris, Mickey Rooney and Charles Nelson Reilly are in the film. Overall, it's a bit schmaltzy and predictable...but it's also a family film that adults won't hate...which is a big plus!

By the way, you might want to have some Kleenex ready...just in case.

My husband and I just happened upon this fine movie while channel surfing. Julie Harris was outstanding, as were the other main characters. Loved the "pitch" at the end encouraging adoption. Though predictable, the story was enjoyable.

I was in Gary Rogers drama class at LSCC and he is an amazing professor. I got to be Little Red Riding Hood in a kiddie musical we put on for school kids. All the songs were really cute and the kids loved them.

We watched the movie in class and I loved it! I haven't had much luck finding it to watch on TV but have seen Dan Byrd in several things since. I haven't seen it in a couple of years hopefully I will catch the movie on TV soon. I really wanted my daughter to watch it I think she would really enjoy it.

The story line is really great and fun very family friendly!!

The story was well written, the acting was well done, the cinematography was well done. Charles Nelson Reily was great as an old clown, and Mickey Rooney was in his usual top form, even at this age.

Heck, I'm not one for family films, but this one was pretty good. My wife caught it on the Hallmark channel, and we just ended up watching it.

Sure, it has a happy ending...it's supposed to. Anything else would have been a disappointment.