The Beloved Brat

Roberta Morgan (Bonita Granville) has wealthy parents who don't care much about her. She is forced to give up a puppy for embarrassing her mother. She acts out against the household help. She befriends black siblings, Pinkie White and his sister Arabella. She is impressed with their loving family. She acts out more when Jenkins the butler kicks out her guest Pinkie.

I don't know the old time definition of brat. She's not really bratty in the modern sense for the first half hour. She's more a poor little rich girl. Of course, the fire is very bratty and the perjury is unforgiveable. In the end, Roberta is a conflicted character. The turns are abrupt. I would have preferred a simply runaway story and Pinkie can help her return home. The story leaves me a little unsatisfied. Leo Gorcey does have a good scene looking like his Dead End Kid. Granville is a fine young sassy actress. So I like the first half but the second half is not as compelling.

It was fun, at first, to see the lead character acting like a complete brat. Refreshing to see black kids treated like normal kids, instead of racist stereotypes. Though I have to point out their mom doesn't get off so lightly. Nevertheless, Stymie Beard steals those early scenes. That kid had amazing comedic chops.

I didn't lose my mind when the Brat was responsible for vehicular manslaughter because, well, this is make-believe.

But she is such a relentless brat that it got tiresome. The only thing that kept me watching in the second half was Dolores Costello.

Wouldn't watch again.

Warner Bros. was known for gritty gangster pictures. Here, of all things, they've fashioned a gritty adolescent girl film, with a lot more boldness than I ever expected. More than a brat, Roberta's a little hellion, flinging food trays and emotional tizzies at the slightest provocation. We understand her problems come from an unloving wealthy household where she and the butler (Vogan) go ten-rounds without a referee.

But consider the darker side. She is, after all, partially responsible for the death of an innocent motorist, when she grabs the car wheel from butler Jenkins. The probation school reckoning for that strikes me as pretty mild. Nor, rather surprisingly, does the screenplay supply a moral reckoning. Also unexpected is the casualness with which Roberta crosses the colorline with Pinkie (Beard) and his Negro family. But then, she probably identifies more with them than with her distant mother and father. And I agree with another reviewer that there seems some innuendo from the handsome Williams toward the budding young woman.

All of this strikes me as unusual for a Production Code programmer. But then writer Negulesco directed some of the better studio products of the 40's and 50's, including the soulful Deep Valley (1947) and the surprisingly sensitive Take Care of My Little Girl (1952). Then too, Granville turns in an absolutely bravura performance that rivets attention throughout. Quite a risk for a young actress to make herself so unlikable for so much of the movie. Anyhow, the last third lapses into something much more conventional, as might be expected for what remains a commercial product. Nonetheless, there's enough of the unconventional in both filming and writing to make this little obscurity worth catching up with.

In the title role, Bonita Granville appears about as lovable as she'd been two years earlier in "These Three." A brat: Yes. Beloved? Not really. Not by the audience and not by her family.

She gets into mischief of an increasingly serious nature. Her self-involved wealthy parents are given the option of sending her to a school that seems to be a step above reform school.

The luminous Dolores Costello is employed there. Oh, who can forget her heartbreaking performance a few years later in "The Magnificent Ambersons"? She's very good here too.

All the acting is at least decent and often more than that.

From the beginning we see that Granville's character is the monster she is because no one -- not even her parents' servants -- likes or pays real attention to her. It's far from a great movie but it's also better than one would expect.

A parental neglect social statement that comes dangerously close to the unintentional hilarity of "Reefer Madness". Fortunately it is saved by an extremely strong performance by Bonita Granville in the lead role (Roberta Morgan). While a bit of a reprise of her "These Three" nastiness, Granville's "The Beloved Brat" (1938) title role has considerably more dimensionality and the young actress displays unexpected range.

Granville was generally more cute than sexy, but this film has a pre-code feel to it and emphasizes her sensual side in several scenes. Donald Briggs of the pencil thin mustache plays her father's male secretary and they have a couple curious scenes together. These are certainly more interesting than his mildly romantic scenes with Dolores Costello who plays school principal Helen Morgan.

While the film might be of some interest to those focused on "Blacks in Hollywood", this is an extremely minor element within the film, artificially inserted just to lamely expand the "becoming a better person" theme.

Despite mostly weak supporting performances, Granville manages to sell her character and keeps a very unoriginal story quite involving. Fortunately she is in almost every scene. A must see for her fans.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only an inner child.