Il ragazzo dai capelli verdi

When I was little I saw this movie on tv. It made an impact that never left me. It is a "B" movie, but the message of cruelty to those that are different is an "A". I don't know if it would have had the same impact on me had I been an adult when I first saw it, but the message is still with me today. Sometimes I wish young kids today could see this movie, I wonder if it might make an impact on them also.

I, too, first saw this film a little while after it came out, when I was younger than the main character was supposed to be. It has stayed with me for the next half-century, and I considered myself very lucky to find a video in a sale bin about ten years ago.

Really, it foreshadowed the '60's - it is not only about the fact that being different should be OK, but more about the consequences of intolerance, about folks' reactions, their illogic, and where those reactions can take us. This is all done with a nice soupcon of fantasy to make the moral point easy to understand (subtlety isn't the film's strong point).

There's a story in the newspapers about a twelve-year-old boy in 6th grade who last week came to school with hair dyed green for St. Patrick's day, incidentally. Three guesses what happened to him....

See this movie.

'The Boy with Green Hair (1948)' feels very much like a British film. I'm not quite sure why, but it's probably not because of Pat O'Brien's would-be Irish accent. The manner in which director Joseph Losey blends vivid working-class realism with elements of fantasy reminded me of Carol Reed's 'A Kid for Two Farthings (1955).' Both films feature a boy protagonist using fantasy to find solace amid the harsh realities of life – in Peter Fry's case, to come to terms with the death of both parents during the London Blitz. Young Dean Stockwell, who the previous year had played Nick Charles Jr. in 'Song of the Thin Man (1947),' gives a surprisingly mature and sensitive performance as the youth whose hair inexplicably turns green one morning. Displaying unique range for an actor of his age (and upstaging his adult co-stars), Stockwell oscillates between fresh-faced enthusiasm, timidity, resolution, and, in the film's framing sequences, a hardened resentment towards society.

Losey released his film in the relative calm between the end of World War Two and the slowly escalating Cold War, when the United States was still coming to terms with its losses. Far from simply being a fluffy, imaginative children's film, 'The Boy with Green Hair' has more ambitious aspirations, an anti-war film only years after Hollywood collectively urged audiences to stand up and fight. Given that the director was later blacklisted for alleged Communist affiliations, one finds it tempting to regard his film as political allegory of sorts. Stockwell's Peter Fry is an ordinary boy, liked and respected by his friends and acquaintances throughout town. Then he is physically branded with an arbitrary label, one that doesn't change the sort of person he was or is, but that is nevertheless viewed by society as unnatural and potentially dangerous. He is ostracised, harassed, and abandoned by his friends, ultimately forced to flee their persecution. Peter Fry was labeled with green hair; Losey, and hundreds like him, was labelled a Communist.

Every time I watch a film with Pat O'Brien he's forced to play it straight, so it was good to see him having some fun as Gramps, a faded Irish vaudeville performer who takes Stockwell's war orphan into his home and proudly adopts him as a grandson. Behind the hammy accent there's something distinctly wistful about O'Brien's performance, the ghost of a tired old man clinging to his long-gone youth, unable to properly nurture the next generation because he never grew up himself. Robert Ryan also appears as a child psychologist who interviews Peter, but he's not given anything much to do aside from listening to the boy's story, his characteristic intensity temporarily subdued. The film is shot in sumptuous Technicolor that almost looks too vibrant to be real, pushing the border between reality and imagination. Overall, 'The Boy with Green Hair' is both an intriguing children fantasy and a powerful anti-war fable, tinged with that childhood innocence that makes every ideal seem so attainable.

I saw this movie in Panama, where I was born, at the movie theater when I was 8 years old. The images of the movie and its message has stayed with me all these years. Other people can be cruel if you are different. Being different is NOT a

bad thing. Live with it and use it to your advantage. See this movie if you can. It is hard to find.

In a police station, a child psychologist uses his ability to interview a runaway boy with hairs completely cut-off that is reluctant to speak. The boy tells that his name is Peter Fry (Dean Stockwell) and his parents had traveled to London and have not returned yet; meanwhile he is living with Gramp Fry (Pat O'Brien), after being lodged in the houses of many relatives for short periods. He gets along with Gramp, the locals, his schoolmates and his teacher; however, when he discovers that he is an orphan of war, his hair turns green on the next morning and Peter is rejected by his community.

The metaphoric "The Boy with Green Hair" is one of the most beautiful and touching fantasies, with magnificent messages against war, racism and intolerance. Joseph Losey directed a fantastic film, absolutely underrated in IMDb, with an original story associated to an awesome screenplay and top-notch performances, highlighting a twelve year-old Dean Stockwell and Pat O'Brien. In times of intolerance, this movie is a gem to be discovered by worldwide viewers. Further, this is the type of movie that should be recommended in schools for children, not only because of the antiwar and anti-racism peaceful messages, but also because demands interpretation of the story told by Peter to the psychologist. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Menino dos Cabelos Verdes" ("The Boy with Green Hair")