John and Julie

This was shown in America in the early seventies on the short lived CBS Children's Film Festival, which of course was hosted by Kukla, Fran & Ollie, the trio in which Fran was a human being, but Kukla the clown and Ollie the dragon were hand puppets operated by Burr Tillstrom.

I had no idea this program was in color for starters, and now to see it nearly 30 years later, it really is an absolute escapist delight. Forget all your troubles in life and focus on two children wanting to see her majesty's coronation.

Peter Sellers (nearly unrecognizeable as that cop), Sidney James (whom I just discovered earlier this year in the Carry On movies), and above all others, Wilfred Hyde White, always sensational to listen to.

There is nothing I can say about the music. It carries the movie, enters at just the right moments.

The coronation as well was brilliant. For her majesty and Winston Churchill's brief appearances? Certainly, but the stars were the British subjects themselves, shown throughout the movie aiding John and Julie in their quest to get to London as well, now gathered along the procession to cheer for the queen. These were the stars, as the movie triumphantly noted at the very end.

And now to see it well half a century after the events, three decades after I was first exposed to the story, what more is there to say?

God save the queen.

Just months later Katie Johnson (whose resemblance here to a statue of Queen Victoria is explicitly remarked upon) was sharing a much darker film with Peter Sellars (presently fifteenth in the cast list), this time recalling the Old Queen's death; at that time a more recent memory than the present Queen's coronation in 1953 is today.

This long-forgotten Group Three production follows the same narrative arc of the same year's 'The Night of the Hunter' of a small boy and an even smaller girl journeying across a landscape peopled by adults whose world they only dimly comprehend (or not at all, such as Moira Lister's profession) and occasionally frightens them.

While Laughton's film was deliberately stylised - shot largely on sound stages in gothic black & white - and this makes extensive use of locations and actuality footage of the Coronation parade itself, the fifties Eastmancolor in which it is bathed creates an experience in many ways just as strange to experience when seen today.

This was a most enjoyable film, using the coronation of a year or so before as a backdrop for the story. Lots of very familiar British actors, many of whom became well-known in later years, were in the film and Eddie Calvert's theme became a hit in those less beat-conscious years.

I first saw John and Julie at the Double Bay Hoyts Theatre in the Sydney Harbour suburb in 1957 but not again in color till about ten years ago when I obtained the Video. It was a huge thrill to have a color copy after so long and be able to revisit the heartwarming film so many times since. The cast of excellent British actors and actresses brought humor and sensitivity to the characters and Colin Gibson and Lesley Dudley were ideally cast as the children. Good old Australian actor Vincent Ball also had a small part and Moira Lister, Noelle Middleton, Syd James, Megs Jenkins, Constance Cummings, Wilfred Hyde Whyte, Peter Sellers and others all added naturally to the proceedings. Briefly said,if you would like an enjoyable, satisfying and nostalgic look into the Fifties era of simplicity and wholesomeness, invite John and Julie into your life.

One of my favorite films even today after fifty years.

"John and Julie" evokes memories of my own childhood, seeing this sweet, wonderful comedy on TV in the sixties. A simple story, of two British children, separated from their families while en route to London to see Elizabeth crowned, the film offers a wide variety of British performers (including Wilfrid Hyde-White and a young Peter Sellers), as 'typical', if often eccentric, countrymen who aid the children on their way. Colin Gibson and Lesley Dudley, as the children, are completely natural, and captivating (Dudley pouts so wistfully that you want to hug her!)

With a beautiful score (highlighted by a trumpet solo), stock footage of the actual event blended in with the story, and a joyous finale that could turn the most dedicated 'Yank' into an Anglophile, "John and Julie" is a small gem, something the entire family will love!