Le petit Lord Fauntleroy

John Cromwell gets a lot of credit for this Selznick Studio release. It is only the second time (at that time) the story had been filmed. The first was a poor silent version. Although Cromwell could have developed the story a bit more, it is well cast. Bartholomew is excellent as young Cedrick and Smith is fine as the crusty old Earl who learns to love his grandson, additionally Rooney as Dick the bootblack, and Kibbee as storekeeper Hobbs are also outstanding.

Although heavy with sentimentality, Cromwell has done an excellent job of cutting out all the terrible wordiness of the novel. (Burnett writes as though she is being paid by the word and puts in way to many adjectives.) The story is well told and the scenic effects are good for their time. Unfortunately the film has not aged well and some scenes have darkened with time. Perhaps an enterprising admirer will trouble to restore this film. IF they do, hopefully they will also restore the missing scenes so the film runs its full length.

A discount film hawker (Front Row Video, Canada) has the nerve to sell copies of the film (claiming a running time of 1:42) that are so butchered, that two conversations are cut right in the middle with a change of scene. Digiview Productions who states on the front cover "Sometimes the price we pay is too high" and charges only a dollar for their DVD version, has been caught with their foot in their mouth. They only charge a buck, but even that is too much for the hacked up 92 minute version of the film they sell.

For purists, I urge you to find a complete copy of this well done film. THe only way you can enjoy something is to see all of it.

This is a good adaptation of the story of "Little Lord Fauntleroy", with a very good cast that brings the characters to life in a believable and entertaining fashion. Besides telling the enjoyably old-fashioned family story, the movie adds some nice scenes that simply emphasize the relationships among the characters.

This is one of Freddie Bartholomew's best roles, and he seems pretty natural in the part of Fauntleroy. The adult cast features some very good performances. Dolores Costello is a good choice as the gentle 'Dearest', Henry Stephenson is well-cast as the faithful Haversham, and C. Aubrey Smith seems the very embodiment of a bad-tempered Earl.

But perhaps the best performances come from Guy Kibbee and a young Mickey Rooney, as Cedric's American friends. Their camaraderie in their scenes with Bartholomew works particularly well, and they figure in some of the movie's best moments.

The story is just the familiar old tale, with young Cedric leaving his humble but cozy existence in Brooklyn to go to England, where he must contend with his grandfather's coldness towards his mother and with other challenges. But it's the kind of story that's easy to watch over again when it is told the right way.

They just don't make 'em like this anymore. You can take all your Culkins and Woods and Osments and roll them into one, and they still couldn't shine the shoes of Freddie Bartholemew (as Mickey Rooney does in this film). The difference, I believe, is that these contemporary performers think of themselves as CHILD actors, where Bartholemew and his contemporary Shirley Temple thought of themselves as ACTORS -- just as Rooney's character thought of himself as a BUSINESSMAN. The effect is palpable: you just can't fake being a real person. This of course is the familiar story of an American boy in the 1880's who learns he is the heir to an English earl and must go live with the old bloke, who parenthetically hates his mother, in an old castle. Needless to say, it is the earl who is transformed by the strength and purity of the boy's character, and not the intended reverse. Every scene and every line in this film is perfect, and if it is a "period piece," then I say we'd be so much better off if we could return to that "period."

This altogether lovely, exquisite period piece represents Hollywood filming at its height, no doubt. But what almost destroys its timelessness is the terribly bad condition of the film, reportedly taken from a television showing some years ago, complete with some of the worst damage I have ever seen in an old Hollywood classic. The memory of David O. Selznick deserves better than this shoddy monument to his great vision of the Burnett book. It is simply unforgivable that various "discount" houses continue to offer this and so many other dreadful copies of great films to a gullible and unsuspecting public. The complete restoration of this film is LONG overdue. And the various slashing of scenery, dialogue, for whatever greedy reason, is appalling, just appalling. After having seen so very many films on VHS and now DVD over many years, I submit that this is the most heartbreaking kind of butchery of a great, noble effort of any of the great directors and producers in the long history of American filming. Please, won't someone - the AFI, TCM, restoration companies, ANYONE - step up and lovingly bring this lovingly created film back into the sunshine of clarity, wholeness and beauty???!!! I have little faith in our rapidly decaying culture as we enter the new century, especially when such travesties occur. Once again, there is absolutely NO valid, logical excuse for this. Sorry for popping off so much, but I have watched it all too many times before. To use an offensive word appropriate for my feelings - it's bullshit...

This "GEM" of a film should be digitally remastered to preserve its cinematic integrity. The audio seems a bit "washed" and scratchy and some video portions skip and flutter a bit. This is a shame considering the quality of this fine production. Freddie Bartholomew is precious in this role and was a fine actor in his own right. There is an immediate chemistry generated between him and C. Aubrey Smith. From the outset there was no clash of generations, in fact quite the contrary, they got along swimmingly! It's just too bad that the Earl shunned Dearest right off, but I guess living alone and being lonely would take its toll on anyone, especially since his son married against his wishes. In any event, there should be more movies with actors of this caliber, especially nowadays when the world could really use a great "G" rated film without all the animation and special effects. This should be required reading in schools, if for nothing else, for the lesson in humility. GREAT FILM!!!