Figure 1.-- This sscene was shot on New Brighton beach. In the back ground you can see New Brighton Pier. Johnny is trying to trade for the magnet from a younger biy--Kit. Kit is too young to understand the value of items when trading. Kit is wearing a t-shirt and trousers. Johnny is wearing a short-trousered school uniform. |
A British boy is sent home from boarding school because of a scarlet feaver outbreak. He is about about 11. He cheats a younger boy out of a magnet which caught his famcy. The younger boy gets into trouble and the older boy is ashamed about it. He thinks the police are after him. He wants to stay at home so he can't be found. His father can't figure out why his son keeps wearing shorts when offered long trousers. He thinks the boy may be clinging to his childhood. In the end he winds up a hero.
Johnny Brent lived in the town of New Brighton which is a village bordering the River Mersey. The city that can be seen on the opposite side of the Mersey is Liverpool. These places were then in the county of Lancashire. This region is now called Merseyside.
Johnny was at boarding school in the seaside town of
Southport. (Which is why he wear a school uniform in the film.) Southport is a 30 minute train journey from New Brighton. Johnny had been sent home because there was an outbreak of scarlet fever at his school. He was quarantined and was supposed to stay at home. He wondered off and went to the beach.
He met a boy with a bar magnet that he finds fascinating. The younger child is named Kit. Johnny forgot that being quarantined meant that he not to go near other children. He is envious of the
magnet. Kit is too young to be able to make trades on his on and Johnnybtakes advantage of him. Johnny tricks Kit into swapping it for an invisible watch. When Kit shows it to his nannie she, of course,is not fooled and calls after Johnny but he runs away. Johnny realises that it was a naughty thing to do and tries to find Kit to give him the magnet back but he
is not on the beach. He tries to give the magnet away but he is not able to do this.
One day he meets Mr. Harper who is in his workshop. He is making a model of a new piece of hospital equipment. The machine is an iron lung. In 1950 this was a revolutionary medical advancement. Harper is making the model to help his local hospital, raise funds, to buy this item. Johnny gave Mr. Harper the magnet to help him raise funds. Mr. Harper thought the boy had been very generous and was touched by the boys giving. When the campaign started he told everyone about what the boy had given. This inspired the public to give and the money was soon raised. The town’s mayor wanted to the boy to be found so he could be given an award for his generosity.
Johnny knew nothing of this but one day he was travelling on the overhead railway that existed in Liverpool at that time. He recognised Kit’s nannie. He overhead her say that there had been a death in the family and he thought it was Kit who had caught
Scarlet fever from him. Then he heard that the police were looking for a boy with a magnet. He assumed it was because Kit had died.
Johnny would not leave his home. Mum cannot understand why Johnny shows no interest in wearing long trousers. His father's other reasons are all off the mark. His dad who was a psychiatrist thought up all sorts of reasons for his son’s strange behaviour. One theory is that the boy is clinging to his childhood. He thinks that Johnny wants to remain a boy and it is to do with when he was in mums womb and he does not want to grow up. The actual reason that the boy wants to wear short trousers is to avoid being recognised.
His mum tricked Johnny into going outside. He went shopping and was spotted by Mr. Harper. He and the police chased Johnny. The boy hid inside a delivery van and this went under the Mersey Tunnel. He gets trapped in a Crawfords Cream Cracker deliver van. When Johnny was able to get out of the van he was in the dockside area of Liverpool.
The local children saw Johnny watching their game of cricket. They spoke with him and mocked Johnny because of how he spoke. They would not let him play with them until Johnny told them that he was a murderer who was wanted by the police. They believed him when a policeman came by and asked them if they had seen Johnny. The tough boys hid Johnny for the night. Next day they brought him food they had taken from their homes. The local boys thought Johnny was tough. They wanted to see how tough Johnny was. There was one boy called Spike, he was the leader of the gang and did not like Johnny.
Johnny had to walk along a girder across a gap in the jetty. Johnny got scared half way across. Spike began to show off and fell onto a cross beam below. He was knocked out in the fall. The tide was coming in and if something was not done quickly the boy would be drowned. The gang panicked but Johnny kept his cool. He sent a Chinese boy for help. He climbed down to Spike and held his head above the water. Help arrived and the boys were taken to hospital. Johnny was uninjured. Spike’s back was badly hurt and
he could not breathe properly. He was put in the iron lung until he was well. When Johnny was leaving the hospital he was spotted by Mr. Harper who caught him and took him to the hospital board. Johnny was given a medal for his bravery.
A few days later Johnny was on the beach and saw a small boy, it was Kit. Johnny was happy to see him. He could make amends for cheating him. Kit asked Johnny if he would swap his medal for an invisible watch. Johnny was only too happy to do this.
Kit ran off with the medal. Johnny was happy that he had put right the wrong and had his self respect back. The boys were now quits (equals). Johnny ran along the
beach as happy as a lark now that his conscience was
clear.
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