You can also slect the movies available on HBC by using this alphabetical movie listing. At this time only a few movies have been analized by HBC for clothing information, but more pages are being added all the time. We incourage readers to sed along insights on their favorite films.
A boy who loses his mother has, with his father's help, to deal with the loss of a leg.
A HBC reader notes the Hungarian film "Yan-Bibiyan" made about 1980. It is a film about the relationship between a rich girl and poor boy. One image shows the poor boy dressed in rags and a catapult (sling-shot) in his hands. The film is set on Hungary during the 1930s. We have few details on the film at this time.
Juanito (Ricardo Ancona), an 8-year old boy, lives in an Indian village near Mexico city. He is extremely sensitive to the discordant noises around him. He often rafts to a small island where he plays his homemade violin. An old man befriends him and sensing his talent teaches him to play a real violin which the boy calls "Yanco." When the man dies, the boys mother tries to buy the violin, but a store keeper refuses to sell it. Juanito manages to steal the violin every night. The village is then disturbed by the unknown source of the ghostly music. They take up arms. The boy eludes them but is drowned in a whirlpool. The film deals with the age old conflict between youthful dreams and the harsh indifference of the real world.
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An American boy has trouble adjusting to the very proper British standards at Eton College. I saw this film so long ago that I cannot now remember much about the plot line. The film was released in 1942, I am not sure if it was shot before Pearl Harbor causing America to join the British in the War. The message of the film was that Brits and Yanks have superficial differences, but in the end they can be resolved and work together. I am not sure where the film was shot, but it must have been America as the producers would not have risked sending big stars to Britain in 1941-42. Surely shooting the film without an Eton setting must have detracted from it. The film pairs Mickey Rooney who played Tiomothy Dennis and Freddie Bartholmew who Peter Carlton. The two also worked together in Little Lord Fauntleroy. There was also a young Peter Lawford whp played Ronnie Kenvil. Raymond Severn played Weeld "Inky". A HBC reader has supplied the attached image to illustrate the point that Eton collars sometimes did not have sharply pointed ends.
Jimmy Cagne World War II vehicle about James M. Cohen. It features a little unbridled, but understandable jingoism considering the time. The beginning of the film focuses on the young Cohen. In one scene at about 7, he performs in knicker-length pants, white stockings, and Mary Jane patent-leather strap shoes. As a 13-year old he wears knickers and gets a spanking from his father. George's father starts to discipline him, but his mother won't let him hit the boy on his hands (he plays an instrument) or his face (he sings). The father then decides to spank him on his bottom, exclaiming, "there is one place without any talent".
A well done, wry coming of age film evoking the tortures and exquisite longings of adolescence. Danny (Noah Taylor) is the 15 year old hero is the embodiment of gridlock teen emotions. A scrawny kid with long, bony arms and a dramatic sweep of dark hair, would like to be like the rockers he hears on the radio. He moons after his childhood friend, a girl a year older than he. But she has a boy friend and in despair Danny follows them about. The movie is set in 1962, in ravishingly stark New South Wales. The movie delivers a challenging coming of age struggle. The moody, rather seedy small-town struggle, evokes an American southern Gothic novel.
Sensitive story about a farm boy 11-12 years old and the deer he rescues and raises. Claude Jarman, Jr. in his film debut received a special Academy Award for his performance. He really performed his role beautifully. The boy wears overalls as is appropriate for a poor family in the American South. He also wears a nightdress at a time when not everyone wore pajamas.
The film centers on Frankie (Andrew Ray) who is about 11 years old. After being traumatized by a friend's death, Frankie is victimized by a petty crook. He and his friends wear shorts throughout, often a nice suit with knee socks. Too bad there aren't more films like this. The shorts are the longish, baggy ones common in Britain during the 1940s and 1950s. I quite liked the boy's performance in the film.
Roddy McDowall has a bit part.
The abominable snow man awakens from hibernation and befriends a mute boy, a teenager, a dog, and others.
After a nuclear holocaust, a caveman must battle prehistoric monsters. I think there are some children in his clan.
Anders Agenso, Peter Bjerg. The movie is set against a student strike at a Danish school and centers on the developing relationship between 15 year old Bo and Kim, the younger son of the stern boarding school headmaster.
Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy
Roddy McDowall has a bit part.
Basically uninteresting Martin and Lewis comedy about a young man who disguises himself as a 12 year old boy. Jerry prances about in a little boy's sailor suit with knee socks for a good bit of the film. He spots a real boy at the train station actually dressed in a sailor suit. When he goes to buy a train ticket, the ticket agent glances down to see if he is wearing short pants.
Older British films can be quite interesting, although some are a pain to sit through. I found this one to be a rather dull mystery/romance, despite being an early Hitchcock effort. A fewv boys wear short trousers, but it is often difficult to see their costuming. The main character was the daughter of a police official who also had four sons. The boys always appear dressed in suits. I'm sure the younger boys were in shorts and the older boys might have been also, but you couldn't see. (I missed the beginning of the film, perhaps there are clearer shots at the beginning.) There were a few other interesting scenes. When the hero and heroine stops for petrol (gas), the proprietor calls for his young son (about 7) who is in shorts to pump the gas. He has a nice accent and calls for help, "Oye" to get leverage on the pump. There is also an extended scene at a children's party. The children are all smartly dressed in their best party clothes. There are more girls than boys, but the boys attending mostly wear shorts, knee socks, and jackets--often with stiff Eton collars. The one older boy wearing an Eton jacket wears longs. One boy had the only speaking role. I believe his name was Harold and he looked to be about 8. He kept volunteering for things. He was rather a personable little chap in a short pants suit.
Depressing story about juvenile delinquents living on the outskirts of Mexico city. The film focuses on Pedro, a young boy whose mother has no use for him. An older, corrupt gang leader named Jacob hounds and destroys the younger, more innocent boy before being destroyed himself. In Spanish with English subtitles. The Spanish language title is Los Olvidados.
Set in southern Greece in 200BC, the film addresses the complexities of young love.
This film is based on tnhe young of Princess Elizabeth. The main characters depicted are historically accurate. Elizabeth's brother was Edward and the regenceu was in the hands of his uncle. Edward's mother Jane Seymour died in childbirth. After Henry VIII died, Edward became king, but was still a child. A younger uncle did try to stage a coup. The rest of the film is a Hollywood fiction, especially the portrayal of the older brother as a villan anfd the younger brother as the hero. Princess Elizabeth is portrayed as being romantically attached to Thomas Seymour. I know of no historical evidence of this and if true may of well c0ost Elizabeth her life. Elizabeth's childhood is a fascinating story and would habe been so much moire interesting than this essentislly fictional acount. Edward is nicely portrayed by Rex Thompson. The costuming seems fairly accurate.
When his son is killed, a deputy marshal comes out of retirement. I don't know what age his son was.
A New Zealand film about a bunch of kids who solve a crime. One of the boys wears his short gray school shorts almost all of the time but his sister only wears sweatpants. Some of the other kids wear shorts, but mostly sweat pants and jeans. This film was made in the 80s.
The 'Young don't cry' was one of several fimms shot about juveile delonquets. This was a film written as a vehicle for Sal Mineo who was a rising star at the time. Teenage Leslie Henderson (Sal Mineo) struggles against brutal bigger boys at a orphanage. He becomes assoiciated with a convict (James Witmore) trying to escape from a prison located close to the orphanage. The convict had been unjustly sentenced, but is using Leslie to further his escape. The association with the convict helps Leslie learn to stand up to those abusing their power. We note that Georgia prisons were terrible places. The chsin gangs were infamous. We are not sure, however, about the orphanages in the state. Typically state facilities were not well fubded. The movie was shoty on location at the Bethesda Home for Boys in Savannah, Georgia. Given the depiction, one wonders why they would cooperate with the prioduction. Presumably there was healthy fee involved. A notable feature of the film was the positive roles ofvtwo blacks. Holly was at the gime just begi=nning gto change hoe blacks were depicted in its films. The orpohanage like schools and other sttes facilities were strictly seggregted.
The Young Eagles was a black and white, 12 episode show about the Boy Scouts, specifically two eagle scouts who crashed landed on an island with their pilot. They become lost in the jungle, get captured by natives, have amazing animal adventures and find gold treasure. It was a kind of child's version of '????'. This series was directed by Edward Laurier, written by Harry. O Hoyt, and starred Bobby Cox, Jim Vance, Carter Dixon, Iron Eyes Cody and Earl Dwire.
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The Warner Brotghers-Seve Arts movie was shot in France. We do not know much about it except that it was a Gene Kelly vehicle. Here we see French boys eating ice cream and following Kelly. I don't know much about the film.
A Disney Sunday movie featuring a fictionalized the famous escape artist as a boy. If I remember right the boy wears knicker-length pants.
A boy can move things around simply by thinking about it. Another boy is a cello prodigy.
A not very interesting Shirley Temple film. Orphaned Shirley is raised by show people who then retire in new England, but are not accepted by the conservative town. Several children have small roles and a few boys appear in shorts. A group of children, probably 10-12 years old, during a school auditorium presentation are singing a song. The boys are all in suits and two of them, including one of biggest ones, is in a short pants suit with ankle socks--an increasingly common fashion in America during the 1940s. Darryl Hickman
The Young Poisoner's Handbook is based on an actual true account of an English teenager This movie is based around a true story. It deals with a young boy who is skilled in chemistry and making concoctions, who apparently poisoned family, friends, and co-workers. Graham is very intelligent, but entirely without morals. He takes an interest in science courses at school, especially chemistry. He reads everything bhe can find about chemistry. He does not fit in at school and becomes fascinated by morbid subjects--especially poisons and murder. He finds his family situation as intolerable.
He tries his experiments out on his family. He especially dislikes his stepmother. He finally concludes that the answer to his problems is poison anyone who annoys him. He starts out using antimony and later with thallium. He see himself as smarter than other people and assumes he will not be caught. He is caught and sentenced to 'rehabilitation' at a psychiatric institution. He finally leaves the institution, only to repeat his offences and is put straight back inside again. The movie is set in a British comprehensive with a uniform consisting of a black blazer and tie. Hugh O'Connor, who also played in Lamb and My Left Foot, stars in the film. The person playing the 14 year old (Graham Young) is about 20. He wears short trousers for most of the movie. The part of the 13 year old boy is played by Hugh O’Connor, who at the time of making the movie was 19 years old. It is strange to see a youth of this age playing a part of some one so young, particularly when he is dressed in a typical English school uniform including the shorts. There are some shots of the school he attends along with many of the students in similar uniforms. My guess is,
the director wanted to use the same actor for the role rather than a younger boy and progressing to the older youth with a different actor. This aside, the movie is quite good and shows what the fashions were like in the 50s and 60s.
Out to reunite her siblings, a 12-year old must outwit her parents, the police, a TV news crew, and some bank robbers. A Disney production.
A series of bizarre murders provoke young Sherlock and his sidekick Watson into joining forces to unravel the mystery of an idol worshiping cult. The film speculates that the two got together at their boarding school when Holmes' academic mentor is mysteriously killed. Nicholas Rowe, Alan Cox.
Edison's early inventions and heroism are chronicled. Begins with the boy getting in trouble at school and being punished by being put in the corner of the cloak room. Mickey Rooney is about 20, but plays Tom at a much younger age.
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This powerful allegorical German film is based the novel (Die Verwirrungen des Zoglings Torless written by Robert Musil in 1906. (Musil at age 12 entered an Austrian boarding school. He served in World War I and was decorated for valor. He mairred a Jewish woman and fled to SWitzerland after the Anschluss. His books critical of the military were banned by the NAZIs.) Young Torless is set at an Austrian military school and is based on the author's own experieces. This penetrating study of young cadets offers a preview of coming power of Facist movements. Mathieu Carriere plays Torless, a student in a prestigious boarding school during the waning, but still proud days of the Hapsburg empire. Torless witnesses the sadistic behavior of fellow students Alfred Dietz and Bernd. He at first watches with fascination, but does not intervene or to assisst the hapless victims. When Torless does finally report his former friends, it is he who has to leave the school. There may have been a remake in 1996. One reviewer writes, "Young Torless has gone down in film history as a seminal work that announced a new German cinema of international stature."
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The TV adaptation of the Young Visiters is based on Daisy Ashford's humerous novel of the same title. The interesting aspect of the book is that it was written in 1890, when Daisy was still a 9-year old child. The draft was put away and forgotten until several years later. It was published just as Daisy wrote it, including her childish spelling errorts--even the title. That is the charm of the book. It is the world as seen by a little girl, albeit a perceptive little girl.
A scene in a photographer's studio came right at the end of the film. The protagonist Lord Bernard Clark poses for a photo with his young family. The boys wear period outfits inclkuding Fauntleroy suits. There are two close-ups showing the lace collars. As far as one can judge from the group picture the costumes are accurate of
the period (1890s).
The early career of Winston Churchill is presented, beginning with his school days.
Dreadful movie. Some children are pictured, but costuming is Hollywood kitch.
A man (Henry Fonda) with 10 kids marries a woman (Luzi Arnez) with 8. Enjoyable with so many kids. It is a typical American movie. None of the boys except a toddler wear shorts. The boys wear typical American clothes for the 1960s. One little boy, Phillip (Eric Shea), has a nice part. He has a run in with his teacher, a Catholic nun who insists he continues using his old name as he isn't legally adopted.
The teenage children of defense plant workers turn to juvenile delinquency during World War II.
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