Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 09/24/2002
Dubbed: English
Run Time: 100 Minutes
Flags: Excellent For Children
Distributor/Studio: Alpha Video
David O. Selznick's first independent production upheld the producer's tradition, established at
Paramount,
RKO and
MGM, of bringing the "classics" to the screen. Adapted by
Hugh Walpole from the novel by
Frances Hodgson Burnett,
Little Lord Fauntleroy is set in the late 19th century. After establishing
Freddie Bartholomew as a likeable Brooklyn boy who can handle himself in a scrap--with the assistance of his roughneck pal
Mickey Rooney, of course--the film introduces us to
Bartholomew's mother, played by
Dolores Costello-Barrymore (though divorced from
John Barrymore,
Mrs. Costello-Barrymore was still billng herself by her married name).
Costello-Barrymore is the widow of a titled Englishman, whose father, the aristocratic
Sir C. Aubrey Smith, detests all Americans with equal fervor. Upon discovering that
Bartholomew is the rightful heir to his fortune,
Smith demands that
Costello-Barrymore deliver the boy to his sprawling English country estate. Now addressed by one and all as Lord Fauntleroy,
Bartholomew chafes at the restrictions imposed upon him by his station in life. The boy's good nature and forthrightedness wins his grandfather's respect-and, eventually, the old man's love. When pasty-faced
Jackie Searl, a false claimant to
Bartholomew's title, shows up,
Bartholomew's American pals, led by
Rooney, set things right. His hard heart softened at last,
Smith stage-manages a happy reunion between
Bartholomew and
Costello-Barrymore. Expertly sidestepping the "sissy" onus that has been unfairly placed upon the original
Burnett novel,
Little Lord Fauntleroy scored well at the box office. Other versions of this venerable tale have starred
Mary Pickford (as both Fauntleroy and his mother) and
Ricky Schroder.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cart 0 items
