After losing their father in the Boer War, orphaned brothers Harry and Davy must leave their home in Scotland to live with their grandmother and cantankerous grandfather in Nova Scotia. The boys want nothing more than a pet dog, but their grandfather refuses to get them one. Then, when the brothers find an abandoned baby, they decide to keep it – but the foundling may not have been abandoned after all.
The Little Kidnappers, Besiegter Hass
USA
UK
Austria
Austria
UK
USA
Really awesome child performance here and a solid story, but my biggest takeaway was that picture books were hilariously on the ever growing list of things that were considered immoral
The coached performance of cute wee Vincent Winter does a lot of the heavy lifting in this tale of conflict between Scots and Dutch settlers in turn of the century Nova Scotia. Vincent and Jon Whiteley (who had debuted the previous year with Dirk Bogarde in Hunted) are the orphans who move across Canada to live with their puritanical grandfather and his long-suffering wife and daughter. The Kidnappers is sentimentally entertaining but displays a lack of ambition, both in writing and direction, with strands of drama concerning the adults left dangling. Ultimately it's an undemanding film about the kids/kidnappers, with scant genuine insight about childhood.
Aged 10 and 7, Jon Whiteley and Vincent Winter became the penultimate winners of the Oscar's Juvenile Award for this film (Hayley Mills won the last one six years later for Pollyanna). In the film, they play two kids who sort of kidnap a little baby because they aren't allowed to have a dog, which puts an additional strain on the relationship between their grandfather (who hates the Dutch since his son, the boys' father, died in the Boer war) and the baby's father (who is Dutch).
The character development is all too forseeable, but it's well made, and the running time is short enough to make it watchable.
A surprisingly complex drama set in the Scottish-Canadian settlement in which Duncan Macrae's pious god-fearer welcomes his grandsons into the house after the death of their father.
Jon Whiteley plays the elder boy, Vincent Winter the younger: both are excellent although neither pursued acting beyond childhood. Macrae does well with a difficult part and makes his character completely believable, although daughter Adrienne Corri's romance with the family's arch-enemy Theodore Bikel is underwritten and gets a bit lost.
A very interesting entry in British cinema of the time, this film was based on Neil Paterson's short story "Scotch Settlement", and was filmed again as The Little Kidnappers with Charlton Heston in the Macrae role, in 1990.
The tale of a Scotch/Dutch land feud in turn-of-the-century Nova Scotia. Duncan MacRae is the grumpy old patriarch who takes on his two orphaned grandchildren after their father dies in the Boer War (hence his hatred of the Dutch).
The titles comes from the plot development whereby the boys "borrow" a baby to play with as a substitute for a puppy. There's a Romeo and Juliet sub-plot whereby the son and daughter of the rival families fall in love too.
It's not Citizen Kane, but it's a diverting enough family film of its time.
Phillip Leacock’s drama in which two Canadian orphans ‘borrow’ a baby to raise as their own. Starring Jon Whiteley, Vincent Winter, Adrienne Corri, Duncan Macrae and Jean Anderson.
After their father perishes in the Boer War, orphaned brothers Harry (Jon Whiteley) and Davy (Vincent Winter) are forced to get out of their home in Scotland to exist with their grandmother (Jean Anderson) and argumentative grandfather (Duncan Macrae) in Nova Scotia.
All the boys desire is to have a pet dog, but their grandfather declines for that to happen. Then, when the brothers spot an uninhibited baby, they choose to keep it – but the orphan might not have been abandoned nevertheless.
Jon Whiteley and Vincent Winter both give good performances…
Sugary melodrama set in the wilds of Canada where two Scottish brothers are sent to live with their grumpy grandpa. Quite a mope till the surprising left turn. Check out the natural acting chops of young Vincent Winter and Jon Whitley.
