Little Lord Fauntleroy (NR, 1936)

LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY was a major hit in the 1880's. And this quality movie version (by David O Selznick) has lots of great child and adult actors maybe Grandpa and the "old movie" fans will recognize. A kid of today has to get past the rather wimpy music score and the slightly murky black and white shooting...but Freddie Bartholomew was the top male child star (second only to Shirley Temple) partly for this QUALITY performance as poor young Ced Errol, poor Brooklyn boy, who finds out he's heir to a great British title and fortune. Watch for Mickey Rooney in the fight scene. Ced tackles several bullies alone...and Mickey later joins him. (Preview of soon coming World War II - first the Brit handles the "bullies" and then the American joins him!) Sir C. Aubrey Smith is the great, bitter old Lord who has only the unseen (and despised ) American grandson left alive to inherit the great Dorincourt title and estate. (I think one of the old men Muppet characters was copied after him with his great craggy face and heavy brows). Drew Barrymore's grandma (Dolores Costello) plays Cedric's beloved widowed mother. This story is STILL being remade. (I've even heard of a Russian version of LLF!) And let's hope that this GREAT version gets a technical cleanup someday. I've watched it with my young son, who is beginning to appreciate the small but noble Cedric. (Right now I tell him, the young shoe shine boy (Mickey Roney) played one of the old men in NATIONAL TREASURE). This film too takes a little work for a child of today to appreciate,but it is a minor film treasure and is definitely worth your time.