Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)

Little Lord Fauntleroy
Directed by John Cromwell
Written by Hugh Walpole based on the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett
1936/USA
Selznick International Pictures
First viewing

[box] Earl of Dorincourt: If any one had told me I could be fond of a child, I should not have believed them. I always detested children – my own more than the rest. I am fond of this one and he is fond of me. I am not popular; I never was. But he is fond of me. He was never afraid of me – he always trusted me. He would have filled my place better than I have filled it. I know that. He would have been an honor to the name.[/box]

This one is basically very competently made treacle.  There are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

The story is based on a novel but is also the basic plot of many, many Shirley Temple movies with a sex change.  Adorable Ceddie (Freddie Bartholomew) is the light of his widowed mother’s life and delights all the adults and some of the children that encounter him.  One day, a lawyer arrives from England to say that he is now the heir to the title of the Earl of Dorincourt and bears the title of Lord Fauntleroy.  The Earl (C. Aubrey Smith), Ceddie’s grandfather, wants him to stay in the family castle in England with the proviso that his mother (Dolores Costello), whom he calls “Dearest”, cannot join him.  Dearest magnanimously grants the Earl his wish and goes off to live in a nearby cottage.  The Little Lord manages to melt the Earl’s heart and improve the lives of all he encounters.  With Micky Rooney as a Brooklyn shoeshine boy, Jessie Ralph as an apple seller, and Guy Kibee as an aristocracy hating grocer.

Freddie Bartholomew is undeniably cute, even if too good to be true.  It was a pleasure to see all the fine character actors in this movie.  If you can put up with some melodrama and tweeness, it’s not so bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy6UXIdQqiY

Trailer