I'll give this film 8 on the 10 scale and most of the credit goes to Dickie Moore. His brother and sisters are only so-so, good enough but no better. His mother ('sweetheart' as he calls her) is fine. The cranky Aunt is quite good and the old lady neighbor is very good - I wish she had been on-screen more than she was. But make no mistake, young Dickie Moore is the star of this film and easily runs away with it. He was still just twelve years old during the filming and plays his role in a very believable way. It bears mentioning that Moore was an intensely handsome kid whose roles never traded on his looks; his acting talent was his biggest strength, his appealing looks were just icing on the cake.
I would have liked to see the old lady neighbor's character developed a bit more, and they could have played up her final scene to good benefit (and given Moore an opportunity to stretch his emotional range in this film). But I did find it satisfying that an old woman would show her gratitude to a youngster who had cared about her. I also really enjoyed the scene where Moore goes off on his siblings and his cranky rich aunt out on the downtown street, and offers to fight her chauffeur. In another scene he tries to trip one of his sisters and when she turns and makes a move toward him he's all ready with cocked fists to take her on too.
Another reviewer said that Moore had more honest emotion in his acting than Mickey Rooney did in all of his films combined. I disagree with that - Rooney had many roles with genuine emotion throughout his career, from a child actor to a seasoned adult. He was in more movies that you've never seen than you would believe. (Check out YouTube or archive.org and see some of them.) But there is no reason to compare Moore vs Rooney and declare a winner anyhow. Each was great in his own way but there is no denying, Rooney was incomparable.
This is an enjoyable film if you like old-fashioned family fare showing life in decades long gone by. I like such films and this one has a good story made engrossing by its young star's honest and realistic performance.
I would have liked to see the old lady neighbor's character developed a bit more, and they could have played up her final scene to good benefit (and given Moore an opportunity to stretch his emotional range in this film). But I did find it satisfying that an old woman would show her gratitude to a youngster who had cared about her. I also really enjoyed the scene where Moore goes off on his siblings and his cranky rich aunt out on the downtown street, and offers to fight her chauffeur. In another scene he tries to trip one of his sisters and when she turns and makes a move toward him he's all ready with cocked fists to take her on too.
Another reviewer said that Moore had more honest emotion in his acting than Mickey Rooney did in all of his films combined. I disagree with that - Rooney had many roles with genuine emotion throughout his career, from a child actor to a seasoned adult. He was in more movies that you've never seen than you would believe. (Check out YouTube or archive.org and see some of them.) But there is no reason to compare Moore vs Rooney and declare a winner anyhow. Each was great in his own way but there is no denying, Rooney was incomparable.
This is an enjoyable film if you like old-fashioned family fare showing life in decades long gone by. I like such films and this one has a good story made engrossing by its young star's honest and realistic performance.