It had been awhile since I'd seen this one, and I'd forgotten what a nice story it is. I think the mild humor on display is actually very good, since it doesn't hit us over the head with frantic situations to generate laughs. Instead, the overall premise, about a nine-year-old boy (Billy Chapin) who becomes a major league baseball manager, is silly enough to create interest and make us chuckle at the absurdity of it.
I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a farce, but the chances of this happening in real life are, of course, quite unlikely. At one point, media reporters in the story call the kid wonder a manager in diapers, or some such thing. It's exaggerated, yes, because he is still in the throes of boyhood and some might argue that it takes a real man to whip ball players into shape and win the pennant.
Of course the kid, who came out of nowhere (metaphorically, left field) knows his stuff. And he's helped by his dad. The dad is played by 20th Century Fox contract player Dan Dailey. Mr. Dailey had starred in another baseball flick a year earlier, THE PRIDE OF ST. LOUIS, a true life biopic in which he played Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean.
This time around Dailey's role is much more light-hearted. He's a washed-up player who has fallen on hard economic times and spends his days peddling peanuts in the stands, where the fictional Bisons play. Early on, we see that his son, whom he sneaks into the games, leads a local baseball team comprised of neighborhood youth. The boy doesn't know everything about baseball just yet, but he's been learning a lot from his father.
Balancing the stadium scenes are domestic scenes filmed on a Fox soundstage where father and son eat, do the dishes and talk about their favorite sport. When Dailey gets fired from his job, the kid sneaks back into the stadium and enlists the help of the owner's niece (Anne Bancroft). This results in dear old dad's reinstatement, as well as a batboy position for the lad.
From here the story accelerates. With Dailey's help, Chapin gives advice to the star players (Lloyd Bridges and Fess Parker) about how to improve their performance. The team gradually comes out of its slump, and the Bisons start winning games. As part of a publicity move, upper management decides to make the kid a full-time manager of the team...though he is still consulting with his father about the decisions he makes.
There are some truly fun moments...such as Chapin losing his temper with an ump and getting hauled off the field by the seat of his pants, like he's an unruly child. And the short sequence where a truant officer shows up and Chapin must appear before a lady judge to explain why he misses so much school. He quickly schools her honor on baseball matters.
One thing I really like about the film is that Bancroft's character is involved with Bridges. In most of these types of films, Bridges would be a cad to facilitate a breakup so Bancroft could end up with Dailey. But this story is not so predictable.
Bancroft remains with Bridges, who ages out of the sport and finds another career. Meanwhile Dailey is just shown as becoming a better father, and eventually the full-time manager of the team (presumably so his son can return to school). Dailey is not given a love interest, which is to the film's credit.
Overall this is a valentine to lovers of America's most well-known pastime. It's about how knowledge of the sport is passed from fathers to sons. It also plays into the fantasy that probably a lot of men and boys had in 1953, about what it would be like if they could manage their favorite team and turn its fortunes around. As a piece of film entertainment, THE KID FROM LEFT FIELD hits it out of the park.
I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a farce, but the chances of this happening in real life are, of course, quite unlikely. At one point, media reporters in the story call the kid wonder a manager in diapers, or some such thing. It's exaggerated, yes, because he is still in the throes of boyhood and some might argue that it takes a real man to whip ball players into shape and win the pennant.
Of course the kid, who came out of nowhere (metaphorically, left field) knows his stuff. And he's helped by his dad. The dad is played by 20th Century Fox contract player Dan Dailey. Mr. Dailey had starred in another baseball flick a year earlier, THE PRIDE OF ST. LOUIS, a true life biopic in which he played Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean.
This time around Dailey's role is much more light-hearted. He's a washed-up player who has fallen on hard economic times and spends his days peddling peanuts in the stands, where the fictional Bisons play. Early on, we see that his son, whom he sneaks into the games, leads a local baseball team comprised of neighborhood youth. The boy doesn't know everything about baseball just yet, but he's been learning a lot from his father.
Balancing the stadium scenes are domestic scenes filmed on a Fox soundstage where father and son eat, do the dishes and talk about their favorite sport. When Dailey gets fired from his job, the kid sneaks back into the stadium and enlists the help of the owner's niece (Anne Bancroft). This results in dear old dad's reinstatement, as well as a batboy position for the lad.
From here the story accelerates. With Dailey's help, Chapin gives advice to the star players (Lloyd Bridges and Fess Parker) about how to improve their performance. The team gradually comes out of its slump, and the Bisons start winning games. As part of a publicity move, upper management decides to make the kid a full-time manager of the team...though he is still consulting with his father about the decisions he makes.
There are some truly fun moments...such as Chapin losing his temper with an ump and getting hauled off the field by the seat of his pants, like he's an unruly child. And the short sequence where a truant officer shows up and Chapin must appear before a lady judge to explain why he misses so much school. He quickly schools her honor on baseball matters.
One thing I really like about the film is that Bancroft's character is involved with Bridges. In most of these types of films, Bridges would be a cad to facilitate a breakup so Bancroft could end up with Dailey. But this story is not so predictable.
Bancroft remains with Bridges, who ages out of the sport and finds another career. Meanwhile Dailey is just shown as becoming a better father, and eventually the full-time manager of the team (presumably so his son can return to school). Dailey is not given a love interest, which is to the film's credit.
Overall this is a valentine to lovers of America's most well-known pastime. It's about how knowledge of the sport is passed from fathers to sons. It also plays into the fantasy that probably a lot of men and boys had in 1953, about what it would be like if they could manage their favorite team and turn its fortunes around. As a piece of film entertainment, THE KID FROM LEFT FIELD hits it out of the park.