A classic melodrama ,mainly interesting in its last half ,some kind of "little lord Fauntleroy " in reverse: the hero of this famous story in his grandpa's luxury château was miserable and would have given all the gold in the world to join his mummy in the modest cottage where she is relegated.
Here ,the biological mum's (Patricia Roc) and the foster one 's(Rosamund John )backgrounds are worlds apart :the former lives with her simple husband in a modest shop ,with a yard where she hangs out her washing , where the boy is bewildered :his naive questions are revealing :"are you also the maid ?"He's used to his foster parents' desirable mansion ,with its garden (park,more like) , its numerous rooms .But most of all ,he is used to loving the people who adopted him and who gave him all their affection. Had the situation been inversed , (namely from rags to riches) ,the boy would have come back to Roc's house without a moment's hesitation. By putting him in the "from riches to rags " situation, this melodrama is not so derivative.
Here ,the biological mum's (Patricia Roc) and the foster one 's(Rosamund John )backgrounds are worlds apart :the former lives with her simple husband in a modest shop ,with a yard where she hangs out her washing , where the boy is bewildered :his naive questions are revealing :"are you also the maid ?"He's used to his foster parents' desirable mansion ,with its garden (park,more like) , its numerous rooms .But most of all ,he is used to loving the people who adopted him and who gave him all their affection. Had the situation been inversed , (namely from rags to riches) ,the boy would have come back to Roc's house without a moment's hesitation. By putting him in the "from riches to rags " situation, this melodrama is not so derivative.