Instead of finding a suitable 7-year-old to play Cedric, they saw fit to shoehorn 12-year-old Freddie Bartholomew into the role of 7-year-old Cedric. Realizing that he'd never pass for 7, they further saw fit to corrupt Frances Hodgson Burnett's story by changing the protagonist from a 7-year-old who appears to be seven, to a "nine"-year-old who you think is 11 or 12 except that they keep saying he's nine.
The dialogue, almost all of which is taken verbatim from Burnett's work, except for substituting the word "seven" with the word "nine", was written with a a seven-year-old in mind. Cedric's words are just not nearly as significant coming from a "nine"-year-old. And what's endearing for a seven-year-old makes a nine-year-old (especially one who looks 11) a fool or a mama's boy.
And the shoehorn wielders recognized this, but, instead of casting someone age-appropriate, they decided to dig themselves deeper by concocting a scene in which Cedric is accused of being a sissy, on the audience's behalf, and gets into a fight to show his mettle. BUT the whole scene is out of character for Cedric. Cedric is kind to everyone and EVERYONE in his neighborhood loves him. The character that Ms. Burnett describes would NOT have refused to allow any of the other boys to ride on the rear step of his bicycle -- not to mention that his kind widowed mother would never have splurged on a luxury item like a bicycle when she knew Bridget and Michael were in such dire straits.
Frances Hodgson Burnett took great care to ensure that the reader of her story be keenly aware that "Cedric was between seven and eight years old", stating his age as "seven" no less than TEN TIMES during the course of her story -- eleven times, if you count it ending on what she explicitly states is his EIGHTH birthday.
Why? Because, in order for the story to work, Cedric has to be naively trusting and everybody has to find it endearing. And if he's seven -- and appears to be seven -- that's still endearing. But if he looked older, he'd be thought a fool.
That's why in Burnett's 1886 stage production of the story, Cedric is played by SEVEN-year-old Elsie Leslie instead of an older boy (making for a very pretty boy, but not a fool).
That said, almost all of the dialogue is verbatim from Burnett's story and it WOULD HAVE BEEN a really nice picture, if Freddie Bartholomew had been passable for seven and if the every occurrence of the word "seven" had not been replaced with "nine".
The dialogue, almost all of which is taken verbatim from Burnett's work, except for substituting the word "seven" with the word "nine", was written with a a seven-year-old in mind. Cedric's words are just not nearly as significant coming from a "nine"-year-old. And what's endearing for a seven-year-old makes a nine-year-old (especially one who looks 11) a fool or a mama's boy.
And the shoehorn wielders recognized this, but, instead of casting someone age-appropriate, they decided to dig themselves deeper by concocting a scene in which Cedric is accused of being a sissy, on the audience's behalf, and gets into a fight to show his mettle. BUT the whole scene is out of character for Cedric. Cedric is kind to everyone and EVERYONE in his neighborhood loves him. The character that Ms. Burnett describes would NOT have refused to allow any of the other boys to ride on the rear step of his bicycle -- not to mention that his kind widowed mother would never have splurged on a luxury item like a bicycle when she knew Bridget and Michael were in such dire straits.
Frances Hodgson Burnett took great care to ensure that the reader of her story be keenly aware that "Cedric was between seven and eight years old", stating his age as "seven" no less than TEN TIMES during the course of her story -- eleven times, if you count it ending on what she explicitly states is his EIGHTH birthday.
Why? Because, in order for the story to work, Cedric has to be naively trusting and everybody has to find it endearing. And if he's seven -- and appears to be seven -- that's still endearing. But if he looked older, he'd be thought a fool.
That's why in Burnett's 1886 stage production of the story, Cedric is played by SEVEN-year-old Elsie Leslie instead of an older boy (making for a very pretty boy, but not a fool).
That said, almost all of the dialogue is verbatim from Burnett's story and it WOULD HAVE BEEN a really nice picture, if Freddie Bartholomew had been passable for seven and if the every occurrence of the word "seven" had not been replaced with "nine".