A Boy Ten Feet Tall (1963)

Ten year old Sammy travels 4500 miles on his own from the Suez Canal to Durban, South Africa.

Director:

Alexander Mackendrick

Writers:

W.H. Canaway (novel), Denis Cannan

Stars:

Edward G. Robinson, Fergus McClelland, Constance Cummings

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Edward G. Robinson	...	Cocky Wainwright
Fergus McClelland	...	Sammy Hartland
Constance Cummings	...	Gloria van Imhoff
Harry H. Corbett	...	Lem
Paul Stassino	...	Spyros Dracandopolous
Zia Mohyeddin	...	The Syrian
Orlando Martins	...	Abu Lubaba
John Turner	...	Heneker
Zena Walker	...	Aunt Jane
Jack Gwillim	...	District Commissioner
Patricia Donahue	...	Kathy Hartland
Jared Allen	...	Bob Hartland
Guy Deghy	...	Doctor
Marne Maitland	...	Hassan
Steven Scott	...	Egyptian Policeman at Luxor Hotel

Storyline

A young boy living in Port Said, Egypt, narrowly escapes a bomb blast that destroys the apartment block where he lives. After discovering that both his parents were killed in the explosion, he decides to travel (on foot) to Durban, South Africa, to be with his only living relative, an aunt. During his 4500 mile journey across africa he has many adventures including a first hand experience with the slave trade and living for a time with a band of poachers and criminals. After several months of travel he finally arrives at his destination.

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Plot Keywords:

africa | journey | aunt | cardinal direction in title | orphan | 

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Taglines:

Five thousand miles of incredible adventure!

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Genres:

Adventure

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Certificate:

6

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 August 1965 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

A Boy Ten Feet Tall

Filming Locations:

Chobham Common, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Michael Balcon Productions, Seven Arts Pictures

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The British Board of Film Censors asked for certain scenes between Sammy and the Syrian peddler to be either cut or toned down. The producers were after a "U" certificate for the film and so had to comply. In the original full length version, the Syrian, who comes across Sammy laying on a sand dune in the middle of the Egyptian desert, is sexually attracted to Sammy and was shown lusting after him and trying to have his way with him. However, two small parts of the supposedly cut scenes did make it to the final release print. In one, the Syrian is kneeling before the standing Sammy and feeling the boy's right leg, while quite plainly and excitedly ogling the front of Sammy's khaki bush shorts, before grabbing hold of Sammy's right wrist and trying to drag the boy down onto the sand with him, while Sammy tries to wriggle free from his grasp. Originally released at 129 minutes (all but five seconds) the film, after its initial release in 1963, was, for some unknown reason, trimmed of ten minutes of footage and the original full length release version is now believed lost.

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Connections

Referenced in Empire of the Sun (1987)

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Soundtracks

Cocky Wainwright
Written and Performed by Tristram Cary

User Reviews

Most memorable movie of all time!

I would like to also concur with most of the previous posters. This movie was perhaps one of the most memorable movie of my entire life. I was first captivated by it when I was about 12-years-old to our 7th or 8th grade Civics & Geography class. It was shown along with another movie about a boy who lived in a tree in Canada--anyone remember that classic?--as well as,the politically motivated film "Z." Apparently it was shown for about ten or more years thereafter, until the projector and the film it self fell into complete disarray....Along with a few other great movies, in my opinion, this is one of the greatest movies of all time.

I'm still completely perplexed for the reasons it hasn't been re-released either on DVD or shown on TCM by now? This is truly bizarre. For many years, I always thought the name was "Mogambo"--which was also shown in our school. Nowadays these poor kids are shown a lot of gobbledygook. This ought to be amongst all of the masterpieces, such as, Bread & Chocolate; Dr.Zhivago; The Adventurers, etc.

If anyone has any information of how to get a copy of it, please let me know. So far very few movies were ever made the way the Director in this film created it.

This is a very psychologically uplifting and powerful film. Ironically, I've mentioned this movie to many people, most who are over 30-years of age, in nearly any country, and they can somehow recall this film.