This is the middle of three movie versions of the same novel by Rudyard Kipling. All versions are true to the story of the boy going bad who is reformed by the kindness and love of people around him. Sort of like The Secret Garden story by Frances Hogdson Burnett, also made into three movie versions, except that instead of a bratty girl in that story, Kipling writes about a bratty boy.
Both are unloved children, left in the care of servants, yet each yearning to love and be loved. Johnny Doran plays the young Harvey, who falls off a ship in mid-Atlantic. He is a thorough brat, mean and bullying to all around him. Loving no one, and being loved by no one.
He is rescued by the captain, his son, and crew of a humble fishing boat. They put him to work, else he doesn't eat. Harvey then learns the value of work, and of acceptance and sharing with friends. Like Mary in Secret Garden, he ceases to be a brat and comes to love those who care for him.
This is perhaps the best movie that Johnny Doran made in his brief career, yet his acting is eclipsed by Kenny Vardas' Harvey in the 1997 version of the same story.
Both are unloved children, left in the care of servants, yet each yearning to love and be loved. Johnny Doran plays the young Harvey, who falls off a ship in mid-Atlantic. He is a thorough brat, mean and bullying to all around him. Loving no one, and being loved by no one.
He is rescued by the captain, his son, and crew of a humble fishing boat. They put him to work, else he doesn't eat. Harvey then learns the value of work, and of acceptance and sharing with friends. Like Mary in Secret Garden, he ceases to be a brat and comes to love those who care for him.
This is perhaps the best movie that Johnny Doran made in his brief career, yet his acting is eclipsed by Kenny Vardas' Harvey in the 1997 version of the same story.