When Mandy Miller breaks her mother's treasured china dog, she comes down with a brainstorm and runs away in hopes of a working vacation in Kent without telling anyone.
Having seen half a dozen of these Children's Film Foundation movies, I thought I knew what to expect: some great scenic photography and some heavy-handed moralizing about how good children should behave -- as decreed by people who no longer remembered being children, had no children themselves, or who believed the lies their children told them. What I found was a very well told story directed by John Guillerman with a frequently subjective camera that evoked very nicely the fears and simple moral narratives of children. If it gets heavy-handed at the end, with a melodramatic rescue from a burning mill, at least the evil-doers are ambiguously repentant -- they never expected anyone to get hurt, really, they were just having a bit of a laugh.
I doubt the moralisers will be very pleased with this movie. However, I was.
Having seen half a dozen of these Children's Film Foundation movies, I thought I knew what to expect: some great scenic photography and some heavy-handed moralizing about how good children should behave -- as decreed by people who no longer remembered being children, had no children themselves, or who believed the lies their children told them. What I found was a very well told story directed by John Guillerman with a frequently subjective camera that evoked very nicely the fears and simple moral narratives of children. If it gets heavy-handed at the end, with a melodramatic rescue from a burning mill, at least the evil-doers are ambiguously repentant -- they never expected anyone to get hurt, really, they were just having a bit of a laugh.
I doubt the moralisers will be very pleased with this movie. However, I was.