A young Scotsman, on his way to becoming laird of his family property, instead finds himself in the very thick of his country's rebellion against the English, hunted & harried & in constant peril, after his evil uncle has him KIDNAPPED.
This is a fairly good adventure film which, now and again, actually includes some of the original plot as penned in the famous novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Action scenes are well done, but the wholly unnecessary romantic subplot gets very much in the way.
Warner Baxter is completely miscast as the great literary hero, Alan Breck; he doesn't even attempt to act Scots and his accent is pure Yankee. One wonders what Fox Studio had in mind. In the supporting cast was a star from silent screen days, British actor Ralph Forbes, who could have given the role more authority & punch. Instead, Forbes is given a tiny part & disappears quickly.
Freddie Bartholomew does a fine job as young David Balfour and there is an excellent supporting cast of sterling character players of the period: John Carradine, Nigel Bruce, Mary Gordon, Halliwell Hobbes, E. E. Clive, Montague Love, H. B. Warner & Eily Maylon. Reginald Owen is especially good as an old rapscallion of a sea captain, while Sir C. Aubrey Smith scores as a wise old duke.
