The Little Kidnappers (1953)

A Scotsman, Jim MacKenzie, living on a primitive homestead in Nova Scotia, is raising his two grandsons, Harry and Davy, following the death of their father in the Boer War. His son's death... See full summary »

Director:

Philip Leacock

Writer:

Neil Paterson (screenplay)

Stars:

Jon Whiteley, Vincent Winter, Adrienne Corri

Nominated for 3 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Duncan Macrae	...	Jim MacKenzie, Granddaddy
Jean Anderson	...	Grandma MacKenzie
Adrienne Corri	...	Kirsty
Theodore Bikel	...	Dr. Willem Bloem
Jon Whiteley	...	Harry, Jim's Grandson
Vincent Winter	...	Davy - Jim's Grandson
Francis De Wolff	...	Jan Hooft Sr.
James Sutherland	...	Arron McNab
John Rae	...	Andrew McCleod
Jack Stewart	...	Dominie
Jameson Clark	...	Tom Cameron
Eric Woodburn	...	Sam Howie
Christopher Beeny	...	Jan Hooft Jr.
Howard Connell	...	Archibald Jenkins

Storyline

A Scotsman, Jim MacKenzie, living on a primitive homestead in Nova Scotia, is raising his two grandsons, Harry and Davy, following the death of their father in the Boer War. His son's death has developed antagonism by MacKenzie toward all Dutchmen, which leads to Harry brawling at school with the son of a Dutchman. Harry falls down a cliff and is helped home by the community doctor, Willem Bloem, a Dutchman in love with MacKenzie's daughter, Kirsty. Due to the old man's feelings, they must carry on a clandestine romance. Forbidden by their grandfather to have a dog, Harry and Davy "kidnap" an unattended baby and care for the child in a lean-to shack. When found, the baby proves to be the child of MacKenzie's most-bitter Dutch enemy.

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Plot Keywords:

baby | shack | school | enemy | dutch | 

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Taglines:

A Sentimental Masterpiece!

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Genres:

Drama | Family | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

1954 (Austria)

Also Known As:

The Little Kidnappers

Filming Locations:

Glen Affric, Highland, Scotland, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Group Film Productions Limited

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film, 'The Kidnappers' was submitted December 1, 1953 to the British Board of Film Classification (www.bbfc.co.uk) with a 92:46 run time by General Film Dist Ltd, submitted again May 21, 1998 (video cassette) with 89:02 run time by Video Collection International, and submitted a third time June 15, 2012 by Strawberry Media (DVD distributor) with a run time of 89:33 that included a 00:32 track 2 with three chapters: copyright warning, Strawberry Media frame, and ITV Studios Global Entertainment (digital mastering) logo clip. The 4% difference in run time between the film and the videos results from the 24 frames/second film being shown on video at a rate of 25 frames/second (50 interlaced frames/second).

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Goofs

[All goofs for this title are spoilers.]

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Quotes

Davy - Jim's Grandson: Are we going to keep it forever?
Harry, Jim's Grandson: I don't know... We'll keep it for a year or two anyways, until it's got a mind of its own - and then, if it wants to hit the trail, there won't be no stopping it.

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Connections

Remade as The Little Kidnappers (1990)

User Reviews

Adorable Scottish Accents

My siblings and I would always call babies "the bah-bee" because of how the boys pronounced that word with Scottish accents that could charm a stone.

Continuing the tradition, my wife and I have used "the bah-bee", or "the bahby" as our secret name for our daughter (now 15).

I have not seen the movie since I was a child, and it is tragic that I and others cannot see it now, due to the lack of DVD or video availability.

I guess it doesn't have enough explosions in it...and the actors mostly act, rather than fight or have sex.