This 1954 film from the Children's Film Foundation (CFF) survives now in this version which says it was revised in 1972, although we don't know what was revised.
Little Jenny (Mandy Miller) breaks her mother's china dog and so decides to go with neighbor's to work in the hop fields to earn money to buy a replacement. Straightforward plot then follows her adventures in the hopfields while her parents try to find her.
This time capsule shows street signs advertising for families to "vacation" in Kent and earn money by picking hops. Film opens with a frenzy of activity as all the families on Jenny's street rush to catch the train to Goudhurst, Kent.
Jenny hides out with a neighboring family but also has an adventure in an old mill with two nasty ragamuffins who engage in several fights with the hopfield kids. It's never explained where these two boys come from, but they apparently meant to be gypsies.
Miller is fine as the girl. Several familiar faces in the cast include Mona Washbourne as Mrs. McBain, Hilda Fenemore and Russell Waters as the girl's parents, Harold Lang as Sam Hines, and Dandy Nichols as Mrs. Harris. Among the kids are Melvin Hayes and Leon Garcia as the ragamuffins, and Jane Asher as one of the McBain kids.
The film was found in a rubbish bin in Chicago, and a film collector in England bought the film sight unseen. The long-lost film finally had its "premiere" in Goudhurst in 2002 with several of the film's children in attendance.
