A Kid For Two Farthings | |
---|---|
![]() Film poster | |
Directed by | Carol Reed |
Screenplay by | Wolf Mankowitz |
Based on | A Kid for Two Farthings 1953 novel by Wolf Mankowitz |
Produced by | Carol Reed |
Starring | Celia Johnson Diana Dors David Kossoff Joe Robinson Jonathan Ashmore |
Cinematography | Edward Scaife |
Edited by | Bert Bates |
Music by | Benjamin Frankel |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Romulus Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £198,120 [1] |
A Kid For Two Farthings is a 1955 British comedy-drama film directed by Carol Reed. The screenplay was adapted by Wolf Mankowitz from his 1953 novel of the same name. The title is a reference to the traditional Passover song, "Chad Gadya", which begins "One little goat which my father bought for two zuzim". [2] At the end of the film, Mr. Kandinsky softly sings fragments of an English translation of the song.
It was one of the last films produced by Alexander Korda before his death. [3]
In the busy wholesale-retail world of London's East End everyone, it seems, has unattainable dreams. Then a small boy – Joe – buys a unicorn, in fact a sickly little goat, with just one twisted horn in the middle of its forehead. This, he has been led to believe by a local tailor, Kandinsky, will bring everyone good fortune.
The film has a haunting last image, of Kandinsky carrying the tiny body of the "unicorn" to the graveyard, whilst passing in the opposite direction is a Torah-reading Rabbi pushing a horn gramophone, a character that appears in the background several times during the film.
Film rights to the novel were purchased by Carol Reed, who had made another film featuring a child protagonist, The Fallen Idol, a few years previously. After making The Man Between, Reed wanted to do something smaller scale. [4]
The role of the six-year old went to Jonathan Ashmore. [5] It was one of a number of British films around this time with a child protagonist. [6]
The New York Times called Diana Dors's casting "a surprise choice" because "she has made no films of consequence before and has usually been thought of as a kind of junior Marilyn Monroe." [7]
Filming started in June 1954. It took place at the studio and on location at Petticoat Lane in London. It was Carol Reed's first movie in colour.
Korda had just signed a deal with Romulus for them to distribute his movies. Kid for Two Farthings was the first. [8]
Sidney Gilliat said he wanted to direct the film. He later said "I never would have thought of making it a non Jewish subject. But Carol managed to make the whole thing without a single reference to the character's background or religion at any point. And it was a very Jewish story. It lost a tremendous amount through not being a Jewish story." Gilliat also felt "all his little boys turned out to be beautifully well behaved prep school boys. " [9]
Reviews for the film were mixed. Reed said, "I loved that book. The film was alright in parts but not in others. It cost very little money but did well." [10]
Filmink said it contained " an archetypal Dors performance in many ways – she's down-to-earth, warm, kind, the best looking girl in a low-rent area (glamorous, but "East End" glamorous)." [11]
A Kid for Two Farthings was nominated for a Golden Palm at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. [12]
According to the Monthly Film Herald The film was the 9th most popular movie at the British box office in 1955, after The Dam Busters, White Christmas, Doctor at Sea, The Colditz Story, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Above Us the Waves , One Good Turn, and Raising a Riot . The film's popularity helped exhibitors vote Diana Dors the 9th most popular British star in British films (after Dirk Bogarde, John Mills, Norman Wisdom, Alastair Sim, Kenneth More, Jack Hawkins, Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave, and in front of Alec Guinness.) [13] According to Kinematograph Weekly it was a "money maker" at the British box office in 1955. [14]
Sir Carol Reed was an English film director and producer, best known for Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948), The Third Man (1949), and Oliver! (1968), for which he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Director.
The Sea Shall Not Have Them is a 1954 British war film starring Michael Redgrave, Dirk Bogarde and Anthony Steel. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and is based on the 1953 novel by John Harris, about a North Sea rescue during the Second World War. The musical soundtrack is by composer Malcolm Arnold.
Sidney Gilliat was an English film director, producer and writer.
Frank Launder was a British writer, film director and producer, who made more than 40 films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat.
Yield to the Night is a 1956 British crime drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Diana Dors, Yvonne Mitchell and Michael Craig. It was written by John Cresswell and Joan Henry based on Henry's 1954 novel Yield to the Night.
A Kid for Two Farthings is a 1953 novel by the British writer Wolf Mankowitz, based on the author's experiences of growing up within a Jewish community in London's East End.
Cyril Wolf Mankowitz was an English writer, playwright and screenwriter. He is particularly known for four novels— Make Me an Offer (1952), A Kid for Two Farthings (1953), My Old Man's a Dustman and Expresso Bongo (1958)—and other plays, historical studies, and the screenplays for many successful films which have received awards including the Oscar, Bafta and the Cannes Grand Prix.
The Admirable Crichton is a 1957 British south seas adventure comedy romance film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More, Diane Cilento, Cecil Parker and Sally Ann Howes. The film was based on J. M. Barrie's 1902 stage comedy of the same name. It was released in the United States as Paradise Lagoon.
British Lion Films is a film production and distribution company active under several forms since 1919. Originally known as British Lion Film Corporation Ltd, it entered receivership on 1 June 1954. From 29 January 1955 to 1976, the company was known as British Lion Films Ltd, and was a pure distribution company.
The Weak and the Wicked is a 1954 British drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson based on the autobiographical novel Who Lie in Gaol by his wife, Joan Henry, starring Glynis Johns and Diana Dors.
The Young Mr. Pitt is a 1942 British biographical film of the life of William Pitt the Younger and in particular his struggle against revolutionary France and Napoleon. It was directed by Carol Reed and stars Robert Donat, Robert Morley, Phyllis Calvert and John Mills. Made in black-and-white, it was produced by Edward Black and Maurice Ostrer for the British subsidiary of 20th Century Fox.
Man of the Moment is a 1955 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom, Belinda Lee, Lana Morris and Jerry Desmonde. The film includes songs sung by the Beverley Sisters, including "Dreams for Sale", "Beware", "Yodelee Yodelay", and "Man of the Moment".
Edward Black was a British film producer, best known for being head of production at Gainsborough Studios in the late 1930s and early 1940s, during which time he oversaw production of the Gainsborough melodramas. He also produced such classic films as The Lady Vanishes (1938).
Kipps is a 1941 British comedy-drama film adaptation of H. G. Wells's 1905 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Carol Reed and stars Michael Redgrave as a draper's assistant who inherits a large fortune. The film's costumes were designed by Cecil Beaton.
The Scamp is a 1957 British drama film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Richard Attenborough, Terence Morgan, Colin Petersen and Dorothy Alison. It was based on the play Uncertain Joy by Charlotte Hastings. It was released in the U.S. as Strange Affection.
Code of Scotland Yard is a 1947 British crime film directed by George King and starring Oskar Homolka, Muriel Pavlow and Derek Farr. It was originally released as The Shop at Sly Corner, being based on the popular stage play of that title by Edward Percy.
A Cry from the Streets is a 1958 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Max Bygraves and Barbara Murray. It was written by Vernon Harris based on the 1957 novel The Friend in Need by Elizabeth Coxhead.
The Wind Cannot Read is a 1958 British drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, Yoko Tani, Ronald Lewis and John Fraser. It was based on the 1946 novel by Richard Mason, who also wrote the screenplay.
Raising a Riot is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Wendy Toye and starring Kenneth More, Shelagh Fraser and Mandy Miller about a naval officer who attempts to look after his three children in his wife's absence.
Waltz of the Toreadors is a 1962 film directed by John Guillermin and starring Peter Sellers and Dany Robin. It was based on the play of the same name by Jean Anouilh with the location changed from France to England. It was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay, in 1963.