THE MOVING PICTURE BOY ARCHIVE

A KID FOR TWO FARTHINGS

Title: A Kid For Two Farthings
Year of Release: 1955
Director: Carol Reed
Country of Production: Britain
Principal Boy Actors: Jonathan Ashmore as Joe (his only film role - Ashmore's role in this film is noted in the index of Holmstrom's volume, but the actor doesn't get an article in the main body of the text)
Genre: Drama
Length: 1 hr 32 min
Language: English
Availability: Released on blu-ray by both the BFI and Studiocanal, the latter with the picture cropped top and bottom so as to display picture in widescreen.

Synopsis
A Kid For Two Farthings - not, as it happens, an exposé of the cheap prices for which boys will happily sell their sexual services in the East End, but a drama in which a boy, Joe, adopts a young goat (the 'kid' of the title) because, on account of its having a single horn growing from its head, Joe thinks it is a unicorn which can grant wishes. The granting of wishes is indeed desperately needed by his family and his neighbourhood acquaintances, all of whom are struggling economically. The neighbourhood tailor, Abram Kandinsky, dreams of owning a proper steam trouser press, which would make his work much less laborious, whilst body builder Sam wants to marry Sonia (the latter played by Diana Dors), but struggles even to afford an engagement ring.

Although Jonathan Ashmore's acting is fine, one wonders whether the film might have been better with a true East End lad in the juvenile lead, rather than a boy with a beautiful RP accent.

The film was based on the 1953 novel of the same name, by Wolf Mankowitz.

Comparison of blu-ray releases
The Studiocanal release seems to have a sharper image, but it is not as bright as the BFI disc, and has slightly less plausible skin tones. Also, Studiocanal have cropped the picture top and bottom so as to make it widescreen, on the ground that this is how the original film would have been seen in cinemas. (A dubious procedure, for several reasons. Some film devotees would prefer to see the film as shot by the director.) It does, however, have very slightly more of the picture on the sides than the BFI release. Take your pick.

Below: left, BFI screenshot; right, same frame, Studiocanal blu-ray

   

Screenshots
(from BFI release)