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A Kid for Two Farthings (film)

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Wikipedia article




'A Kid For Two Farthings' is a 1955 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".Steven H. Gale, Mankowitz, Wolf, Literary Analysis, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5cSkSB13ZQcC&pg=PA716 Encyclopedia of British Humorists, Vol. 2], 1996. 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.DEATH OF SIR ALEXANDER KORDA

The Irish Times 24 January 1956: 7.


Plot



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.

Cast



* Celia Johnson as Joanna

* Diana Dors as Sonia

* David Kossoff as Mr. Kandinsky

* Joe Robinson as Sam

* Jonathan Ashmore as Joe

* Brenda De Banzie as 'Lady' Ruby

* Primo Carnera as Python Macklin

* Lou Jacobi as Blackie Isaacs

* Irene Handl as Mrs. Abramowitz

* Danny Green as Bason

* Sydney Tafler as Madam Rita

* Sid James as Ice Berg

* Daphne Anderson as Dora

* Harry Baird as Jamaica

* Joseph Tomelty as Vagrant

* Harold Berens as Oliver

Production



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.Wapshott p 269

The role of the six-year old went to Jonathan Ashmore.

The 'New York Times' called Diana Dors' 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."NOTES ON THAMES FILMS: Olivier Transcribes 'Richard III' -Lean, Reed and Others in Action

By STEPHEN WATTSLONDON. New York Times 29 August 1954: X5.


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.

Reception



Critical response

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."Wapshott p 272

'Filmink' said it contained " an archetypal Dors performance in many ways shes down-to-earth, warm, kind, the best looking girl in a low-rent area (glamorous, but "East End" glamorous)."

Awards

'A Kid for Two Farthings' was nominated for a Golden Palm at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.

Box office

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.)

Notes



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References




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