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The Boy With Green Hair

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Critics Reviews

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Joseph Losey

Pat O'Brien

Dean Stockwell

Robert Ryan

Barbara Hale

Richard Lyon

Screen Rant

The boy with green hair: the anti-war film howard hughes tried to destroy.

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Why a24's new horror movie with 87% on rotten tomatoes is a must-see if you're a twin peaks fan, the fall guy's box office confirms a harsh reality after $2.4 billion phenomenon.

The Boy With Green Hair is an anti-war parable Howard Hughes tried his best to bury. RKO Pictures is the studio responsible for some true classics, including 1933's King Kong and The Thing From Another World , a 1951 horror film later remade as John Carpenter's The Thing . Easily one of their most iconic pictures is Orson Welles' Citizen Kane , which tells the life story of a controversial newspaper magnate.

While Citizen Kane is often voted the greatest movie of all time and is lauded as a groundbreaking piece of work, it underperformed upon release. It also drew the considerable ire of media mogul William Randolph Hearst, who partly served as inspiration for Kane. Hearst went so far as to try and buy the negative for $1 million in order to destroy it. The Boy With Green Hair is a 1948 RKO drama about a war orphan named Peter whose hair turns green due to his emotional trauma, and it also drew the anger of a powerful magnate.

Related: Skull Island: King Kong's Backstory Explained

The Boy With Green Hair follows Peter (Dean Stockwell, Quantum Leap ) as he runs away after being bullied by his hometown due to his hair. He later encounters other war orphans who convince him to use his hair to send a message to adults that war is damaging to children. The adults eventually convince him to shave it all off so it will grow back normally, though the film ends with Peter hoping his hair grows back green so he can continue his anti-war message.

The Boy With Green Hair is a strange, but well-meaning technicolor fantasy with great performances by the young Stockwell and Robert Ryan ( The Wild Bunch ). Sadly, the film's pacifist message enraged Howard Hughes, the aviation mogul/movie producer who took over RKO in 1948. Hughes was a conservative who didn't want to make so-called message movies, believing cinema should only be for entertainment. To that end, he wanted The Boy With Green Hair re-edited to take out this theme but found there was little that could be done to tone down its message.

The Boy With Green Hair's screenwriter Ben Barzman once recalled Dean Stockwell being ordered into a meeting with Hughes, with the latter yelling at the young star when he refused to go along with changes to soften the movie's message. In the end, some lines were added to the final cut to dull its theme, which remained largely intact, but the movie ultimately flopped. A combination of Hughes' mismanagement and a string of expensive bombs, including the infamous The Conqueror starring John Wayne ( The Alamo ) as Genghis Khan, led to the eventual demise of RKO itself.

Next: Why X-Men: Dark Phoenix Bombed Worse Than Anybody Expected

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The Boy with Green Hair

By Richard Brody

Joseph Losey’s 1948 fantasy is both a potent liberal allegory—about the persecution of a child (Dean Stockwell) who looks different from other kids—and an eye-grabbing Technicolor extravaganza. The film, made at a time of rampant and unredressed racial discrimination, is both critical and diagnostic. Losey, a master of downbeat Americana, burrows deep into the hidden intimacies of a stereotypical, homogeneous white small town to reveal a wide range of anxieties, from the petty indignities and casual brutalities of childhood to the gnawing frustrations and shameless lies that await in adulthood, and he presents the child’s vulnerability as the existential condition of modern life. The story unfolds amid the unhealed wounds of the Second World War and fears of nuclear holocaust, and the boy, inspired by a dream, awakens to a prophetic mission. Few films so audaciously span the local and the universal; its eerie palette meshes perfectly with Losey’s vision of a world out of joint. (Streaming on the Criterion Channel and other services.)

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

A nostalgic journey to the past to relive the golden days of entertainment!

Saturday, March 11, 2017

The boy with the green hair: a 1948 review.

I've heard quite a bit about this film but never bothered to watch it, but I think I'll have to remedy that now....it sounds too good to pass up!

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The boy with green hair.

Directed by Joseph Losey

Please don't tell why his hair turned green!

Peter, an orphaned boy, is adopted by Gramp Frye after his parents are killed in Europe while doing war relief work. The boy feels safe with his new caretaker, but when he is taunted for being an orphan, he gets demoralized. The next day Peter wakes up with green hair. Embarrassed and further ridiculed, Peter seeks solace in a nearby forest. To his surprise, he finds other orphans in the woods, who encourage him to spread news of the injustices of war.

Pat O’Brien Robert Ryan Barbara Hale Dean Stockwell Richard Lyon Walter Catlett Samuel S. Hinds Regis Toomey Charles Meredith David Clarke Billy Sheffield Johnny Calkins Teddy Infuhr Dwayne Hickman Eilene Janssen Curtis Loys Jackson Jr. Charles Arnt Russ Tamblyn Dale Robertson Michael Losey Speer Martin Frank Mazzola William Smith Baron White Billy White

Director Director

Joseph Losey

Producers Producers

Stephen Ames Adrian Scott

Writers Writers

Alfred Lewis Levitt Ben Barzman

Story Story

Betzi Beaton

Editor Editor

Frank Doyle

Cinematography Cinematography

George Barnes

Assistant Director Asst. Director

Executive producer exec. producer.

Dore Schary

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Art direction art direction.

Albert S. D'Agostino Ralph Berger

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Darrell Silvera William Stevens

Composer Composer

Leigh Harline

Sound Sound

Clem Portman Earl A. Wolcott

Costume Design Costume Design

Adele Balkan

Makeup Makeup

Mel Berns Gordon Bau

RKO Radio Pictures

Alternative Titles

Der Junge mit den grünen Haaren, Il ragazzo dai capelli verdi, Le Garçon aux cheveux verts, El muchacho de los cabellos verdes, 惨绿少年, O Menino dos Cabelos Verdes, El niño del cabello verde, Pojken med gröna håret

Comedy Family Drama

Politics and human rights Fairy-tale fantasy and enchanted magic Student coming-of-age challenges Riveting political and presidential drama Show All…

Releases by Date

25 nov 1948, 26 nov 1948, 27 nov 1948, 01 jan 1981, releases by country.

Premiere Boston, Massachusetts (Premiere)
Theatrical Cleveland, Ohio

82 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by williamfaeleith ★★★★½

Joseph Losey's directorial feature debut is an allegorical anti-war story that helped get him blacklisted alongside screenwriter Ben Barzman. 12-year-old Dean Stockwell is at his cute and professional best as the boy whose hair turns green overnight, which marks him out as special with something special to say, but leads to him being victimised because he's different. Apparently (and I'd love this to be true) Howard Hughes, who had taken over RKO while the film was being made, was unhappy with the film's pacifist message and told Stockwell that when the other children spoke of the horror of war, he should say, "And that's why America has gotta have the biggest army, and the biggest navy, and the biggest air…

Review by Bruno Andrade ★★★★½ 5

Como você explica esse afeto pelas vítimas da lista negra?

Certamente havia em mim esse romantismo que sentimos diante dos perseguidos, dos artistas privados dos seus meios de expressão. As peças de Brecht, “A exceção e a regra” e “Um homem é um homem”, influenciaram profundamente minha leitura do trabalho dos autores perseguidos. Em 1953 eu estava literalmente maravilhado com Brecht. Foi nessa mesma época que eu comecei a ver os filmes de Losey, pois havia descoberto que em 1947 ele havia encenado “Life of Galileo” de Brecht em Los Angeles. Eu vi em The Prowler uma maneira ao mesmo tempo nova, profunda e sutil de abordar as personagens, uma maneira complexa e ambígua de dissecá-las e de apreender toda…

Review by Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti" ★★★★

"The Boy with Green Hair" is a 1948 drama film directed by Joesph Losey. It wonderfully blends real applicated war theme drama that was existent at the time into a fantastical narrative that becomes connective to both children and adults the same. In this seemingly innocent enough rendition about a boy whose hair turns a very peculiar shade of green, we get these deep connective conversations about loss, and how even someone domestically in the United States, seemingly away from the front lines of War in WWII, can be a war orphan and share the same sorrow and commonality with the children at the doorstep of it all. Deep applications of understanding that is aptly dedicated to have a tone…

Review by Jaime Rebanal 🇵🇸 ★★★½

I'm not entirely sure how a young boy suddenly growing green hair pertains to an allegory about how children are affected following WWII (although if you'd like to enlighten me about it in the comments, feel free to do so), but that's not to say this movie doesn't ever feel like it doesn't have its heart in the right place.

Dean Stockwell is great (as always), but there's something I do admire about seeing how Joseph Losey sticks to the film's reaffirmed sentiment that individual identity surpasses the need to fit into a world that prioritizes property over lives. In a sense, it's a bit too on the nose, but it still has more than enough charm to make for an entertaining watch.

Review by cult_vegetables ★★★½

Too thematically-heavy to be a comedy, a child's chromatic hair becomes a greater symbol of hope for WWII's war orphans. In Losey's magical-realist oddity, the metaphors are strained and Disneyish ditties abrade the grim overtones, but Stockwell is a real highlight as it's resilient outcast.

Review by henry 💿 ★★½

this is totally me when i have green hair and i'm anti war. he's just like me

Review by Tara ★★½ 1

the green hair looked cool idk what all the fuss was about

Review by b rad ★★★

One of the strangest films from that era that I've ever seen. A strikingly simple and curious premise that becomes an extremely bizarre allegory. The big plot reveal, if you can call it that, is alarming in how unforeseen and random it is. Stockwell is a great presence as the child. I'm really struggling to get my thought together on this - on the one hand it's simple and hammy in its thematic content, but it's charming and nostalgic and I feel strangely culturally enriched by watching it.

Review by AJ ★★★

Dean Stockwell color all-nighter when: The Boy with Green Hair, The Green Years, Blue Velvet, The Blue Iguana, Midnight Blue, and that gets us 80% of the way there. I guess, the last one will just be a random pick across his 70 (!!!) year career.

Joseph Losey #12

Review by Gabriel Carvalho ★★★★ 4

Caso alguém tenha interesse, fiz um PDF do livro Losey , do Pierre Rissient, em Francês. Recomendo!

drive.google.com/file/d/12uNKVpf01Wsh_mPTGCLeCe9JG7VE5_oS/view?usp=sharing

Alexis Klémentieff escreveu um artigo magnífico que deveria ter saído num número da Présence du Cinéma quando da estréia de Eva que jamais viu a luz do dia. Aqui vão alguns longos trechos: [...] Na verdade, o cinema é uma ciência, a mais exata das ciências humanas. Ela nos ensina que o homem não tem destino, que a cada instante ele é livre, que cada fato, cada ação pode determiná-lo completamente se ele souber sentir, se ele souber ver. Tudo aquilo que demonstra ou traveste é execrável, tudo o que mostra, revela é belo. Com The Boy With Green Hair , Losey revelou tudo.

Review by DouxDoux ★★★½

And that son is how the punk movement was born.

Review by Hershey 2

This was a very cute and easy watch. It's not perfect but it's pretty sweet.

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The Boy with Green Hair

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Film Details

Articles & Reviews

Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, joseph losey, pat o'brien, robert ryan, barbara hale, dean stockwell, richard lyon, photos & videos, technical specs.

In a police station, a sad, bald-headed boy, who has refused to reveal his name or utter a word, is questioned by Dr. Evans, an expert on "boys." Coaxed by Dr. Evans, the boy, Peter Frye, finally relates his story: After his parents are killed while doing relief work in war-torn Europe, Peter is shipped from relative to relative, until he is taken in by family friend Gramp Frye, an Irish-born widower living in a small town. Although at first wary of his new home, Peter soon comes to trust and respect the understanding Gramp, a former vaudevillian and magician who works nights as a singing waiter. Peter is unaware that his parents are dead, and Gramp, afraid to upset the boy, allows him to believe that they will someday return for him. At his new school, Peter makes friends quickly and later gets a job delivering groceries and joins in a clothing drive for war victims. Peter's newfound happiness ends abruptly, however, when a classmate unwittingly tells him that he is an orphan and compares him to a pathetic-looking boy in a war orphan poster on display at the school. Peter pretends to shrug off the painful news, but is filled with confused feelings about his parents' death. That night, he questions Gramp about death and war, and during their discussion, Gramp mentions that his wife loved to grow green plants, which she felt symbolized the hope of spring. Gramp then promises Peter he will have a surprise waiting for him in the morning. The next day, after Peter takes his bath, he discovers that his hair has turned green and assumes that Gramp is behind the "trick." Gramp, however, tells Peter that his surprise was a magician's scarf and takes Peter to see Dr. Knudson. When the baffled doctor suggests that Peter either dye his hair or cut it off, the boy refuses to consider either option and asks Gramp if he can stay at home until his hair returns to its former color. Eventually, a bored and lonely Peter dares to venture outside and, as he and Gramp walk to school, draws the stares of curious passersby. Although Gramp challenges the hysterical attitudes of his neighbors, some of whom believe Peter's green hair is the result of tainted milk, Peter remains the target of speculation and is ridiculed and ostracized by his schoolmates. Even after Miss Brand, Peter's kindhearted teacher, tries to ease the other children's fears by pointing out that only one child in the class has red hair, Peter feels rejected. That night, Peter tears in two a letter that his father had left for him to read on his sixteenth birthday and runs away to some nearby woods. There, after Peter gives in to his pent-up tears, he hears a young voice calling his name. To his amazement, Peter discovers all of the children from the war orphan posters standing, alive, in the woods. When Michael, the frail poster boy to whom Peter was once compared, suggests that his green hair is the "mark of something good," Peter bristles with sarcasm. Michael soon changes Peter's feelings, however, and advises him to use his unusual hair to call attention to the horrors of war. Following the boy's instructions, the now-inspired Peter goes from adult to adult, explaining to them that his hair is green because he is a war orphan. Peter's words fail to soothe the town's fears, and he is told that he is ruining the milkman's business because the people are convinced that his hair is the result of contaminated milk. When Peter is asked by various adults to cut off his hair, he once again refuses, stating that it has "meaning." He then returns to the woods, hoping to find the poster children there, but instead is chased by his male classmates, who are determined to cut off his hair. Peter escapes from the woods, but when he returns home, Gramp, who wants his foster son to be happy and carefree, suggests that shaving his hair might be the only remedy to his problems. Reluctantly Peter agrees to have his hair cut, but cries silent tears as the barber shaves his head in front of Gramp and a crowd of onlookers. Peter's brave tears cause Gramp and the crowd to grow suddenly ashamed of themselves. Although Gramp later apologizes to Peter for not supporting him, Peter runs away from home. Back in the police station, Dr. Evans gently chides Peter for not having more faith in himself and then returns him to Gramp, who is waiting outside with Dr. Knudson and Miss Brand. Feeling that Peter is now mature enough, Gramp reads from his father's torn letter. Written shortly before his father's death, the letter reassures Peter of his parents' love and asks him to remind people who might otherwise forget about the terrible price of war. Moved by the letter, Peter declares that he hopes his hair will grow back green and returns home with his proud foster father.

Walter Catlett

Samuel S. Hinds

Regis Toomey

Charles meredith, david clarke, billy sheffield, john calkins, teddy infuhr, dwayne hickman, eilene janssen, curtis jackson.

Charles Arnt

Patricia byrnes, carol coombs, cynthia robichaux, georgette crooks, donna jo gribble, billy white.

Rusty Tamblyn

Baron white, speer martin, michael losey, anna q. nilsson, lynn whitney, brick sullivan, kenneth patterson.

Dayle Robertson

Sharon mcmanus.

Howard Brody

Ray burkett, warren shannon, diana graeff, roger perry.

Charles Lane

Stephen ames, c. bakaleinikoff, adele balkan, george barnes, ben barzman, ralph berger, albert s. d'agostino, frank doyle, leigh harline, natalie kalmus, richard kinon, alfred lewis levitt, morgan padelford, clem portman, hazel rogers, ruby rosenberg, dore schary, darrell silvera, william stevens, ralph wildman, earl wolcott.

Hosted Intro

The Boy With Green Hair - The Boy With Green Hair

In the opening credits, Dean Stockwell's character name is listed as "The Boy." eden ahbez' name is spelled entirely in lower case letters onscreen; according to modern sources, the composer preferred this spelling for religious reasons. "Nature Boy" was the only song he is known to have written. In addition to the indicated flashbacks, the film also used voice-over narration delivered by Stockwell. In mid-November 1947, Adrian Scott, who had just produced RKO's successful social film Crossfire , was announced as this picture's producer. By late November 1947, however, Scott and his frequent collaborator Edward Dmytryk were fired by RKO for violating the morality clause of their contract because they had refused to "name names" during hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). Scott and Dmytryk became the first two members of the "Hollywood Ten," a group of filmmakers charged with contempt of Congress and subsequently blacklisted by the movie industry because of reputed connections to the Communist Party. In 1951, Scott was sentenced to a year of imprisonment after Dmytryk finally identified him as a Communist. Director Joseph Losey was also blacklisted in 1951, and this film is frequently cited as contributing to his image as a Communist subversive. For more information on the HUAC hearings, see entry for Crossfire . Los Angeles Times reported in its This Week section that after RKO bought Betsy Beaton's story, it shelved the project for almost a year because of story problems. In a modern interview, Losey, who made his feature-directing debut with this film, recalled that he and Scott worked on the script with the screenwriters. Losey added that the original story was a fantasy about racial discrimination, but that its thrust was changed because he and his collaborators felt that a film about peace would be more timely and important. RKO production head Dore Schary said in a January 1948 New York Times article that, contrary to declarations by "the leftists" and pressures from the right, the story was to be made as a "pro-peace picture" with "no change in subject-matter." According to Hollywood Reporter , after Scott's departure from the project, the script was completely revamped for producer Stephen Ames. Hollywood Reporter notes that The Boy with Green Hair was made as part of RKO's "experiment" with modestly budgeted quality pictures, the first of which was the highly successful Crossfire . In the modern interview, Losey stated that when Scott was still involved in the project, he wanted to shoot it in 16mm color stock to save money. Because Ames was a major stockholder in Technicolor, Losey added, he could obtain 35mm color stock cheaply, thereby making it possible to produce the picture in Technicolor on a relatively modest budget. (Contemporary sources give the film's budget as between $850,000 and $900,000.) Losey also claimed that Ames's status at Technicolor helped to overcome some of the company's artistic restrictions, such as not using dark browns or low-key lighting while shooting. RKO borrowed Stockwell from M-G-M for this production. Albert Sharpe, who played "Finian" in the Broadway production of Finian's Rainbow , was to make his screen debut in the picture, according to Hollywood Reporter . Losey recalled in the modern interview that the part of Gramp was written with Sharpe in mind, but that RKO insisted that O'Brien, who was a contract star, be cast. Rusty Tamblyn and Dale Robertson made their screen debuts in the production. The CBCS lists Robertson's first name with its original spelling, "Dayle." In the CBCS, Peter Brocco is credited in the role of "Mr. Hammond #1," but it unclear whether he actually appeared in the film, as Charles Arnt is also listed as "Mr. Hammond." Losey stated that he used two cameras to shoot the hair cutting scene and had Stockwell wear three different wigs during the sequence. According to Los Angeles Times , Stockwell wore wigs throughout the picture because the studio feared that he would be ridiculed in his private life if his hair were dyed green. New York Times notes that to save money, primary sets from I Remember Mama (see below) were used. According to the Variety review, Howard Hughes, who acquired RKO in the spring of 1948, demanded that this film be re-edited to remove the "tolerance theme," which he felt detracted from the entertainment value of the picture. A Daily Variety news item claims that Floyd Odlum, who was the chairman of RKO's board, actually ordered the re-editing and insisted that the only acceptable "message" was one for "preparedness." According to a August 3, 1948 Daily Variety article, new footage was to be shot to stress the fantasy elements of the picture. On August 30, 1948, Daily Variety announced that after RKO executive vice-president Ned Depinet and two members of the RKO board viewed the revised picture, Depinet decided to restore the original cut. The disputed footage, which cost $150,000 to produce, included new background music as well as new scenes. Losey added in the modern interview that "a few extra lines off screen were stuck in in an attempt to soften the message." Despite Schary's desire to release the film in mid-1948, Hughes delayed the release for six months, according to Losey. (Protesting Hughes's interference with this and other films, Schary left RKO in July 1948.) Daily Variety also notes that "Nature Boy," which is sung by an offscreen group, cost RKO $10,000 and was almost cut from the picture. As used, "Nature Boy," which was popularized by Nat King Cole in 1947, is an early example of a credit sequence theme song. The Irish folk song "Tail o' Me Coat" is performed by Pat O'Brien and Walter Catlett as part of a brief fantasy sequence.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States Winter December 27, 1948

Released in United States January 1998

John Hubley was not credited as the production designer consultant.

Released in United States January 1998 (Shown in New York City (Walter Reade) as part of program "7th Annual New York Jewish Film Festival" January 10-22, 1998.)

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The Boy With Green Hair

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Review 1 -- No Title; ' Boy With Green Hair,' Starring Dean Stockwell, Pat O'Brien, Opens at the Palace

By Bosley Crowther

Jan. 13, 1949

A novel and noble endeavor to say something withering against war on behalf of the world's unnumbered children who are the most piteous victims thereof is made in the RKO picture, "The Boy With Green Hair," a fantasy-drama in color, which opened at the Palace yesterday. But the fact that the effort is earnest is no surety of its success. For all its proper intentions, the gesture falls short of its aim.As mere sentimental entertainment, this tale of a lad whose hair turns green as a sort of miraculous token of the cruelty of war is unevenly appealing, it being, in certain respects, a beneficiary of the pattern of the charming "On Borrowed Time." The lad in the case is an orphan and he lives with a kindly old man who has a rare tenderness toward children—and who goes by the winning name of "Gramp." Furthermore, this attractive youngster becomes obsessed with a frightening idea, from which his gentle old guardian attempts to protect and deliver him.In its scan of the poignant relations between the elderly man and the troubled boy, this film does project intimations of real compassion which are irresistible. And it profits in this projection from cozy performances by Dean Stockwell as the youngster and Pat O'Brien as the old man. Master Stockwell is lovable yet sturdy, diminutive yet strong, and Mr. O'Brien is softly sentimental without going into "Hearts and Flowers."But, unfortunately, the idea with which the lad becomes obsessed—and which is, supposedly, responsible for his hair turning green—is weakly motivated. And the fanciful device of rendering his hair symbolic is not only arbitrary but vague.It is not established, for instance, whether all this we see on the screen—the phenomenal hirsute coloration and the resentment of the townsfolk thereto—is supposed to be a boy's hallucination, just another of a couple he has, or whether it is intended as a strictly whimsical device. If the former, it isn't consistent with the evident fancies of this lad's mind. If the latter, it is strangely inconclusive, when pictured thusly. And, frankly, it's banal.For it might stand to reason that a youngster of a particularly introverted sort could be so upset by anxieties that he would sense an extreme conspicuousness. And he might even tie up this fancy in a childish way with the victimizations of war. But to reason, in adult whimsey, that wars are caused by such a superficial thing as resentment of coloration is absurd and misleading.It is very much to be regretted that Ben Barzman and Alfred Lewis Levitt, in writing this film's script from a modest little story by Betsy Beaton, and Joseph Losey in directing it, did not clarify the implication. Not only is it now confused, but one gets the uncomfortable feeling that it is just a bright adult notion gone wrong. The use of the by-now quite hackneyed "Nature Boy" as a musical theme does not dignify the conception. The supporting cast is adequate.

THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR, screen play by Ben Barzman and Alfred Lewis Levitt, from the story by Betsy Beaton; directed by Joseph Losey; produced by Stephen Ames for RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. At the Palace.Gramp . . . . . Pat O'BrienDr. Evans . . . . . Robert RyanMiss Brand . . . . . Barbara HalePeter . . . . . Dean StockwellMichael . . . . . Richard Lyon"The King" . . . . . Walter CatlettDr. Knudson . . . . . Samuel S. HindsMr. Davis . . . . . Regis ToomeyMr. Piper . . . . . Charles MeredithBarber . . . . . David ClarkeRed . . . . . Billy SheffieldDanny . . . . . John CalkinsTimmy . . . . . Teddy InfuhrJoey . . . . . Dwayne Hickman

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Produced by, released by, the boy with green hair (1948), directed by joseph losey.

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BOY WITH GREEN HAIR, THE

Post author: eenableadmin
Post published: August 5, 2019
Post category: Uncategorized

BOY WITH GREEN HAIR, THE (director: Joseph Losey; screenwriters: Ben Barzman/Alfred Lewis Levitt/from story by Betsy Beaton; cinematographer: George Barnes; editor: Frank Doyle; music: Leigh Harline; cast: Pat O’Brien (Gramp), Robert Ryan (Dr. Evans), Barbara Hale (Miss Brand), Dean Stockwell (Peter Frye, boy), Richard Lyon (Michael), Walter Catlett (The King), Samuel S. Hinds (Dr. Knudson), Regis Toomey (Mr. Davis); Runtime: 82; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Stephen Ames/Dore Schary; RKO; 1948) “Strikes a false note.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Blacklisted in 1951 filmmaker Joseph Losey’s (“The Prowler”/”Time Without Pity”/”The Servant”) feature-film debut as director is this arty childhood drama. It’s based on the story by Betsy Beaton and written by Ben Barzman and Alfred Lewis Levitt.

The well-intentioned film, however, strikes a false note, as it brings on a far-fetched allegory on war and racism built around a tale of a war orphan boy who finds his life is ruined after his parents die during the London Blitz and he soon discovers that his hair turned green. Given no explanation by doctors and being ridiculed by his peers, he runs away from his relative’s home.

The film opens with a bald-headed 12-year-old boy (Dean Stockwell) in the police station refusing to give his name. He’s soon questioned by the kindly psychologist Dr. Evans (Robert Ryan), who is able to find out that the boy’s name is Peter Frye. The boy then tells his strange tale. After his parents were killed, he’s shuffled off to live with a number of relatives. He’s finally unloaded on the garrulous Gramp Frye (Pat O’Brien), an Irish-born widower and former vaudevillian and magician, working at night as a singing waiter, living in a small town. After taking a bath one night, the boy discovers that his hair has turned green and when he ventures outside he’s not accepted.

The film turns at this point awkward as it ventures off into giving a lecture on tolerance and uses artificial devices (meeting boys from war-orphan posters) to go through a lot of trouble to show how cruel people can be in their biases and that war is not too cool. That the fantasy film is so daffy brings it down, but it also elevates it with a certain ridiculous charm that makes it a watchable oddity.

REVIEWED ON 3/5/2008 GRADE: C

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