Features: DVD
From legendary filmmaker Carol Reed (The Third Man, Odd Man Out, Oliver!) comes this charming fantasy about the power of childhood imagination. Joe is a young boy who lives in a poor section in London. He becomes convinced that through the mythical powers of a unicorn, he can grant the wishes of his mother and friends. Joe searches endlessly and finally discovers his unicorn-which turns out to be just a goat with a misshapen horn. Or is it? A Kid For Two Farthings is a touching film about the power of make believe.
"Carol Reed's compassion for children comes out strongly again in A Kid For Two Farthings." Bosley Crowther, The New York Times
Editor's Note
A charmingly idiosyncratic fable, A KID FOR TWO FARTHINGS stars Jonathan Ashmore as Joe, an imaginative young boy growing up in London's impoverished East End. After absorbing a tale about the magical power of captured unicorns from the kindly tailor Kandinsky (David Kossoff), who employs the boy's mother, Sonia (Diana Dors), he goes in search of the mythic beast. He returns with a goat sporting a nascent horn, believing it can solve the problems of his overburdened friends and neighbors. Who's to say he's wrong?
Plot Summary
The relationship between fantasy and reality in the mind of a small boy is Carol Reed's subject in this whimsical fable, set among the small shops and bazaars of London's East End in the 1950s. It stars Jonathan Ashmore as Joe, a highly imaginative boy living with his mother, Joanna (Celia Johnson), above the tailor shop where she is employed. When Kandinsky (David Kossoff), the kindly old tailor, spins a tale for the boy that emphasizes the magical powers of a unicorn, the boy decides to find one, hoping to solve his problems and those of his friends. He finds his "uncorn"--a scrawny kid bearing the stump of a horn, and begins making wishes: for a local beauty, Sonia (Diana Dors), to marry; for her boxer boyfriend, Sam (Joe Robinson), to win a big fight; for Kandinsky to obtain a much-needed steam presser; and for the boy to be reunited with his father. When things begin to work out, who can deny the "unicorn" the credit? A KID FOR TWO FARTHINGS is an unusual blend of fantasy and social realism, featuring a touching performance by Kossoff.
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