The Little Kidnappers

I don't suppose it's very often that anyone would have to compare Charlton Heston with Scottish actor Duncan Macrae but this remake of the 1953 story gives us the chance - and to be honest, I preferred the original. The tale finds two young orphans traveling to Nova Scotia to be with their grandfather. He's a stern man who wants no truck with his Boer neighbours. The youngsters initially fall in with his attitudes, but boys will be boys and gradually they make their own choices. Things come to an head when they discover a baby on the dunes by the sea and secretly try to rear him whilst all hell breaks loose in their community terrified about the whereabouts of the missing child. This is a gentle story that deals with bigotry and hatred pointing out the futility and negativity of such behaviour, and also of how optimism is bourne by future generations who refuse to be bogged down in the failings of past generations. It's nicely shot, the cast do a decent job and the film is perfectly watchable, if really only notable for the attendance of this Hollywood legend.