Pequeno Petulante

Kind of a combination of two mediocre, sentimental films..."Captains Courageous" and "Boys Town"...which, not surprisingly, results in a third mediocre, sentimental film. Give it a C.

Orphan Geoffrey Braemer (Freddie Bartholomew) pretends to be a young English Lord with his con artist accomplices. After getting caught, he is sent to a mercantile marine boys school run by Captain Briggs (Charles Coburn). Terry O'Mulvaney (Mickey Rooney) is the longtime honor boy.

Mickey Rooney's stardom is rising and would soon overtake Freddie Bartholomew's childstar status. The two actors should switch roles since they fit the other characters better. Freddie is much more the high society straight boy and Mickey is the low class brawler con-man. I can do without all the sailing talk. I don't know anything about any of that. As always, one gets a sense that Mickey holds more interior acting power while Freddie is good at his specific style. This is not the best example of a boys school movie, but it's always great to have these two kids working together.

If you don't want to see Freddie Bartholomew as a bad guy, stay away from Lord Jeff. He plays a small-time grifter who gets sent to the merchant marines to reform his character. He's snobby and insulting, and has a bad attitude. I prefer him when he's sweeter, but I stuck with this movie for the supporting cast.

In the batch of boys arriving with Freddie to the merchant marine training school are Terry Kilburn and a very young Peter Lawford in his second movie! Terry has the cutest character in the movie, with a missing tooth (before it gets fixed, a Cockney accent, and a hopelessly optimistic and loyal personality. Mickey Rooney also takes on an accent-Irish-as he's the experienced student who helps show everyone the ropes. Charles Coburn is the no-nonsense head of the school, and Herbert Mundin is his second-in-command. Keep an eye out for Monty Woolley and Gale Sondergaard, but don't expect too much from anyone. No one's really given very much to do, and besides Terry, no one really succeeds in making the audience like him. You're better off with Boys Town or A Yank at Eton.

Freddie Bartholomew stars as a seemingly upper crust "Lord" (Jeff Braemer) who is really an orphaned thief; suspected in an emerald necklace heist, he is sent to a navel academy and meets idealized Irish orphan Mickey Rooney (as Terry O'Mulvaney). Boy-among-the-young-men Terry Kilburn (as Albert Baker) keeps the "cute quotient" high.

Their roles are tailor-made for Mr. Bartholomew's "British upper crust" and Mr. Rooney's "Irish working lad" personas. Bartholomew is perfect as the aristocratically-guised London thief, complaining about the "wretched" hotel service and fainting during opportune moments. Bussed to a a purgatory-type sailor school (not quite a hellish reform school), he immediately clashes with Rooney. The two "child stars" contrast well, and their difficult bonding becomes the film's main source of entertainment. Rooney is much more relaxed in "Lord Jeff" than other "orphaned lad" roles; here, he exudes natural likability. Kilburn's little Albert seems out of place among the older boys, but he performs as well, and gives Bartholomew's character some much-needed appeal. Other story structure, and editing, problems weaken the running time.

Irrelevant, probably, to the film "Lord Jeff" is the status of its two stars. Bartholomew was a very popular "boy star" and Rooney was much more popular as a "teen star"; and, they made several films together. This film catches the Bartholomew near the end of his career, and Rooney beginning his most successful years. With this in mind, don't miss their mid-film fistfight!

****** Lord Jeff (6/17/38) Sam Wood ~ Freddie Bartholomew, Mickey Rooney, Terry Kilburn, Charles Coburn

As another reviewer concluded, this film is very much like Boys Town and even features Mickey Rooney. However, this time, the troubled teen is Freddie Bartholomew as Jeff Braemer. Jeff is involved with a group of jewel thieves, but after being caught, is sent to a orphan school to learn to be a merchant marine. Jeff's rich life has left him jaded and uncooperative, but schoolmates Terry O'Mulvaney (Rooney) and Albert Baker (Terry Kilburn) refuse to give up on him.

The excellent cast makes this film worth watching many times over. There are lessons learned and friends made, but none of those things would be effective if it weren't for believable and likable characters. The subject matter is appropriate for all ages too. Sit down and enjoy this one with the family.