Penrod and His Twin Brother

Penrod Schofield (Billy Mauch) is constantly battling spoiled rich kid Rodney Bitts. The problem is that Rodney's father is the boss of Penrod's father. Penrod gets grounded but he runs away to the fair. At the fair, Penrod gets trapped in a runaway balloon. He is considered missing and the reward builds up to $5k. Conman Tex Boyden knows that he floated away on the balloon and finds carnival worker Danny Dugan to be a spitting image of Penrod. Professor Caligostro dismisses the idea and quickly turnarounds to implement the idea of faking Danny as the returning Penrod.

Penrod Schofield was a character in books first published in 1914. He has a few films under him already. This one is Billy Mauch's second movie as Penrod. He's a fine child actor and he gets his twin into the action. The premise is a little out there and too convenient. The comedic elements have trouble since the tension of the drama needs to play out. There are lots of moments where people are too dumb to ask an extra question. That gets a little frustrating but it's still a compelling misadventure.

The character Penrod was created by the writer Booth Tarkington and was not just a literary character but movie character as well. A variety of sound and silent films were made with the character and in 1937-38, Warner Brothers made three films starring the Mauch twins...Billy and Robert. That same year, the two appeared in "The Prince and the Pauper" but their careers in films were rather brief.

Penrod and his doggy keep getting in trouble throughout this film. What no one realizes is that it's NOT Penrod nor his dog who are causing problems...it's an identical stranger and his nasty dog. In addition to this problem, there is a robbery and one of Penrod's friends is kidnapped. Can Penrod and his gang manage to get to the bottom of both problems?

This film probably played very well for kids in 1938...though I think time has not been kind to this one. Kids today probably won't like it and adults might find it all a bit schmatzy. I thought it was passable entertainment but basing an entire film on these kids was probably not a great idea...and this might explain why the Mauch twins only made three of these films. This one, incidentally, was the second.

After the Mauch twins made their debut in The Prince And The Pauper it was Billy who got the coveted role of Penrod in a series of films that Warner Brothers made from the Booth Tarkington character. Apparently he was the more aggressively interested in an acting career than brother Bobby. But Bob did get into two of the films and Penrod And His Twin Brother is the first.

I really do have to ask what are the odds that not only does a kid have a doppleganger move into the same small Indiana town, but the doppleganger has a doppleganger dog which is the heart of the story of this film. Young Penrod adopts a stray dog that soon gets a reputation of biting people and he bites young Jackie Morrow one of the Penrod posse which upsets Morrow's father Charles Halton.

Of course it turns out that Bobby Mauch has moved into town with his lookalike dog and eventually that problem is resolved. But by that time Penrod and his posse are involved in tracking down some Dillinger like bandits who robbed a payroll and take young Morrow a hostage because he got innocently involved with them. I don't think I have to say more.

Although this has nothing to do with the Penrod stories that Booth Tarkington wrote, mainly because they're set in the teen years of the last century and this is up to date, the wholesomeness of the stories and character is preserved here. Frank Craven and Spring Byington play Penrod's parents and the Indiana ambiance is faithfully recaptured.

One unusual thing is that young Philip Hurlic plays the son of the live in maid of Penrod's family played by Bernice Pilot. He's treated as an equal by the other kids in the gang for the most part, unusual for the times even though Bobby Mauch uses a racial slur when first meeting him. Still I don't think the cause of racial brotherhood was served by giving the kid the character name of Vermin.

Seeing the eventual careers of the Mauch brothers does make you wonder what the future has in store for the Sprouse twins playing Zack and Cody at the Magic Kingdom. Maybe the Penrod stories will be adapted for them as it's the kind of material the Disney Studios go for.

Penrod And His Twin Brother is a pleasant enough film for the time and the spirit of those who love those Tarkington stories is respected and preserved.

Sixteen-year-old Billy Mauch (as Penrod Schofield) is having trouble with his dog Duke. The cute mutt is chewing holes in shoes, and tracking mud through the house. Worst of all, Duke is the main suspect when neighborhood trouble-maker Jackie Morrow (as Rodney Bitts) gets dog-bitten. Young Mr. Mauch thinks mother Spring Byington (as Laura) and father Frank Craven (as Frank) may put the dog to sleep. But, "Penrod" pal Philip Hurlic (as Verman Diggs) wants to spring the pooch from the pound.

Meanwhile, "Penrod" look-alike Bobby Mauch (as Danny Dugan) has arrived in town, with his Aunt Minnie and a Duke look-alike dog. When the boys go skinny-dipping, Bobby Mauch is mistaken for Billy. To make matters worse, gangsters have kidnapped Mr. Morrow… This second "Penrod" film benefits from the inclusion of both Billy and Bobby Mauch, who have a nice "mirror image" meeting. Most other scenes don't take advantage of either their appeal, or the "twin" situation. It's a cute kids movie.

***** Penrod and His Twin Brother (2/26/38) William McGann ~ Billy Mauch, Bobby Mauch, Frank Craven, Spring Byington