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A Kid for Two Farthings (1954)

Director: Carol Reed

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Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Before he plunged headlong into 'international' film-making (never to be seen again), Carol Reed took this fanciful Wolf Mankowitz screenplay and tried to re-imagine Petticoat Lane in the poetic realist vein of Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert. A young boy (Ashmore) mistakes a one-horned goat for a miraculous unicorn, and eagerly anticipates good fortune for his friends about the neighbourhood. A whimsical film, it may have seemed horribly patronising in the '50s; but from today's perspective, an intriguing, even adventurous attempt to resurrect a national cinema that had clearly lost its legs.

Author: TCh

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Carol Reed

Producer: Carol Reed

Cast: Jonathan Ashmore, Celia Johnson, Diana Dors, David Kossoff, Sidney Tafler, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Brenda de Banzie, Joe Robinson, Primo Carnera, Lou Jacobi, Sidney James, Irene Handl full cast

Duration: 96 mins

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