Kidnapped ** (1948, Roddy McDowall, Sue England, Dan O’Herlihy, Roland Winters, Jeff Corey, Houseley Stevenson, Erskine Sanford) – Classic Movie Review 10,699

Director William Beaudine’s 1948 Lindsley Parsons Picture Corporation/ Monogram Pictures poverty row double feature film adventure Kidnapped is another antique American version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale, this time with Roddy McDowall as the boy David Balfour who’s kidnapped and sold as a slave in 1752 by his hissably bad uncle Ebenezer Balfour (Houseley Stevenson) during the 18th-century war between England and Scotland.

At sea the boy meets the rebel adventurer Alan Breck (Dan O’Herlihy) and they fight their way back to bonnie Scotland so that the lad can regain his estate.

The 1948 Monogram adventure Kidnapped is cheaply made, slackly handled and none too special. It cannot boast the superb cast of the 1938 version, though the cast is still okay, and McDowall is fine, and so is the black and white cinematography by William Sickner.

It is the feeblest of the four well-known films of Stevenson’s novel, coming complete with much studio work, stock footage and a short running time of 81 minutes.

Also in the cast are Sue England, Dan O’Herlihy, Roland Winters, Jeff Corey, Houseley Stevenson, Erskine Sanford, Alex Frazer, Robert J Anderson [Bobby Anderson], Winifriede McDowall, Janet Murdoch, Olaf Hytten, Erville Alderson, and Mary Gordon (as Scottish woman), who previously played Mrs MacDonald in Kidnapped (1938),

W Scott Darling adapts the novel.

It was previously made as Kidnapped (1938). It is remade as Kidnapped (1960) and Kidnapped (1971).

Roddy McDowall was only 19 years old when he served as the associate producer for this film, and he casts his mother, Winifriede McDowall, in the small role of the innkeeper’s wife. Though Winifriede dreamt of being an actress, this was her only film role.

It is made at Nassour Studios, 5746 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, and at Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,699

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com