Little Lord Fauntleroy ** (1980, Ricky Schroder, Alec Guinness, Eric Porter, Colin Blakely, Connie Booth, Rachel Kempson) – Classic Movie Review 8641

Director Jack Gold’s 1980 family romantic drama Little Lord Fauntleroy is well crafted and decently acted, and has its appeal, but, as a Victorian heart-tugger, it is way out of its time. It was made with American TV in mind, and stars Ricky Schroder, Alec Guinness, Eric Porter and Connie Booth. Did Sir Alec Guinness ever think he would be playing second fiddle to a 10-year-old moppet?

Despite being burdened by a blond page-boy haircut and a velveteen suit trimmed with white lace, Ricky Schroder from The Champ is fine as an American boy called Cedric ‘Ceddie’ Errol, who turns out to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune and is sent to live with the severe and chilly Earl of Dorincourt (Alec Guinness), his grandfather who oversees his trust fund.

Blanche Hanalis writes the screenplay, based on the novel by the British-born American novelist and playwright Frances Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924), best known for the three children’s novels Little Lord Fauntleroy (published in 1885–1886), A Little Princess (1905) and The Secret Garden (1911), all filmed.

Little Lord Fauntleroy runs 103 minutes. Made by Norman Rosemont Productions, it was premiered on TV in the US on 25 November 1980 on CBS and released in cinemas in the UK in December 1980 by GTO (1980), as well as theatrically in France and Australia. A dubbed version was screened on 26 December 1982 in Germany, where it has become a Christmas classic.

Also in the cast are Eric Porter Dorincourt’s solicitor Mr Havisham, Colin Blakely as Cedric’s friend Silas Hobbs, Connie Booth as Cedric’s mother Mrs Errol, Rachel Kempson as Dorincourt’s sister Lady Lorradaile, Patrick Stewart as the riding teacher Wilkins, Carmel McSharry as Mrs Errol’s substantive Mary, Antonia Pemberton as Dorincourt’s substantive Dawson, Rolf Saxon as Cedric’s friend Dick Tipton, John Cater as the butler Thomas, Peter Copley as the Reverend Muldaur, Patsy Rowlands as Mrs Dibble, Ann Way as the village dressmaker Miss Smiff, Gerry Cowper as the room service Mellon, Edward Wiley as Ben Tipton, Kate Harper as Minna Tipton, Tony Melody as Mr Kimsey, Rohan McCullough as Lady Grace, Dicon Murray as Georgie, Ballard Berkeley as Sir Harry Lorradaile, John Southworth as Higgins, Bill Nighy as the Hunting Officer and Norman Pitt as Lord Ashbey Delefante.

International Telephone and Telegraph bankrolled most of the $6 million budget.

It is a remake of Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921) and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936).

Producer Norman Rosemont reflected: ‘What people remember about the 1936 version of Little Lord Fauntleroy is Freddie Bartholomew. But Bartholomew was British and the whole point about the story is that the boy who inherits the English earldom isn’t English at all but a kid from the Lower East Side of New York. So we open our film with him playing in Hester Street (actually shot in London) and then, some 20 pages into the script, we take him to England and the castle where he meets his cantankerous grandfather, the Earl, for the first time. We point up the contrast, and dramatise the difference in background and style of living.’

Schroder complained ‘the velveteen knickers were very itchy’.

The Adventures of Little Lord Fauntleroy followed in 1982.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8641

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Ricky Schroder, aged 9, child star of Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980).

Ricky Schroder in November 2008.