User Reviews

It's been a century now since Booth Tarkington wrote the first Penrod stories for various magazines, a century of enormous change. For one thing that useless nuisance the automobile has changed everything, from work to play. Penrod And Sam was published in 1916 and small town America had even changed a lot when this third film version was released in 1931. Tarkington was a clever and witty novelist who maybe because of his staid and even old fashioned outlook has been rather sadly sidelined over the years.

Penrod Schofield is a mischievous adventurous young boy, who is leader of an unruly gang of initiates and continually in and out of trouble with his parents, his neighbours and his friends. The era is pre World War 1, a more leisurely time for more leisurely and simple adventures. The film itself concentrates on a couple of chapters at school and home from the book then unfortunately veers off into its own fiction. For anyone interested in social history I would recommend reading the original explanation for Sam's father's outrage at Georgie's initiation into the In-Or-In's. On a geeky note it always amused me how Tarkington himself had altered his tone regarding race between the first in 1913 and the last story, Penrod Jashber in 1929. On the other hand, to correct a previous comment Verman's name was meant only to rhyme with Herman. And poor ole Duke - he definitely didn't deserve to die, especially as he made an appearance on the last page of the last book! It all added up to valuable running time wasted to a non-Tarkington screenplay.

The original stories were so impressive they spawned a British copy in Just William, born in Home magazine in 1919 (written by Richmal Crompton) and whose wild career lasted until 1970. This Penrod film is OK albeit a bit too Our Gangy, but isn't a patch on the books any more than the William films were of the William books, however it gives the flavour and serves to remind just how the world - and youth - has "improved" in the years since. Use it as a springboard to read the books.

Though set in the 1920s (not to mention being shot in 1931), The Adventures of Penrod and Sam plays very well--in part, no doubt, to being shot in the pre-Code era. Though episodic and simply plotted, the film was thoughtfully written by Waldemar Young and features a very talented cadre of child actors, none of whom subscribe to the Freddie Bartholomew method of pouty emoting. The film does a fine job of portraying children as real children, and not the idealized angels of the Shirley Temple era: these kids pick their noses, admonish their pet's rear ends, and stumble in the classroom when reading their compositions. As a bonus, the film looks very nice thanks to Roy Overbaugh's cinematography, and One-Shot Beaudine's direction displays more style than the man is generally credited with. All in all, a very minor, but extremely enjoyable, paean to the joys and miseries of childhood.

PENROD AND SAM is not just a bad film, it's jaw-dropping in it's viciousness, condoned under the guise of "boys will boys". Booth Tarkington's novels of the Penrod character tell the tale of a mischievous trouble-making rascal but this Penrod is a truly psychotic, an extremely mean-spirited little bully who in "initations" to his clubhouse blindfolds the kids, has the gang kick them, locks them in a furnace while burning tobacco, pushes them down stairs in the basement while still blindfolded and for the final topper pours tar into their hair!! All the while snorting his evil little laugh throughout the film that suggests this punk grew up to be the Richard Widmark character in KISS OF DEATH!

The most disturbing part of all this is the director and screenwriter seem to feel it's funny to have these kids bullied, ostracized, and harassed, apparently acceptable since the victims are a spoiled rich cry baby and a blatantly effeminate kid who we are told is "not like other boys" and bluntly called "a pansy" by one of the gang. But then what do you expect from a film with one of the African-American children named "Vermin", and one "gag" that has Penrod running out the house and slapping the screen door hard against the back side of the black maid, with Penrod unconcerned and unapologetic.

Leon Janney as Penrod gives one of the worst child actor performances I've ever seen, he's believable if one-note as the brat but is comically awful when we see the "sad Penrod" grieving his dead dog with melodramatic gestures and grimaces that seem lifted from primitive silent movie shorts from the 1910's. Most of the kids (including Junior Coglan as "Sam", Penrod's best friend and partner in crime) are pretty bad here, not just their characters but their performances. Among the very few pleasures the film offers is an amusing performance by Elizabeth Patterson as the elderly, no-nonsense, off-key singing school teacher and Charles Seldon as the cranky banker who almost hates his pompous son as much as the gang does. ZaSu Pitts is pretty good as the smothering mother of the sissy kid but Johnny Arthur is bizarre as his equally effete father, a priss who calls his twelve-year-old son "darling". The movie ends with Penrod unrepentant from past shenanigans and launching another "initation".

Booth Tarkington is now known for his Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Magnificent Ambersons" but back in the twenties he was mostly known as the author of the Penrod books as well as other juvenile series such as Edgar. In fact by the early 1920s he was at Goldwyn writing scenarios based on the Edgar stories. Penrod was his most endearing character and it had already been filmed by First National as a 90 minute special in 1922 starring Wesley Barry. The films of the late 1930s bore little resemblance to Tarkington's creation and were made to cash in on the novelty of the Maunch twins. The 1931 movie featured Leon Janney in the lead and Junior Coghlan as Sam. Coghlan had been a juvenile performer in silent era but apart from a memorable part as a sick boy in "Hell's House", his career had petered out, he had arrived at that awkward age. As had Janney, although his career hadn't really got off the ground, mostly consisting of playing the lead actors as children. He appeared in a couple of "Our Gang" shorts but it was a mystery why as his character was not little and cute but a bit older and with an unappealing personality. Still 1931 was his year - not only did he have the lead in Penrod but he also starred in "Police Court", a stirring melodrama of an on the skids actor (Henry B. Walthall) who finds a reason to go on because of his son.

Everything that made the books so beloved - the "In-Or-In" society, Georgie Bassett, the town goody-goody ("Georgie isn't like other boys" proud father boasts) and Rodney Bitts, Penrod's perennial thorn in the side and son of the richest man in town, are here in the movie. As well, there is the fight between Penrod and Sam over the heart of Marjorie Jones (very winsomely played by Margaret Marquis) and the very heart rending tale of the death of Penrod's old dog "Duke" which, interestingly, wasn't handled as poignantly as a similar scene in "Skippy".

First up is a school scene - Penrod has to write a "Letter to a Friend" for homework but as usual he isn't prepared, he finds a letter in his sister's room, reads it in class and creates a sensation, of course it is a love letter and Penrod is going to find it hard to live down the phrases "ruby red lips, sparkling blue eyes and lovely curly locks"!! The class room scene establishes the characters of Penrod and Sam's mortal enemies - Georgie Bassett's letter is to his teacher and is all about flowers, Rodney Bitt's is like a prospectus for his father's bank!! Meanwhile Penrod's dad is ambushed by Mr. Bassett (tremendous role for Johnny Arthur, he plays the prissy father to the hilt and even Mr. Schofield winces when he says "darling Georgie is not like other boys"!!). He demands Georgie be allowed to attend Penrod's secret society. It's a bad day for Georgie when he is inducted as a member - he is almost taken to hospital!! Rodney wants to join also but when he tells his father of his bad experience there is retaliation when his father buys the vacant lot from Mr. Schofield and banishes Penrod.

This hits Penrod at his lowest, not only has he fallen out with his best pal Sam but it is where he has buried his little dog - it means he can't even visit the grave. Dorothy Peterson, everyone's idea of a perfect wife and mother, Zasu Pitts as the mincing Mrs. Bassett and Charles Sellon as pompous Mr. Bitts. Janney really wins you over and his emotional scenes really convince as do all the children. Junior Coghlan plays Sam as a boy of few words but his character shines through. All credit must be given to William Beaudine. Later in his career his name became synonymous with "hack director" but back in the day he was known for having a gift for directing children (he directed the original 1923 version, Mary Pickford's "Sparrows" among others).

Highly Recommended.