WONDER KID

UK, 1951, 85 minutes, Black and white.
Bobby Henrey, Oskar Werner, Sebastian Cabot, Elwyn Brook- Jones, Muriel Aked.
Directed by Karl Hartl.

This is an uneven little melodrama from England around 1950. It was a star vehicle for young Bobby Henrey, who made such impact as the young boy in Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol. The film in about a young concert pianist who is taken away by a concerned governess and in the hands of gangsters. The plot is very contrived. However, it is of interest because the main gangster is Oskar Werner at the beginning of his career. Of historic interest in the development of English films and Oskar Werner's career.

1. The quality of this kind of melodrama for entertainment? Audience interest in child prodigies, kidnappings, gangsters and action thrillers?

2. The use of the kidnap conventions, the gangsters, the Austrian setting? The linking of this with the child prodigy and his piano playing? Average material, how well done?

3. Austrian locations? The world of the concert pianist and the performances? The contribution of the music?

4. The plausibility of the plot - of Sebastian as a child prodigy, his manager and sinister embezzling of the money, the concerned English governess? The finding of a kidnapper, the gangsters, their behaviour and the ransom? The rescue and the chase? How contrived? How authentic?

5. Sebastian as child prodigy - his piano-playing especially during the credits? his not having parents, his being under the management of a crooked entrepreneur? His travelling, interviews, learning of languages, practice? His wishing to he an ordinary boy, the Dick Tracey comics - and his later recognition of the gangsters? His response to his kidnappers, friendship, the joy of being a boy, playing in the mountains, the friendship with the dog? The final heroics and his return? His standing up to his manager?

6. Rudi and his agreeing to take Sebastian, the agreement with the governess, his friends, his sister, holding the boy in the countryside, his hostile attitudes, his decision to ask for ransom, the confrontation and the escape?

7. The members of his group - the fat Italian and his friendliness but being on Rudi’s side, the American and his care for Sebastian, teaching him how to play, Sebastian's remembering this during his performance, Ann and her concern? Their taking him to the police, the final chase, a future?

8. The manager and his suave villainy, his secretary? The governess and her concern? The contriving of getting Sebastian away? The imprisonment?

9. The combination of classical music and gangster melodrama - how well did it work?