THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR

US, 1948, 82 minutes, Black and white and Colour.
Dean Stockwell, Pat O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Barbara Hale.
Directed by Joseph Losey.

The Boy With Green Hair was one of the earliest films of celebrated director Joseph Losey. Blacklisted in the '50s, he moved to England where he made films under assumed names. He emerged in the '60s with such films as The Servant, King and Country, Accident as a major filmmaker. He based his work in the '70s in France and it included such films as Don Giovanni. His last film was Steaming.

This is a small R.K.O. fable about war and its aftermath, a child's fantasy about the effect of war on children. A protest. Dean Stockwell acts very well as the boy and Pat O'Brien has an enjoyable time as his grandfather. The theme song, 'Nature Boy', became quite a favourite.

1. A film of the '40s, the work of Joseph Losey, the aftermath of World War Two, the anti-war message?

2. Production values: the small town, the atmosphere of the '40s? Technicolor? The fantasy sequences? The boy's green hair? Musical score and the theme song, 'Nature Boy'?

3. An effective fantasy, the idea of a boy having green hair as a sign of hope and protest? The sequences with Grandpa entertaining the King in a song and dance routine? The war orphan posters coming alive and the children giving a mission to Peter? The world of the child, the credits sequences and lettering, the opening sequences and the viewpoint of adults from a child's eye? A child's message to adults?

4. The war and the experience in America, the war orphans, the adults killed overseas, the loss of the children? War and its effect on children?

5. The puzzle about the bald boy, the interrogation by the police, the doctor? The flashback style? Peter's voice-over, incidents, emotion? The resolution? The doctor symbolic of the adult being friendly, listening?

6. Peter and his viewpoint, the houses and his aunts, his going to live with his grandfather, his delight, breaking the vase to test his grandfather, able to go into every room? His delight in his grandfather's song and dance routines ? the fantasy with the bespectacled King? Happiness, being afraid of the dark, his grandfather's Irish sayings about the dark – no one in the dark who wasn't there in the light etc.? Going to school, Miss Grant and her welcome, the adults commenting on his being fine looking and tousling his hair, his being accepted by the boys and playing games with them, happiness? The boy telling him that he was a war orphan? Miss Grant handling the situation? His grandfather not having told him the truth?. The grocery situation and his hearing about war? The truth and his having to cope? His hair turning green? The sign of hope? The reaction of the people, the boys chasing him and being cruel, the adults (and the worry about the milk)? The orphans giving him a message? His going around and speaking to people against war? The decision to cut off his hair, the effect, running away?

7. Gramps as pleasant American Irish, song and dance, comforting his grandson, listening to his imaginative stories, not telling, the truth, the decision about the green hair, reading his father's letter?

8. School and Miss Grant, especially the sequence where she went through the different colours of hair of the children in the class? The kids and their welcome, their turning on Peter, chasing him, the boy with the glasses and holding him, his being mocked?

9. The adults in the town and the milkman and his friendship, concern?

10. Smalltown U.S.A. after World War Two, complacency, the antiwar message?