Little Lord Fauntleroy - a marathon

There are many versions of "Little Lord Fauntleroy", but one version has turned into one of Germany's favorite Christmas movies - the 1980 movie with Alec Guinness and Ricky Schroder made for British TV as a Christmas program.

The first broadcast in Germany was on Christmas 1982 and the same TV channel has shown it every year since, usually on the last Friday before Christmas Eve.
To me it feels as if I have seen it a thousand times, but I'll still watch it again every year.
This year, however, I did it a bit differently. I went on a marathon through different versions of it - including the book.

"Little Lord Fauntleroy" is a children's novel written by Frances Hodgson Burnett and published as a serial between 1885 and 1886. It's pretty amazing that the story is still popular after almost 140 years, but my guess it's that the reason is the same as for to Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" from 1843 - the idea that a heartless rich man is being converted appeals to us, possibly even more in our times when we would love to have such a story come true.

First edition 1886 (public domain
via Wikimedia Commons)

I don't know if there is anyone among you who doesn't at least know vaguely what the novel (which is in the public domain, so you can read it online, for example here) is about.
A British Earl disowns his youngest son for marrying an American woman. After all of his sons have died, he sends his lawyer to New York to bring his only grandson home to England to raise him in the manner that behooves a future Earl. His condition, however, is that Cedric - named after his father - will be living with him in his castle while "Dearest" - Cedric's mother whose first name is never mentioned, he is calling her that because his father did - has to live in a house nearby because the Earl refuses to see the woman he thinks is "a mercenary, sharp-voiced American".
To make it short, Cedric's lovable, modest, and generous character eventually changes his grandfather's heart, and when another woman turns up and claims her son is the real heir, he understands how wrong he had been. Obviously the woman is an impostor which they find out with the help of Cedric's American friends.
Unlike the 1980 movie which ends with a great Christmas feast in the big hall, the book ends with Cedric's 8th birthday (just like the other filmed versions I watched) - and all of them live together (including Dearest) happily ever after, no doubt.

Let's get to the filmed versions now. This is not a full list of all existing ones, but only those I know of, have watched or could have watched.

I didn't find the first movie which is from 1914 which didn't really surprise me.
Then there's the silent movie from 1921 (on YouTube in both color or sepia tones) with Mary Pickford both as Dearest and a Cedric with long curls which were surely inspired by the original illustrations, but didn't necessarily help with seeing her as a boy. It's the first movie with a double exposure, by the way, in which the two characters seem to touch.
The movie is almost two hours long, I admit I gave up after a while. Maybe I'll manage some other time, but it can be quite hard to concentrate on a silent movie that doesn't even have music. At the moment, my attention span simply wasn't up to it.

Public domain via Wikipedia

I didn't have such problems with the 1936 version starring Freddie Bartholomew as Ceddie and C. Aubrey Smith who made a fabulous Earl of Dorincourt (I even liked him more than Alec Guinness).
Although this version is about the same length as the one from 1980, there are differences. The old movie shows a lot more of Cedric's life in New York to introduce his character right from the start, a normal nine year old (in all the films he's older than in the book) who likes to run and doesn't fear a fight, but who also loves his mother dearly and is polite and sweet to all of his friends, including the older ones like Dick, the bootblack, the old woman selling apples, and Mr. Hobbs, the grocer. On the other hand, it leaves out scenes in England showing how good he is to some people there winning him everyone's hearts.
They talk in a stilted way compared to the more modern movies, but I think it rather fits a literary adaptation from this time and didn't mind it.
The biggest difference, however, is how Dearest is shown. Here she is friendly and demure, even when she tells the Earl's lawyer she will refuse his money. Apart from that, she mostly gets mentioned by Cedric, but rather stays in the background, much like in the book.



The next movie may surprise you. It's a German version from 1962 which moves the whole plot into the 60s, with planes instead of ships, cars instead of carriages, a newspaper seller instead of an apple woman.
According to the credits, it is based on both the book and a stage adaptation, and it often does feel stagey, in the acting, but also some of the scenery, but despite the time jump it is still very close to the book.
I'm sorry to say that this Cedric is the one I like least. His acting really is too stagey for me in the way he emphasizes words and it makes him look annoyingly precocious at times.



1980 - the Germans' beloved classic.
Unfortunately, this one isn't on YouTube, but here's a short clip in English from it.



Cedric's character is very much like in the other movies, a real boy with a heart of gold, but by keeping the speech and even most of his clothing more casual compared to 1936 (if you would like to know more about his iconic velvet suits, check out this article, those suits really made their mark on actual fashion), he seems a little more natural.
As mentioned before, the part of his life in America is cut shorter, instead we have a longer scene of him helping a lame boy which introduces him to the villagers, and then there's that heartbreaking scene when he and his grandfather are riding through the part of the village where the Earl's poor tenants live - run down, dirty, and OMG, that three legged dog in the mud gets me every time! - which makes the Earl see how much he has neglected his responsibilities.

Dearest, however, is a very different woman here. First of all, she doesn't have "a little money of my own", she has worked for her money sewing shirts at home, and after refusing to take the Earl's money, she goes right into the village and gets herself a job assisting the only local seamstress. Of course she still takes the time to help the poor tenants.
Then there's that scene when she meets the Earl's carriage when walking back to her house, stands up to him and thanks the revolution that has set the Americans free from the British, politely but firmly.
I'm sorry if it sounds as if I'm ridiculing her American pride, but honestly, it's a bit much given that nothing of that is in the book at all, well, except the poor people of course.

The rest is pretty much the same as in the book and the other movies. Minna the imposter turns up and gets found out with the help of Ceddie's American friends (minus the apple woman who got left out of the script ;-)) because it's her bad luck that the story is also in American newspapers and Dick recognizes them from the pictures as his brother's estranged wife and their son.

They celebrate with a big Christmas feast, together with staff and villagers (I wonder how they picked who was allowed to attend and who had to cook and serve everything) - and the three legged dog who becomes friends with the Earl's Great Dane (I do love a happy ending :-D).

If you think you are off the hook now having come this far, you are wrong.
There's a British five hour mini series from 1995 adapted by Julian Fellowes (who may sound familiar to you as the creator of Downton Abbey and more). For the VHS and later DVD edition the series was cut down to about three hours which I was very grateful about. I watched it once and don't think I will do that again.
It's on YouTube in a playlist of many short videos.

There you are. I'm now filled up to the brim with Lord Fauntleroy versions and can honestly tell you that I can't pick between the 1936 and the 1980 ones. They both have their own special charm and you can shut out the real world for a while which isn't the worst thing at the moment.
It's amazing, though, how people can fight about what's their favorite and why and what's wrong with all the others and who was the wrong cast and ... and ... but people can fight about absolutely everything, right?

Do you know any of these versions? If so, what's your favorite? Are they Christmas treats for you?