My Friend Flicka (1943)

Roddy McDowall (Ken McLaughlin), Preston Foster (Rob McLaughlin), Rita Johnson (Nell McLaughlin), James Bell (Gus), Jeff Corey (Tim Murphy), Diana Hale (Hildy), Arthur Loft (Charley Sargent), and "Misty" ("Banner").Director: HAROLD SCHUSTER. Screenplay: Lillie Hayward. Adapted by Francis Edwards Faragoh from the 1941 novel by Mary O'Hara (pseudonym of Mary Alsop Sture-Vasa). Photo¬graphed in Technicolor by Dewey Wrigley. Film editor: Robert Fritch. Music: Alfred Newman. Art directors: Richard Day and Chester Gore. Set decorators: Thomas Little and Paul S. Fox. Costumes: Herschel. Equine supervisor: Jack Lindell. Technicolor color consultants: Natalie Kalmus and Henri Jaffa. Sound recording: Joseph E. Aiken and Harry M. Leonard. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Ralph Dietrich.Copyright 23 April 1943 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 26 May 1943. U.S. release: April 1943. Australian release: 6 January 1944. Sydney release at the Palace: 11 February 1944. Lengths: 7,970 feet, 88½ minutes (U.S.A.); 8,249 feet, 91½ minutes (Australia).SYNOPSIS: Amiable but dreamy-headed youngster gains maturity caring for a colt of his own. Setting: A horse ranch in Wyoming, 1941.NOTE: Sequel is Thunderhead, Son of Flicka (1945). Final film is Green Grass of Wyoming (1948).COMMENT: With its breathtakingly beautiful color location photography, its rousing music score timed to exciting vistas of horses thundering through attractive landscapes, My Friend Flicka provides an entertainment feast for horse lovers in general, Mary O'Hara fans in particular. True, Roddy McDowall makes an ingratiating young hero and the support players are capable enough, but it's the horses that are rightly the center of attraction - and they are skillfully directed and most appealingly presented. (The scene in which "Rocket" is killed is dramatically highly effective due to the deft editing of imaginative camera angles and camera movement).Of course the script does have a tendency to wash into sentiment (even the conclusion is not wholly up-beat, readying us for the sequel, Thunderhead, Son of Flicka). The dialogue also tends to be expressed in too obviously goodie-goodie clichés - particularly by the over-earnestly solicitous Swedish hired man, played somewhat exaggeratedly by James Bell. Admittedly the film doesn't go overboard, but the tendency to sucrose is there, finding its least enjoyable morphosis in Mr Bell. The rest of the cast is not so noticeably infected. Roddy McDowall manages to overcome the germ completely, while Preston Foster (who seems to have more than his share of didactic and instant information lines) is such a dull (if capable) actor anyway, it doesn't really matter. The same goes for Rita Johnson who does the understanding mother to a "T".The film is remarkably well directed by Harold Schuster. You won't find his name on any auteur lists. Director of the terrible Breakfast in Hollywood and the delightful (but routinely directed) Dinner at the Ritz, his career reached its highest point here and in Disney's So Dear to My Heart. His previous film to Flicka (signed "Charles Fuhr"), namely Bomber's Moon, is also not without interest.

One of Roddy McDowell's most endearing roles as a child actor was as young Ken McLaughlin in My Friend Flicka. The film has deservedly become an international children's classic.Young Mr. McLaughlin has become quite the headache for his parents Preston Foster and Rita Johnson, his grades slipping and his chores on the horse ranch they have left undone. Johnson decides that he should get a colt anyway to teach him a sense of responsibility and Foster goes along with the idea, a bit reluctantly.The bonding of the colt Flicka with McDowell is something to see. It's quite touching and real and the two see through some rough patches. The colt's mother has a streak of crazy wildness in her and a particular piece of wildness kills her. This is where Preston Foster gets his doubts, but love between the boy and horse win out.Studios which were starting to use color before the war pretty much switched to black and white. 20th Century Fox probably did more color features than other studios, mostly for their splashy musicals. The color cinematography here makes My Friend Flicka timeless and salable for today's taste.Good family film, still holds up well since the World War II years.

"In this touching family film based on the celebrated novel by Mary O'Hara, ten-year-old Kenny McLaughlin (Roddy McDowall), a rancher's son, desperately wants a horse of his own. When his father (Preston Foster) finally agrees to let him choose a foal, Ken picks Flicka, a beautiful but high-spirited filly who comes from a bloodline considers hopelessly wild. It is up to Ken to prove Flicka is tamable or risk losing her. Along the way, Ken and his family learn some important lessons in the poignant tale of love, patience, faith, and hope beyond hope," according to the DVD synopsis.The most obvious outstanding feature of this excellent family drama is the stunningly beautiful Technicolor photography by Dewey Wrigley, with Natalie Kalmus and Henri Jaffa assisting. Both the Utah location and 20th Century-Fox lots are spectacular, often with a gentle breeze highlighting the scenery. The studio could have easily pushed for an "Academy Award" (to compete with MGM's "Lassie Come Home") in the "Best Color Cinematography" category.According to my Svenska grandfather, "Flicka" means just "girl" in Swedish, not as the film states, "little girl." The story trims the book to make "My Friend Flicka" seem more about the curiously cold relationship father Foster has with his son. By the film's end, you expect the distant dad will be closer to young McDowall. He and "Flicka" are tremendously appealing, and charmed viewers through sequels, a TV series, and numerous repeats through the 1950s.******** My Friend Flicka (5/26/43) Harold Schuster ~ Roddy McDowall, Preston Foster, Rita Johnson, James Bell

I was 8 when I saw the film. As an earlier writer said, it was before TV and during simpler times. I loved it. I haven't seen it for 6o years but some scenes still remain in my memory. Today I took my grandchildren to see Flicka. I was disappointed to find that Ken had been replaced by a nubile teenage girl and the script has been changed dramatically. I wonder what kind of film would have resulted from remaining true to the wonderful novel. It seems that stories for children can't be written now without either animation or high drama or an element of sexuality as shown in the relationship between brother Ryan and Miranda.