Geordie (1955)

Every actor is excellent in this film, and this includes the taunting bullies when Geordie is a boy; they are also good when when they gawk at Geordie the conquering hero comes home. The message is simple, the film elegant in conveying it. Don't tease the hungry kitten who may grow up to be the hungry lion in the Colosseum. Every man I know who saw this film as a boy in the 1950s remembered it vividly to his dying day. I even knew Germans who saw it, a bit later, who also got the message that their Nazi fathers did not. Geordie is, of course, a boys' film; but in 93 minutes it conveys more about growing up to be men than Little Women does to girls about growing up to be women (if only because boys have more energy to control). I hope Prince William of Wales has seen this film in England; he'll become a better King of Scotland for it. Perhaps it's about Britain, America, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand too; united we stand, divided we fall -- and everyone of us must do his bit. Is that really "sentimental"? or is it really what we all strive for? This is not just a good film; it's an essential film. It's the oatmeal of a good diet, the essence of simplicity's complexity, and complexity's simplicity. It's about growing up to become an admirable, worldly hero, instead of lagging behind to become the ignorant, ignoble town bullies. It's about how we we won WWII, stoodu p to the Communist empire, and will drag China onto our side. It encourages boys to make the best decision, however unpopular it may be. Good book, good play, excellent film. Sometimes a great film is composed of small, earthy, simple elements of noble purpose. This is one of those little films that's really big because it follows aspirations and accomplishes nobility.

Little Geordie is the smallest boy in the glen, barely able to reach the blackboard at school and as weak as watery broth with it. Fed up with the situation he begins a course of body building despite being just a bairn and continues it into his teens and adulthood. By the time he is 21 he has turned into a fine body of a man. It seems only natural that he will work with his father on the Laird's land and his life seems marked out before him. However should he be making more use of the wonderful physic that he has built?There was a time when Celtic flavour was all the rage – particularly around the time of The Quiet Man, Trouble in the Glen and many other films of the period that cashed in on it. With that in mind it may be that this film was put together faster than it should have been because, while enjoyable, it is not quite as good in depth as it should have been. The plot starts being about body building, then works around it for a while before taking the story to the Olympics; it is enough of a narrative flow to keep things moving but it wasn't the slight story that gave me pause. No, it was the fact that much of the film was close to a character piece on Geordie but yet the character wasn't there.He is a simple character and, although that may be the point, I still think that more could have been made of the person. As it was the film was amiable enough, amusing without ever being funny, engaging without ever being considered a great tale. The cast are not great but do the job reasonably well. Bill Travers has always been a strange leading man for my money and this is not one of his finer hours – he overdoes the simple Scottish cliché and forgets to give Geordie much of a personality. Sim is enjoyable enough but the film was there for the dominating and he didn't do it – although in fairness this may have been a deliberate decision. Gorsen is OK – a bonnie lass but no more although support is generally good.Overall this is an OK film but hardly anything beyond the Celtic flavour film that it is. The central character is not good enough to carry the whole film, a problem given that the plot actually relies on that heavily at times. It distracts and is pleasing enough but expect more than that at your peril.

I agree with other comments that this needs to be brought back in VHS. It is a good movie that the whole family can enjoy. It has many memorable scenes. My favorite is when Geordie and some other Olympic atheletes lift a car off a person trapped under it. Any kid that has flipped through a comic and seen a Charles Atlas ad for body building will instantly connect with "Wee Geodie".

Farm boy Rulon Gardner's fabulous win at the Sydney Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling is almost a real-life incarnation of the hero of "Wee Geordie." Goerdie, the hero of this wonderful low-key comedy, starts out as an undersized little boy in rural Scotland, who grows up to be very big indeed. He takes up hammer-throwing after completing a physical-culture courst that converts him from 99 lb. weakling to "Charles Atlas." And, of course, he ends up in the 1956 Olympics, wearing his kilt and throwing for the gold.I saw this film as a kid when it first came out, and was lucky enough to see it on television about a decade ago--and it had lost none of its charm. What with Rulon and Sydney, it's time to bring out this wonderful comedy on Video/DVD. Alistair Sim is a wonderful laird and Bill Travers plays the ultra-grown-up Geordie. It's really funny in the way of Brit comedies of the era.