Little Lord Fauntleroy (DVD, 2004)

Freddie Bartholomew (DAVID COPPERFIELD CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS) plays Cedric Errol a poor Brooklyn boy destined for greatness in this film based on the lovable story by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Although Ceddie doesn't know it his deceased father was an English nobleman. When it becomes apparent that Ceddie is heir to an English title and an immense fortune his mother (Dolores Costello Barrymore) takes him back to England where they discover that her father-in-law the earl of Dorincourt (C. Aubrey Smith) despises Americans. To win his birthright Ceddie must struggle against false claims to his title as well as his grandfather's cantankerous disposition. Director John Cromwell (SO ENDS OUR NIGHT OF HUMAN BONDAGE) at times considered LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY his finest film; with a graceful script by novelist Hugh Walpole an excellent supporting cast a buoyant sense of humor and a gem of a performance from Bartholomew he may well have been right.