Kidnapped (1938)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Considerable liberties have been taken with Stevenson's novel in this instance, presumably in order to accommodate a female lead (Arleen Whelan). The plot has also been re-arranged to allow for an early meeting between David and Breck. Ebenezer's entrance is delayed for well over half-an-hour and the actual kidnapping doesn't take place until the movie is half over. Alas, Warner Baxter is uncomfortably miscast as Breck, and even Freddie Bartholomew does not make much of an impression. It seems obvious that the director could do little with him. The rest of the cast is likewise disappointing, with the exceptions of Reginald Owen's Captain Hoseason and Arthur Hohl's Riach. Even Sir C. Aubrey Smith can make little headway against the jingoistic lines the script hands him. Alfred Werker's direction, alas, is solidly unimaginative – even the sequence on the stairs is poorly handled. In all, Werker fails to utilize the sets to their best pictorial advantage and Toland's camera-work is thus wasted on studiously dull compositions. Only the episodes in the fog before the castle and on board the ship stand out. In all, despite some stirring crowd scenes, the film has the look of a limited budget production. I feel this is not a film that Robert Louis Stevenson would be proud to acknowledge. (I am a direct descendant of Robert Stevenson, RLS's grandfather).

If you're a Robert Louis Stevenson purist you will probably not find this version of Kidnapped to your liking. I've not seen yet the version with Roddy McDowall from 1948, but the Disney version with James MacArthur and Peter Finch sticks far closer to what Stevenson wrote.Not that Freddie Bartholomew is bad as young Balfour the heir who gets hijacked rather than kidnapped, a scheme to deprive him of a Scottish title by his miserly uncle played by Miles Mander. In the book and in the Disney film, Balfour's story is the plot of the film. In this version we get far more of Scottish politics as they were in 1747.The character of Balfour's grownup savior Alan Breck is built up and a whole plot involving a romance with a Scottish lass played by Arleen Whelan is given equal time with the Balfour predicament. Warner Baxter is cast as Alan Breck and this must have only happened because Darryl Zanuck had Tyrone Power and Don Ameche working on other projects. Power would really have brought a verve to the role that Baxter just didn't have. Not unlike The Prince And The Pauper where Errol Flynn is the dashing Miles Hendon saving the young king Edward VI. And in that film Flynn while top billed did not have his character built up to take away from the main story.Kidnapped is not a bad film, but the Disney version is much better.

Fast, efficient, inaccurate adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel of a young boy (Bartholemew) swept up in the Scottish rebellion against the King's tax collectors.When you get one of these 1930s black-and-white, no-nonsense stories of famous novels or famous men from a studio like 20th-Century Fox, you get a respectable and not-very-challenging studio product. These are all professional and commercial products. The guys behind and in front of the camera knew their business. The sets are evocatively dressed. Rainy Scotland, full of bens and lochs, is turned into the rolling tawny hills of sunny California, full of live oak and orange blossoms. Plenty of atmosphere and entertainment.Freddy Bartholemew isn't bad, considering he's only about eleven years old. Ordinarily, a little kid in a movie like this has to break down and weep somewhere along the line -- his champion dies or his father is killed by the enemy -- and during these scenes one wants to stomp them like insects. Here, though, Bartholemew is as tart as a pippin apple. He "speaks truth to authority." He's sufferable.The supporting cast is good, too, with a few exceptions. Warner Baxter isn't the notorious Scottish rebel. He's a guy who's at his wits end trying to produce a Broadway play. And Arlene Whelan isn't a young Scottish lass with crude demeanor. She's a graduate of an Orange-County hair-dressing salon who became one of Darryl F. Zanuck's mistresses and got the part.Best scene: Bartholomew meets his uncle, the phony and stingy Laird of the Manor, Miles Mander, who is straight out of Dickens. (His name is Ebeneezer Balfour.) He lives alone in a cold, dark castle, too cheap to feed the fire or lend his nephew a candle to find his way to his bedroom. On first meeting Bartholomew, he spoons about half a cup of oatmeal into the kid's bowl and says, "There you go, eat hearty." That Calvinism is like a disease.

Years ago, I read Stevenson's story, KIDNAPPED. When I watched this 1938 version of the story, I couldn't help but wonder if I was losing my mind, as so much of it seemed like it wasn't in the book--particularly the romantic subplot and quite a bit of the action. Well, when I later checked, I found that for once I wasn't losing my mind--the story was heavily re-worked and in many places it bore little similarity to the novel. Additionally, I was surprised that despite the story being set in Scotland, none of the characters sounded like Scots--having mostly American and a few English accents. In particular, I have always liked Warner Baxter as an actor, but here he sounds exactly the same as he did in practically all his films--like a nice but not particularly rugged American.Yet despite all this, the story still was rather enjoyable and kept my attention throughout. Very nice looking sets and a basic story that is hard to screw up, it isn't surprising that the story still delivers. It's well worth a look, but considering that KIDNAPPED is such an easy read, I still recommend the book over this film.