Sunday, 2 December 2007
The Kid Stays in The Picture: Top Ten Children on Film
posted @12:36 p.m. by Richard Kelly
Here's a simple Ten for all of you out there feeling warm and fuzzy about the little ones as Christmas nears. Because the little ones are always adorable at Christmas, right...? KALEEM AFTAB, one of the eminent contributors to the TBD book (cf. lists of Graffiti, End Credits and Goals) has contributed this listing on the theme of child actors. Kids are put on a par with dogs when it comes to cinema: everyone has heard it been said that ‘you shouldn’t act with animals or children.’ But as with every rule of thumb, there are the exceptions that prove the rule. The following is a list of performances by kid actors that have rocked the playhouse.
THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE
10) Enzo Staiola as Bruno Ricci in Bicycle Thieves
9) Jackie Coogan as The Kid in The Kid
8) Maia Brewton as Sara Anderson in Adventures in Babysitting
7) Haley Joel Osment as Cole Sear in The Sixth Sense
6) Elizabeth Taylor as Velvet Brown in National Velvet
5) Jean-Pierre Leaud as Antoine Doniel in The 400 Blows
4) Drew Barrymore as Gertie in E.T.
3) Nathalie Portman as Mathilda in Leon
2) Jody Foster as Iris Steensma in Taxi Driver
1) Subir Bannerjee as Apu in Pather Panchali
Comments
Kaleem - I would find it hard to argue with any of your inclusions but I think that this is a list that could run its little legs off. I have decided to add a list of other fine performances, in this case, just by little women, in film - because as Lillian Gish says of children (in Night of the Hunter) - 'They abide!'.
So, here is my 'girls on film' list
1. Keisha Castle Hughes as Paekia in Whale Rider 2002
I watched this again recently and tears were rolling down my cheeks before the film had even started.
2.Yella Rottlander as Alice in Alice in the Cities 1974 (coming again to UK screens in early 2008)
3.Sally Jane Bruce as Pearl Harper in Night of the Hunter 1955 ( four years old and holding her own with Mitchum, Gish and Winters)
4.Anna Paquin's Oscar winning performance as Flora McGrath in The Piano 1993 (all the right notes)
5. Shirley Temple as Shirley Blake (obviously so that the poor little thing wouldn't get confused on set) in Bright Eyes 1934 - purely for 'Good ship Lollipop'-well, maybe for the curls, too. She gets my vote.
6.Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil in the Exorcist 1973 - a totally head-turning performance.
7.Miss Jenny Agutter as Bobbie Waterbury in The Railway Children 1970 ( sadly she does not utter the line 'Mr Perks: it's thee train! thee train! ')
8. Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams in the Addams family 1991 (Goth chic) (also a counter balance to no. 1. in list above)
9.Tatum O'Neal as Addie Loggins in Paper Moon 1973 (The birthday note trick would probably still work, today)
10. Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson in the Simpsons Movie 2007.
Of course, I would have had nos. 2/3/4/6 from the list above, gladly included - I must admit that I need to watch adventures in Babysitting.
-Andrew
Martin Stephens in The Innocents and Village of the Damned - something spooky about that kid.
George Cole in Cottage to let.
Sabu in The Thief of Baghdad.
Bobby Henrey in The Fallen Idol.
Almost any kid in any Shane Meadows movie, but particularly Thomas Turgoose in This is England and Andrew Shim and Ben Marshall in a Room for Romeo Brass.
Completely agree about Sally Jane Bruce in Night of the Hunter, by the way.
How old was David Bennent when he acted in The Tin Drum (1979)? I could check this myself, of course. The preternaturally talented Dakota Fanning probably deserves a mention. And those twin girls in The Shining (1980) - okay, slightly monotone delivery but I daresay they were directed thus.
Your thoughts