The Kid Brother
About The Kid Brother
Sheriff Jim Hickory and his two strong sons treat Harold, the youngest, as no Hickory at all. Left home with his father's badge, Harold signs a permit for a medicine show run by Flash Farrell, the strongman Sandoni, and Mary Powers. Jim orders the show closed. The town's dam money is then stolen, and Jim is blamed. Harold, knocked out and set adrift, wakes on a derelict ship, finds Sandoni and Farrell with the money, and brings Sandoni and the cash back as a mob is ready to hang his father. Jim tells him, "Son, you're a real Hickory." Harold then beats the town bully, Hank Hooper.
Cast & crew
More about The Kid Brother
Ted Wilde is the credited director, with J. A. Howe as co-director. Lewis Milestone shot a large part of the film and left, uncredited, because of a contract with another studio. Harold Lloyd also directed, uncredited, and produced. Howard J. Green wrote the script. Paramount released it in the United States on 22 January 1927. The ship scenes used the Palmyra, a hulk at Catalina whose keel was laid in Bath, Maine, in 1870. Walter Lundin photographed it.
Themes
Making
Milestone's exit left Lloyd and Wilde to finish a picture already largely shot in the hills around Glendale, Burbank, and Altadena.
Look
Walter Lundin shot the Hickory farm, the medicine-show fire, and the fight aboard the Palmyra at Catalina.
Preservation
A print survives. The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2023.
Notes
- Jobyna Ralston plays Mary Powers. Walter James plays Sheriff Jim. Leo Willis and Olin Francis play the older brothers. Constantine Romanoff plays Sandoni and Eddie Boland plays Flash Farrell.
- The story follows the shape of Tol'able David (1921) and remakes the 1924 Hal Roach feature The White Sheep, which starred Glenn Tryon. Willis and Ralph Yearsley, who plays Hank, had been in those earlier films.
- The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2023.
Scenes
- Harold, wearing his father's badge, signs the medicine show's permit.
- On the beached ship Sandoni kills Farrell over the split of the stolen money.
- Harold returns with the prisoner and the cash as the town is ready to hang his father.
Influenced by
- Tol'able David (1921)
- The White Sheep (1924)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons
Quotes
Son, you're a real Hickory.
