A Kid For Two Farthings is a 1955 film, directed by Carol Reed. The screenplay was adapted by Wolf Mankowitz from his own novel of the same name. The film presumably gets its name from an Aramaic song traditionally sung after the Passover Seder, Chad Gadya , in which a kid bought for two small coins, "zuzim" in the original, stands in for the Children of Israel. It was one of the last films produced by Alex Korda before his death.
Plot
In the busy wholesale-retail world of London's East End everyone, it seems, has unattainable dreams. Then a small boy – Joe – buys a unicorn, in fact a sickly little goat, with just one twisted horn in the middle of its forehead. This, he has been led to believe by a local tailor, Kandinsky, will bring everyone good fortune. The film has a haunting last image, of Kandinsky carrying the tiny body of the "unicorn" to the graveyard, whilst passing in the opposite direction is a Torah-reading Rabbi pushing a horn gramophone, a character that appears in the background several times during the film.
Film rights to the novel were purchased by Carol Reed, who had made a popular film centering around a child a few years previously, The Fallen Idol. After making The Man Between Reed wanted to do something on a small scale in a studio. The role of the six year old went to Jonathan Ashmore. The New York Times called Diana Dors' casting "a surprise choice"because "she has made no films of consequence before and has usually been thought of as a kind of junior Marilyn Monroe." Filming sarted in June 1954. It took place at the studio and on location at Petticoat Lane in London. It was Carol Reed's first movie in colour. Korda had just signed a deal with Romulus for them to distribute his movies. Kid for Two Farthings was the first.
Reception
Critical
Reviews for the film were mixed. Reed said "I loved that book. The film was alright in parts but not in others. It cost very little money but did well."
According to the Monthly Film Herald The film was the 9th most popular movie at the British box office in 1955, after The Dam Busters, White Christmas, Doctor at Sea, The Colditz Story, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Above Us the Waves, One Good Turn, and Raising a Riot. The film's popularity helped exhibitors vote Diana Dors the 9th most popular British star in British films
