Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

ivyfield I love old movies and looked forward to seeing this on Film4 today. It's just finished and I have to say it ranks very high in the 'Why did they bother' stakes. Very bad casting, some appalling acting with the lead character - a little boy, raised in the tough East End of London who talks with more marbles in his mouth than he has teeth! I'ts in colour though really should have been b&w to give it more atmosphere but frankly, it would have taken a hell of a lot more to save this old crock. Only watch it if you're wrapped head to foot in a plaster cast and have nothing else to watch. Much worse than I expected, given the great films turned by the British studios of that era. To cheer me up I'm now going to watch Sunset Boulevard for the umpteenth time. Disappointed, Steve Weaver, UK.

Spikeopath Young Joe is constantly enthralled by tales of a Unicorn, told to him by Kadinsky the tailor, he is mesmerised by the notion that a Unicorn can make wishes come true. Whilst roaming the market he happens upon a seller who has a one horned Goat for sale, believing it to be a Unicorn, Joe barters for the Goat and begins to see little miracles happening to the folk around the area.This is a positively delightful film, based on the novel by Wolf Mankowitz, this is the first colour film from acclaimed director Carol Reed. A Kid For Two Farthings plays out the innocence of youth amongst a backdrop of working class trades folk in London's Petticoat Lane, young Joe, believing the Unicorn has mystical powers, starts asking for little miracles to happen to those around him, low and behold fortunes start to take an upturn. That the miracles are easily explained is of no importance in the picture, it's the belief system that this one horned Goat, via Joe's prompting, instills in everyone, a hark back to the time in us all when we believed in magic and miracles.The cast list boasts Celia Johnson {sadly underused}, Diana Dors, David Kossoff, Brenda de Banzie, Primo Carnera {perfectly cast as a hulking bully of a wrestler} and Sid James. Reed should take a lot of credit for getting such a joyous performance from Jonathan Ashmore as Joe, it's a lovely turn that has sweet innocence seeping from every frame. The film culminates in a well staged wrestling match that ups the tempo considerably, and then the film closes with a truly wonderful final shot that left this particular viewer feeling all the more richer for having just watched this picture. 8/10

ianlouisiana A minor item in the Carol Reed oeuvre,"A kid for two farthings" falls somewhere between "It always rains on Sundays" and "Expresso Bongo" - also written by Wolf Mankowitz - in following the path beaten by Gerald Kersh as the principal chronicler of post - war street life in London. Set in Middlesex St - popularly known as Petticoat Lane - it tells the story of a small boy entranced by tales of the magic properties of unicorns who mistakes a young goat with a single horn for such a creature and attributes it with miraculous powers.Having an absent father the boy relies heavily on the guidance of wise Jewish tailor Mr D.Kossof who is also his mother's landlord.The mother (Miss C.Johnson distinctly uncomfortable and,frankly,a bit too old)is apparently receiving letters from her husband who is trying to make his fortune in the rapidly - dwindling colonies,but the inference is that he has just walked out on her and the boy. Working in the tailor's shop is Sam - a narcissistic bodybuilder who has been engaged to Miss D.Dors for four years.It is clear that ,as was the way at the time,that they are not having a sexual relationship and both Miss Dors and Mr J.Robinson as Sam are rather touching as the not - quite lovers,a more serious equivalent of Ron and Eth in "The Glums", from "Take it from here",a radio show popular at the time. Like "Night and the city",Jules Dassin's earlier take of the Kersh novel of the same name "A kid for two farthings" centres round professional wrestling.Mr P.Carnera,formerly World Heavyweight Boxing Champion,and allegedly the model for Mountain Rivera in "Requiem for a Heavyweight" plays "The Python",an ageing but rather frightening wrestler whose jibes provoke Sam into abandoning his principles as a "pure" bodybuilder to enter the wrestling ring for that Godsend for the Promoter the "Grudge Match". Buoyed up by the burning faith of the boy in his unicorn Sam eventually defeats the Python,Miss Dors gets her ring and Mr Kossof a new steam press from the winnings and Sam a partnership in the tailor's business. Presumably exhausted by its efforts the unicorn dies and is buried by Mr Kossof,singing a Jerwish lament over its body.Against all the odds this turns out to be moving rather than corny. There are small parts for Mr S.James,Miss I.Handl,Mr H.Behrens and Mr D.Green.Mr S.Tafler and Miss B.de Banzie feature rather more strongly. Miss Dors wisely does not attempt a cockney accent in such august company. "A kid for two farthings" is certainly a rose - coloured picture of East End life in the 1950s,but then it is a fable rather than a straightforward account.I doubt if anybody took it as a serious bit of film making when it was first released and certainly fifty years on it hardly seems cutting - edge but British film lovers of a certain age may well regard it as a treasure house . It is the world of Harrison Marks,pencil skirts and jiving in the street.When Joe and The Python brawl ,just the sight of a Bobby stops them in their tracks,day-old chicks and cute puppies are sold on market stalls.This may be a lost London,but "A kid for two farthings" ensures that it is not a forgotten one.

emuir-1 A nostalgic film which works on many levels. It is as gentle a look at the innocent magic of childhood as Stephen Spielberg's E.T. It is also a look at the indomitable spirit of London's east enders only 10 years after the end of WWII. Another level is a look back at the 50's, which seem chaste by comparison with today. As one who grew up in the 50's, I can remember that it was exactly like that. Wrestling matches were gritty affairs which took place on Friday night's at the local drill hall, and attracted all the small town gamblers, crooks, bookmakers and "fast Eddies" in town.The film captures the cockney humor and sharp wit of the polyglot community practically living on top of each other. People lived close to the small shops and businesses. Everyone knew everyone else and saw them all day. Their lives were lived openly, with the neighbors sharing in each others joys, sorrows, gossip, romances, and whatever. The most shining performance is that of the wonderful character actor, David Kossof, as the elderly tailor who strives to keep the child's dream alive.