I'm so disappointed there are no acting credits here for this little movie. It just screened on TCM, which has no credit info, either. Workmanlike acting from the grownups and decent production values put a sturdy floor under this brief treacly tale of an orphaned girl, perhaps 7 or 8 years old, who goes to the home of a kind sweet couple. They love her and very much want her to stay, but they wait for her to decide for herself not to remain an orphan.
This girl's got chops! a direct intensity and an affecting (not affected) voice. The director knew it, too, and gives her some riveting close-ups. At first glimpse, in pigtailed profile, she looks a lot like the very young Natalie Wood in "Tomorrow Is Forever" (1946), but I'm fairly certain the voice and skin tone are someone else's. But whose? I feel sure if she'd gone on to make more films at any age, we'd know her name.
I hope some reader of this little review will take it into the MGM archive and emerge with a cast list.
This girl's got chops! a direct intensity and an affecting (not affected) voice. The director knew it, too, and gives her some riveting close-ups. At first glimpse, in pigtailed profile, she looks a lot like the very young Natalie Wood in "Tomorrow Is Forever" (1946), but I'm fairly certain the voice and skin tone are someone else's. But whose? I feel sure if she'd gone on to make more films at any age, we'd know her name.
I hope some reader of this little review will take it into the MGM archive and emerge with a cast list.