Candleshoe (1977)

Very Cool!!!

An Exercise In Nonsense

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Jodie Foster plays a 1970s version of a Dickensian street urchin helping a Fagin-like crook swindle a rich woman out of her fortune (actually it's finding hidden treasure on her estate) by passing Foster off as her long lost granddaughter. Foster then comes to like her ladyship, a delightful Helen Hayes, and her loyal butler, David Niven, and ends up helping them fend off Leo McKern and his henchmen. This is standard 1970s Disney cornball entertainment along the lines of "The North Avenue Irregulars" or "No Deposit, No Return," but this film get's extra entertainment value by featuring a teenage Jodie Foster and charming performances by Niven and Hayes. Overall, "Candleshoe" is hardly a classic, but it's solid lightweight entertainment that held my interest and also quite entertained my own children.

Lately I have been watching some old Jodie Foster movies, and that brought me to this one, a Disney film make at Pinewood Studios in England. Here Jodie Foster is boyish street urchin Casey Brown.The premise, a con man Harry Bundage finds street-wise delinquent who looks like she could be the 14 year old version of a granddaughter that disappeared at age 4 from the British mansion Candleshoe. Her father and mother died, and her old grandmother, Helen Hayes as Lady St. Edmund, would love to find her again.Harry's angle is this, he found something which makes him believe a treasure of old Spanish gold doubloons is hidden somewhere on the Candleshoe property, and he rescues Casey from the cops, and makes a deal with her, he will give her 10% if she finds the treasure.So, much of the movie is Casey doing everything she can to keep her distance from Lady S Edmund, and the several orphans there, while trying to figure out where the treasure is. Then she eventually finds out that the property will be lost if they can't come up with money for taxes, and eventually Casey begins to understand what "family" means.David Niven is good in several roles, as Colonel Dennis, Mr. Gipping the gardener, and Mr. Priory the butler. Of course we know each is him, but he does that to make the old lady think she still has a staff.A nice, clean, funny movie which showcases Jodie Foster's considerable acting talents as a 14 year old.SPOILERS. In a madcap ending, while the crooks are trying to find the treasure in the old mansion, and the good guys fight them off, the gold is accidentally found inside a fake treasure chest upon which a statue rests his foot. The cops show up just in time to make sure that the treasure gets to the rightful owner. Casey tries to leave town quietly, but the old lady finds her and makes her realize that she really belongs at Candleshoe, even though she probably isn't really the granddaughter. But she might be!

Hard to believe the Disney branch of the mid-'70s thought kids would be interested in the kooky nuns of "One Of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing", the church-lady super-snoopers of "The North Ave. Irregulars", or in the plot of this talky, sentimental comedy starring Jodie Foster as a delinquent teen transplanted from Los Angeles to the English countryside. Foster's in cahoots with a thieving couple, trying to find a treasure hidden somewhere on the property of an elderly woman and her gaggle of orphans. Despite a few missteps, Foster's work here is admirable, particularly in the quiet scene where she walks the grounds with Helen Hayes ("You have to keep your dukes up," Foster says. "When you wake up in the morning, the first punch is yours."). Her introductory scenes being 'bad' are enjoyable, though she seems to bond awfully fast with the other kids in the English manor, and I didn't quite buy it when she has a complete change of heart and becomes part of the family. We are not spared another Disney car chase--I don't know why I thought we would be, I supposed since we were in England and searching for treasure that wouldn't happen--but by God if the archaic Disney brass didn't shoehorn a nick-of-time auto-and-train race into this thing. Still, Jodie's performance, Ron Goodwin's wonderful score and some lightly amusing set-pieces make the film entertaining. **1/2 from ****

I watched Candleshoe when ITV screened recently and enjoyed it very much.An American orphan girl is sent to England by a conman and goes to stay at Candleshoe Manor, where some other orphaned children live as well. She makes out to the owner, Lady St Edmond that she is a distant relative but she is really there to look for some treasure that the conman is after. After several adventures, Lady St Edmond finds out about this and the conman and some of his cronies manage to get into Candleshow and a big fight ensures and the police are called and the baddies are arrested. The orphan leaves for America but Lady St Edmond catches up with her at the railway station and makes her make Candleshoe her new home as they have grown rather close to one another.A lot of Candleshow was filmed on location in the Midlands: Warwickshire with the railway scenes being filmed on the Severn Valley Railway.Now to the excellent cast: a young Jodie Foster plays the orphan Casey Brown, David Nivern (who has four roles in this), Leo McKern as the conman and Helen Hayes as Lady St Edmond.Candleshow is a mixture of drama and comedy and is Disney at its best. Great fun.Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.