Kev11sky Just in case anyone has seen the movie "Enders Game" without reading the book, and/or feels rushed or confused by the psychology and fast growth of young "Ender" as characterized in the movie...Well, this old film from 1950 is excellent.It tells a very similar story about a young man's experiences as a youth in a prep school, in fighting and sports and knowledge.I wonder if Orson Scott Card ever saw this movie.The minimum length for my review is 10 lines of text... working on that. Do I have 10 lines yet? I do believe that brevity is the soul ofwit.

brenda-reed This is my first time watching this movie, which captures the Victorian era, privileged boys of the higher class, their education in reform school because of their bullish personalities. I have to plow snow from our driveway, and once I turned on this movie, I'm still sitting. I encourage anyone to try this movie out today. It should return as a re-write for current year 2011, for American society still deals with bullish type children, and cleary shows, their personalities deserve one another, and shouldn't have these children mixed in with other non-bullish type children. I think this movie if re-written for today, it can benefit society, educating the world, what to do with prank, bullish type children Although, The Happy Years Movie is not entirely about a bull-head punky boy, and his school mates, it's also about how a wonderful teacher gives him and the other boys the proper direction they need in life to grow up into a responsible human being. Please see this movie. You won't be disappointed.

marbleann This is one of my favorite movies. Dean Stockwell is great as the main character. This is not your run of the mill story about sweet little boys at some boy school. They all are characters, The main character (Humperdink)Dink is a feisty kid who doesn't take any mess from anyone. He is not annoying or disrespectful. He just feels very strongly about certain things and will let you know. He is a little guy among older boys, But they soon find out he is not a pushover. The supporting characters are great.And I love the message the schoolmaster had. Dinks grades are not the best, and he almost gets expelled. But the school master, played by Leo G Carroll says that even though he may not have good grades his character offers so much more then that and people could learn from people like him too. I adhere to that. I have seen so many A students with nothing to offer but a good grades. I feel grades are important, but they should not count for every thing and at times should not be the most important factor to judge if one is a success. This movies picked up on that Dink was a leader who had roadblocks but he tackled them and that was what was the most important. There is a subplot about him playing football which is also very good. His classmates fall in love with him eventually, like you will.I think this was a part that could of been easily played two different ways. One is the smart azz, disrespectful way that we see so many child stars act today, The parts where the kids are smarter then the adults and go around the whole movie calling adults by their first name. The movie would of failed if it went in that direction. Or the way Dean Stockwell played it. This part has to work for the movie to work. I just got to see this movie by mistake for the second time in my life this morning on TCM. I didn't even know its name until today. But I never forgot the movie and was elated to see it on the TV when I woke up this morning. I am just mad I did not DVR it because it is not on video. Something I found out when went to buy it online. Check this movie out if you can catch it on TV.

JKearse I attended the Lawrenceville School in the 1970's and 80's. The school had changed in many ways, but there were many things that were still true about the school. The film itself was well done. The Cinematography, acting, and screenplay were especially memorable. In fact, the child actors created one of the best ensembles I have ever seen in a movie about children. I wasn't impressed with the adults except Leo G. Carroll who as always did an exceptional job in the role of 'The Old Roman'. The 40's Technicolor made every frame look like a postcard. Unfortunately, the film was lost for many years, thought to be destroyed in the MGM fire, but it was rediscovered while I attended Lawrenceville. The film is rarely seen on television and has never appeared on video as far as I know. By the way, Gerunds and Gerundives in Latin are not as difficult to distinguish as the screenplay makes out, but it made for some great scenes.