The Kidnappers (released in the U.S. as The Little Kidnappers) is a 1953 British film directed by Philip Leacock and written by Neil Paterson, who adapted his own short story Scotch Settlement.
It is set in Nova Scotia in 1904 and focuses on two orphaned brothers named Harry and Davy Mackenzie (John Whiteley and Vincent Winter), who are sent to live in a Scottish settlement with their paternal grandparents (Duncan Macrae and Jean Anderson) and Aunt Kirsty (Adrienne Corri). The boys desire to have a dog but their grandfather James (Grandaddy Jim) won't allow it. They then find an abandoned baby girl whom they adopt but keep hidden, unaware that the child is the daughter of a Dutch settler with whom Jim is having a dispute over land ownership.
A remake, using the American title, was released in 1990.
This film contains examples of:
- Accidental Kidnapping: The Mackenzie brothers don't realise the abandoned infant is Mr Hooft's daughter and don't tell anyone they've found her. They also don't actually move her from where they found her.
- Babies Make Everything Better: Finding Mr Hooft's infant daughter does this for the Mackenzie brothers.
- Barefoot Poverty:
- Implied with Grandaddy Jim and his deceased son, hence the Tragic Keepsake boots, which Jim later sells.
- After the first quarter of an hour or so, Harry and Davy are barefoot unless they're attending school.
- Berserk Button: Harry and Davy venturing over the hill that the Mackenzies and the Hoofts are disputing over is this for both Jim and his wife.
- Big Brother Instinct: Harry whenever Davy gets into trouble, like falling into a stream.
- Jan Hooft Jr. when he catches Davy talking to his younger sister Johanna. This leads to him getting into a fight with Harry.
- Johanna Hooft fails in this respect as she is implied to have left her baby sister unattended when she should have been watching her.
- Big Brother Worship: Davy looks up to Harry and seldom leaves his side.
- Book Dumb: Given the time period the movie is set in, Grandaddy Jim never got to go to school and can only read passages from the Bible.
- The Mackenzies own very little reading material and Grandaddy Jim forbids picture books.
- Break the Cutie: The Mackenzie brothers when they are found out and Harry is put on trial.
- Cheerful Child: Harry and Davy, especially when they find Mr Hooft's infant daughter.
- Chekhov's Gun: Grandaddy Jim's Tragic Keepsake boots.
- Children Are Innocent: The Mackenzie brothers, especially Davy.
- Johanna Hooft, who is around Davy's age is entrusted to watch her baby sister but goes off to play with friends, leaving the baby unattended until Harry and Davy find her.
- The penalty for kidnapping would normally be prison or hanging. Harry is spared both of these because he's only eight and he and Davy genuinely did not know the baby was Mr Hooft's daughter.
- Comically Missing the Point: Grandaddy Jim refuses to let his grandsons have a dog because they can't eat dogs.
- Conveniently an Orphan: The Mackenzie brothers lost their mother to illness and their father to the Boer War.
- The Cutie: Harry and Davy, also Mr Hooft's infant daughter.
- The Determinator: Grandaddy Jim is prepared to hold on to what he believes is his land (the hill separating the Mackenzies from the Hoofts) by any means necessary, even if it means shooting any Dutch settlers who trespass on it.
- Davy wishes to be able to walk again straight after injuring his knee but is advised not to do so for a couple of days.
- Disappeared Dad: The Mackenzie brothers lost their father in the Boer War.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Davy thinks Grandaddy Jim doesn't like him because he calls him David.
- Embarrassing First Name: Since the Mackenzie brothers don't know her real name, Harry insists on naming the baby Edward after King Edward VII.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The film title, though Harry and Davy don't realise the baby is Mr Hooft's daughter at first and don't move her from where they found her.
- Fantastic Racism: Granddaddy Jim's attitude towards Dutch settlers, especially the Hooft family.
- This attitude initially rubs off on Harry, he gets into fights with Mr Hooft's son and is initially hostile towards Dr Bloem, despite Bloem rescuing Davy.
- Forbidden Love: Aunt Kirsty and Dr Bloem.
- Free-Range Children: The Mackenzie brothers are often left to their own devices when they're not at school. This is slightly deconstructed as it leads to Davy falling into a stream, injuring his knee and the boys discovering Mr Hooft's infant daughter and keeping her to themselves.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Davy is always called David when the Mackenzie brothers are in trouble with their Grandparents and/or teacher.
- Grumpy Old Man: Grandaddy Jim, especially when the Hooft family and Dutch settlers in general are mentioned.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Don't mention Dutch settlers in front of Grandaddy Jim or go over the other side of the hill at the edge of his land.
- Heartwarming Orphan: Two of them, Harry and Davy.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Granddaddy Jim.
- Meaningful Name: The film title, though it is a case of Accidental Kidnapping as Harry and Davy don't realise who the baby is or where she came from at first.
- Missing Mum: The Mackenzie brothers lost their mother to illness.
- The Nameless: The real names of Mr Hooft's infant daughter and Grandma Mackenzie are never revealed.
- Oh, Crap!: Davy when he bumps into his school teacher and grandfather who are looking for Harry.
- It's much worse for Harry when he realises this and the trouble that awaits him.
- Aunt Kirsty when she's walking a recovered Davy home and realises Grandaddy Jim is about to shoot Mr Hooft's son who is fighting Harry.
- Papa Wolf: Grandaddy Jim to his grandsons, especially when Harry is put on trial.
- Parental Abandonment: The Mackenzie brothers, see Conveniently an Orphan.
- Parental Substitute: Grandaddy Jim, his wife and daughter Kirsty to the Mackenzie brothers.
- Harry and Davy try to be this to Mr Hooft's infant daughter.
- Harry sometimes has to be this to Davy.
- Pet the Dog: Davy is crazy about dogs as Harry states during the journey to their grandparents' home.
- Potty Emergency: Averted but Grandaddy Jim still asks his grandsons if they made sure to have one before the journey home.
- Prefers Going Barefoot: Harry and Davy, once they're settled in with their Aunt and Grandparents.
- Promoted to Parent: Harry has to keep Davy out of trouble when the boys are left to their own devices.
- Racist Grandpa: Grandaddy Jim towards Dutch settlers.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Johanna Hooft who briefly talks to Davy at school, she is implied to have left her baby sister unattended when she was supposed to be looking after her...
- Stern Teacher: Harry and Davy's school teacher.
- Stock Animal Name: Harry and Davy choose Rover as the name for the dog they have their eyes on.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Grandaddy Jim after his son, Harry and Davy's father, died in the Boer War for which he blames the Dutch settlers.
- Tragic Keepsake: Grandaddy Jim's boots that were given to him by his late son who couldn't afford them. He only started wearing them after his son's death.
- The Un-Favourite: Davy feels like this when Grandaddy Jim calls him David.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Harry's Fantastic Racism influenced initial attitude towards Willem Bloem, after the Dutch doctor rescues Davy from the stream.
- Would Hurt a Child: Granddaddy Jim beats Harry for going over the hill he is disputing with the Hoofts over.
- This comes straight after he nearly shoots Mr. Hooft's son who was fighting Harry.
- Harry's school teacher also threatens to beat him more than once.
