10 year old Bill Peck (Jackie Cooper) and his dad Henry (Thomas
Meighan) couldn't be much closer, and despite lacking a mother (she died
many years ago), Bill seems to be living in paradise ... that is until his
aunt Lily (Dorothy Peterson) and her snobbish son Horace (Jackie Searl)
coem to stay with them, and aunt Lily is constantly preferring her own son
over Bill and somehow convinces Henry to do the same - especially since to
her Bill is not part of the family because he was adopted from an
orphanage.
Billy doesn't know he was adopted though, until Horace the snob tells
him ... and after that, Billy feels more and more excluded from the
family, and when aunt Lily even gives his beloved room to Horace, this
proves to be too much for Billy and he decides to run away with Duffy
(O.P.Heggie), the eccentric old factotum of his father who had just been
fired by Lily. Duffy however encourages the boy to take a stand for
himself, and ultimately, when Billy and Horace are found wrestling, the
tides turn and Billy's dad realizes the wrong that has been done to his
boy and he throws aunt Lily and Horace out to be once again a good dad for
Billy ...
Of course, the story of this film is pure kitsch, but it's mercifully
short (a tad under 70 minutes) so the cheesy stuff hasn't got the
opportunity to develop to full potential ... which makes the film
watchable as a meaningless piece of ok entertainment ...
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