Hand in Hand Movie Review

This touching story of the friendship between a Roman Catholic boy (Philip Needs as Michael O'Malley) and a Jewish girl (Loretta Parry as Rachel Mathias) could easily have been heavy handed with the wrong director. Philip Leacock, who guided the very young Vincent Winter and Jon Whiteley to Academy Awards in 1953's The Little Kidnappers, was clearly the right guy for the job. Michael and Rachel get along just fine until he is teased about the friendship by his schoolmates, who tell him that Jesus Christ was killed by the Jewish people. Rachel is happily preparing an after school feast for him when he repeats what his friends told him. “We never killed anyone!” she cries and runs off. But the kids miss each other, and eventually run away together to speak to the Queen. They don't get to meet her, but they do have a chat with Lady Caroline (Sybil Thorndike) at one of the Queen's homes, and eventually, their respective parents enlist Father Timothy and a Cantor to help the kids with their dilemma. The best thing about Hand in Hand is the wonderful rapport between Needs and Parry. Their friendship is understated and most believable. (Parry was later signed by Walt Disney to appear in 1963's The Horse Without a Head, co-starring Vincent Winter.)

1960 78m/B GB John Gregson, Sybil Thorndike, Finlay Currie, Loretta Parry, Philip Needs, Miriam Karlin, Derek Sydney, Kathleen Byron; D: Philip Leacock; W: Leopold Atlas, Diana Morgan, Sidney Harmon; C: Frederick A. (Freddie) Young.