Skip to main content

Heritage of Children’s Films

By June 3, 2020May 19th, 2023Film studies
Copyright Featured Image and Page Header Image: Anonymous

 A selection of classic international youth films

  •  120+ fiction features (and a few compilations);
  • 20th century (1918-1999);
  • all ages (2-15 year);
  • all territories (world cinema)
 Update: June 2020

 Silent films

  • The Blue Bird (Maurice Tourneur, 1918)
  • The Mark of Zorro (Fred Niblo, 1920)
  • The Kid (Charlie Chaplin, 1921)
  • Our Gang (The Little Rascals/Hal Roach, 1922-1948)
  • Peter Pan (Herbert Brenon, 1924)
  • Alice in Cartoonland (Walt Disney 1924-1927)
  • The Thief of Bagdad (Raoul Walsh, 1924)
  • The Wizard of Oz (Larry Semon, 1925)
  • Visages d’enfants (Children’s Faces/ Jacques Feyder, 1925)
  • Poil de Carotte (The Red Head/ Julien Duvivier, 1925 & remake 1932)
  • Die Abenteur des Prinzen Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, Karl Koch, 1926)
  • Rin Tin Tin: The Night Cry (Herman C. Raymaker, 1926)
  • Otono no miru ehon- Umarete wam ita keredo (I was Born But… /Yasujiro Ozu, 1932)

Sound films

  • Silly Symphonies (Walt Disney, 1929-1939)
  • Emil und die Detektive (Emil and the Detectives/ Gerhard Lamprecht, 1931). Remakes in 1956 & 2000.
  • Treasure Island (Victor Fleming, 1934)
  • Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936)
  • Poor Little Rich Girl (Irving Cummings, 1936)
  • Heidi (Allan Dwan, 1937). Remakes: (Luigi Comencini, 1952) + (Paul Marcus, 2005).
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney/ Ben Sharpsteen et. al. 1937)
  • The Prisoner of Zenda (John Cromwell, 1937)
  • Children in the Wind (Hiroshi Shimizu, 1937)
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Norman Taurog, 1938)
  • The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
  • The Little Princess (Walter Lang, 1939)
  • The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
  • Gulliver’s Travels (Fleischer Studios, 1939)
  • Boefje (Douglas Sirk, 1939)
  • Pinocchio (Disney/ Norman Ferguson et. al. 1940)
  • Fantasia (Disney, 1940)
  • Dumbo (Disney/ Ben Sharpsteen, 1941), based upon the novel of Helen Aberson & Harold Perl
  • Bambi (Disney/David Hand, Pace Pearce, 1942)
  • Aniki Bobo (M. de Oliveira, 1942)
  • Lassie Come Home (Fred M. Wilcox, 1943)

 

  • Great Expectations (David Lean, 1946)
  • Sciuscia (Shoeshine/ Vittorio De Sica, 1946)
  • Hue and Cry (Charles Crichton, 1947)
  • Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves/ Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
  • The Secret Garden (Fred M. Wilcox, 1949)
  • Prince Bayaya (Jiri Trnka, 1950), Czech puppet film, without dialogue
  • Treasure Island (Disney/ Byron Haskin, 1950)
  • Alice in Wonderland (Disney 1951)
  • Peter Pan (Disney/Clyde Geronimi, 1953)
  • Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck (The Story of Little Muck/ Wolfgang Staudte, DDR 1953)
  • Das fliegende Klassezimmer (Kurt Hoffmann, 1954). Remakes: 1973 (Werner Jacobs), 2003 (Tomy Wigand).
  • Ciske de Rat (A Child Needs Love/ Wolfgang Staudte, 1955) – remake in 1984
  • Moonfleet (Fritz Lang, 1955)
  • Le ballon rouge (The Red Balloon, Albert Lamorisse, 1956)
  • Snezhnaya Koroleva (The Snow Queen, Lev Atomonov, 1957)
  • Das Singende, klingende Baumchen (The Singing Ringing Tree/ Francesco Stefani, 1957)
  • Sleeping Beauty (Disney/Clyde Geronimi ,1958)
  • Tom Thumb (George Pal, 1958)
  • Dik Trom en het circus (Henk van der Linden, 1959)
  • 101 Dalmatians (1961)
  • Tintin et le mystère de la Toison d’or (Jean-Jacques Vierne, 1961, live-action)
  • La guerre des boutons (Yves Robert, 1962). Remake: La nouvelle guerre des boutons (2011).
  • De avonturen van Pietje Bell (Henk van der Linden, 1963)
  • A High Wind in Jamaica (Alexander MacKendrick, 1965).
  • Mary Poppins (Disney/Robert Stevenson, 1964)
  • The Stolen Airship (Karel Zeman, 1966)
  • The Jungle Book (Disney/Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967)
  • Astérix le Gaulois (Ray Goossens, 1967)
  • Oliver! (Carol Reed 1968)
  • Herbie – The Love Bug (Disney/Robert Stevenson, 1968)
  • Pippi Langstrump (Pippi Longstocking, Olle Hellbom, 1969) based upon the novels of Astrid Lindgren
  • Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha, Satyajit Ray, 1969)
  • Pollux et le chat bleu (Serge Danot, Eric Thompson, 1970)
  • The Railway Children (Lionel Jeffries, 1970)
  • Kes (Ken Loach, 1970)
  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971). Remake: Tim Burton, 2005.
  • The Boy Who Turned Yellow (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1972)
  • The Amazing Mr. Blunden (Lionel Jeffries, 1972)
  • Tintin et le lac aux requins/Tintin and the Lake of Sharks (Raymond Leblanc, 1972, animation)
  • Charlotte’s Web (Chuck Jones, 1973)
  • Dunderklumpen (Per Ahlin, 1974)
  • Un Sac de Billes (A Bag of Marbles, Jacques Doillon, 1975)
  • The Humpbacked Horse (Konyok-gorbunok, Ivan Ivanov-Vano, 1976)
  • The Mole (Zdenek Miler: 1978-1979)
  • The Cricket (Zdenek Miler: 1978-1979)
  • The Muppet Movie (James Frawley, 1979)
  • Le roi et l’oiseau (Paul Grimault, 1980)
  • Rubber Tarzan (Sören Kragh-Jacobsen, 1981), based upon the novel of Ole Lund Kirkegaard
  • Rasmus and the Vagabond (Olle Hellbom, 1981) based upon the novel of Astrid Lindgren
  • Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)
  • Annie (Columbia Pictures/John Huston, 1982)
  • E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
  • Otto is a Rhino (Rumie Hammerich, 1983)
  • Flussfahrt mit Huhn (Arend Agthe, 1983)
  • Ronja Rovardottar (Tage Danielsson, 1984)
  • The Neverending Story (Wolfgang Petersen, 1984)
  • My Life as a Dog (Lasse Hallström, 1985)
  • Tonari no Totoro/My Neighbour Totoro (Hayo Miyazaki, 1988)
  • The Land Before Time (1988)
  • Salaam Bombay! (Mira Nair, 1988)
  • Babar, The Movie (Alan Bunce, 1989)
  • The BFG – Big Friendly Giant (Brian Cosgrove, 1989) based upon the novel of Roald Dahl
  • The Witches (1990) based upon the novel of Roald Dahl
  • Het Zakmes/The Pocket-knife (Ben Sombogaart, 1992) based upon the novel of Sjoerd Kuyper
  • Comet in Moomin Land (Hiroshi Saito, 1992)
  • Lotta on Rascal Street (Johanna Hald, 1992) based upon the novel of Astrid Lindgren
  • Chakmeh/The Boot (Mohammad-Ali Talebi, 1993)
  • The Princess and the Goblin (József Gémes, 1993)
  • The Secret Garden (Agnieszka Holland, 1993)
  • Wrony (Crows, Dorota Kedzierzawska, 1994)
  • Le ballon d’or (The Golden Ball, Cheik Doukouré, 1994)
  • A Little Princess (Warner Bros/Alfonso Cuarón, 1995)
  • Toy Story (Pixar/ John Lasseter, 1995)
  • Imuhar, une légende (Jacques Dubuisson, 1996)
  • James and the Giant Peach (Henry Selick, 1996) based upon the novel of Roald Dahl
  • Matilda (Danny DeVito, 1996) based upon the novel of Roald Dahl
  • The Borrowers (Peter Hewitt, 1997), based upon the novels of Mary Norton
  • Bian Lian (The King of Masks, Tiang-Ming Wu, 1998)
  • Cirkeline (Jannik Hastrup, 1998)
  • Kirikou et la sorcière (Michel Ocelot, 1998)
  • Mulan (Disney/Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook, 1998)
  • Babe: Pig in the City (George Miller, 1998)
  • Glass-blower’s Children (Anders Grönros, 1998)
  • Abeltje (The Flying Liftboy/ Ben Sombogaart, 1998)
  • Madelief: Krassen in het tafelblad /Daisy: Scratches in the Table (Ineke Houtman, 1998)
  • Kruimeltje /Little Crumb (Maria Peters, 1999)
  • Tsatsiki, Mum and the Policeman (Ella Lemhagen, 1999)
  • Stuart Little (Rob Minkoff, 1999)
  • La Gabbianella e il gato (Enzo D’Àlo, 1999), Dutch distribution title: Lucky en Zorba
  • Pettson and Findus (Albert Hanan Kaminski, 1999), based upon books of Sven Nordqvist

Post Scriptum

This list is highly selective and subjective, based on personal memories and several inspiration sources.
Personal memories, as a child and as a programmer of non-commercial screenings:
Inspiration sources
Dutch
  • Schmidt, E. & S. Veenendaal (2011) Van Abeltje tot Zoop: Over het succes van de Nederlandse jeugdfilm.Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Hoogland en Van Klaveren.
  • Catalogues of distribution companies Park Junior, Twin Film, Jekino, Into the Air.
English
German

Recommended For You

Film studies IFFR 2002

IFFR 2002

Peter BosmaSeptember 14, 2021
Film studies Some Considerations on the Diversity of Cinema Programs in the Digital Age: Notes and Topics for Discussion

Some Considerations on the Diversity of Cinema Programs in the Digital Age: Notes and Topics for Discussion

Peter BosmaApril 25, 2021
Film studies Boebespreking Elberse (2016)

Boebespreking Elberse (2016)

Peter BosmaFebruary 20, 2020