A 1946 rite of passage is featured in this film which chronicles a Scottish orphan who's raised by his estranged extended family. Young Robert (played by Quantum Leap's Dean Stockwell) arrives in Scotland to live w/family he's never met before after his parents die in an accident. Not finding any immediate rapport w/anyone in his clan except his eccentric great-grandfather, Robert soon settles in & when he becomes older, he dreams of becoming a doctor even though a friend of the family, & an all out braggart, is vying for the same scholarship he's after. Finding solace & support in his ties to his family, Robert, now played by Tom Drake, remains hopeful even though the odds are against him. A wonderful evocation of a time & place, this story is all charm & Scottish fancy w/a wonderful central performance by Charles Coburn, nominated for an Oscar here, playing the great granddad. Co-starring future power couple Hume Cronyn & Jessica Tandy w/Norman Lloyd playing the family's lawyer.
Review of The Green Years
