After a characteristically stressful Physiology exam, decided to settle down with a movie, and what better than an offering from that beloved British institution, Ealing Studios? 'The Magnet (1950)' is one of the studio's lesser-known comedies, but ranks among their most charming efforts. The film is directed by Charles Frend, who also commandeered the excellent 'A Run for Your Money (1949)' – which succeeded despite being a veiled reworking of Capra's 'Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936).' In 'The Magnet,' resourceful youth Johnny Brent (William Fox) cheats another boy out of an expensive magnet, before realising that this sin might eventually catch up to him. His attempts to dispose of the magnet are humorously futile, until he unloads the stolen object onto a kindly engineer, who interprets the gift as a noble gesture of Dickensian kindness. While little Johnny worries that his crime will be the death of him, his anxious parents (Stephen Murray and Kay Walsh) become concerned about his odd behaviour. The father, a trained psychiatrist, attempts to apply Jungian psychoanalysis to his son, and smugly reaches an entirely erroneous conclusion. This pleasant, easy-going film has all the hallmarks of an Ealing classic, with a particularly excellent and likable performance from its young star.

Production manager: L.C. Rudkin. Assistant director: Norman Priggen. Sound supervisor: Stephen Dalby. Sound recording: Len Hammond. Associate producer: Sidney Cole. Producer: Michael Balcon. Ealing Studios, London.

Copyright 23 May 1950 by Ealing Studios, Ltd. Presented by J. Arthur Rank. U.S. release through Universal-International: February 1951. New York opening at the Paris: 26 February 1951. U.K. release through General Film Distributors: October 1950. Australian release: 18 September 1952. 7,100 feet. 79 minutes. Cut by British Empire Films to 6,252 feet (including "General Exhibition" Censorship Certificate) in Australia, in order to release the picture as a 70- minute second feature.

SYNOPSIS: Johnny Brent, kept away from school by scarlet fever quarantine, is playing on the beach when he sees a smaller child with a large, impressive magnet. The other boy is unwilling to swap the magnet, but Johnny tricks him into surrendering it, and is then pursued from the beach by the child's irate nurse. Immediately he begins to feel guilty about his new possession; when he meets a man who has made a demonstration iron lung to raise funds for a real one for a hospital, he gladly gives up the unwanted magnet as a contribution to the fund.

The model-maker touched by this gesture, appeals to the public to emulate the generosity of the child who gave up his most precious possession, and the magnet is repeatedly auctioned, until the money for the iron lung is collected. The mayor, meanwhile, institutes a search for the boy. Johnny, by a couple of chance encounters, is led to believe that the other child is dead, having been infected by him, and that the police are hunting "the boy with the magnet" for murder.

COMMENT: An obvious attempt to repeat the success of "Hue and Cry" (1947), but it lacks the trenchant satire and the novelty of that film. True, the psychiatrist/father gets it in the neck, but this is much like flogging a dead horse. Though we like the coughing mayor, such other mild jokes as there are (the variations on the description of the magnet-giving boy), are muffed by inept direction.

Still, actual location filming is an asset and the players try hard to overcome the thinness of their material — it is basically a one- joke yarn that is rather slow in developing (and not a particularly amusing or credible joke anyway). Fortunately, young master Fox is an engaging youth.

THE MAGNET is an unusual Ealing Studios comedy, seemingly aimed at children but with plenty of satirical elements for the adults. It very much reminded me of a proto Children's Film Foundation movie and, indeed, director Charles Frend would go on to shoot such pictures. James Fox plays a boy who comes into possession of a rare magnet on the beach, before finding himself engaging in various escapades with oddball people. Some elements are predictable - he thinks the police are out to get him when in fact they want to reward him - but there's some local character here from the Liverpudlian kids and some strong talent from cameoing stars like Harold Goodwin, Sam Kydd and Thora Hird. The film moves at a solid pace and, although it's not always successful, it's certainly never dull.