Hi everyone,
I'm tryng to find out more about the 1951 childrens film 'Never Take No For An Answer'. It's a story about a young Italian orphan boy taking his pet donkey to the Vatican to be blessed. Also known as 'The Small Miracle' it was a British/Italian co-production, directed by Maurice Cloche and Ralph Smart (Danger Man). It starred Denis O'Dea.
The film was BAFTA nominated as Best Film and Best British Film and features a soundtrack by Nino Rota. It also appears to have provided an early job for Gerry 'Thunderbirds' Anderson who was the dubbing editor.
Sir Ben Kingsley cites it as an early influence:
Quote:
Audience member: When you were young and starring in The Adventures of You, who were your acting heroes and inspirations?
BK: I think one of my main moments of inspiration was when I was about five: there was a black and white film called Don't Take No for an Answer [Never Take No for an Answer, Maurice Cloche, 1951] and it involved a little Italian boy whose donkey was very poorly, and the little Italian boy walked the donkey all the way from his village to the Vatican for his donkey to be blessed by the Pope. And His Holiness, his chambers were not large enough to let the donkey through the door, so the Vatican workforce demolished a wall to let the donkey in, and the last frames of the film, I remember, was the little boy walking the donkey in to meet the pope, and the angels coming up, the soundtrack, and the room flooding with beautiful light through the builders' dust, and His Holiness blessing the donkey. Now, the little boy in that film looked remarkably like me as a five-year-old and I think the little boy was called Peppito, let's say for the sake of the story that he's called Peppito [The character was actually called Peppino - played by Vittorio Manunta]. I went to the cinema in Salford with my parents to see Don't Take No for an Answer and as I walked into the foyer the manager went 'It's little Peppito!' [laughter]. He rushed at me and lifted me up above the crowd in the foyer, yelling 'It's little Peppito, it's little Peppito!' and I was lifted up - sort of praised and applauded for being the star of the film. So that maybe was my first injection of a very dangerous drug. So little Peppito was my hero, and my fellow players were the Pope and a donkey.
BFI | Features | NFT Interviews | Ben Kingsley
|
From what I can discover, the last time the film was screened on British TV was in 1960 and it doesn't appear to have ever been released on video or DVD.
It seems that it may be part of the Rank back-catalogue:
Quote:
|
Cineguild broke up in 1949 and [Anthony] Havelock-Allan formed Constellation Films, an independent production company financed by the Rank Organisation. Among the films he produced were Never Take No for an Answer (1951), the Paul Gallico story of a small boy so concerned about his sick donkey that he travels to Rome to consult the Pope. Again, he used a French director - Maurice Cloche, who had made the Oscar-winning Monsieur Vincent (1947). This enabled him to shoot in the Vatican - the first commercial film to do so. (Times Obituary for Sir Anthony Havelock-Allen 14/01/03)
|
Does anyone remember this film?
Does it still exist?
Is there any chance of it appearing on TV or DVD?
Any info would be much appreciated.
23-02-2008, 12:18 PM
"Never Take No For An Answer" (1951)
Linear Mode
