David Coplan Movies

The popular "William" novels of British author Richmal Crompton were brought to the screen several times in 1930s and 1940s. William Goes to Town one of the better efforts in this off-and-on series. Young William Graham plays the eponymous wise-mouthed little schoolboy who causes all sorts of havoc during a trip to London. He even tries to crash the Prime Minister's headquarters to offer him financial advice! A subplot involving a circus keeps the film on an amiable kiddie-matinee level. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

William, the obstreperous Welsh schoolboy created by children's novelist Richmal Compton, appeared in several film incarnations in the 1930s and 1940s, none of them as successful as Compton's original books or the spin-off radio series. William Graham stars as the argumentative title character, who gets off to a bad start in the first scene by stealing his sister's cosmetics and wooden Indians -- after mixing up the shoe polish with the shaving cream. Venturing outside to play with his schoolmates, William decides to become a junior-league "righter of wrongs" by forming the Knights of the Square Table. This leads them to a "haunted" house, where William makes up for his past misdeeds by corralling a gang of crooks. Just William's Luck adheres strictly to formula, pleasing fans of the Compton books but doing nothing to broaden the character's appeal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide