Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front

[Mike in Seattle]

I was just flipping around and happened across this - It's based on books by Valerie Tripp ("Molly stories from the American Girl Collection"). A girl and her two friends in 1943 - they say she's 10 years old, but looks more in the 12-13 years old, and Molly's family take in an English girl escaping the bombings in London.

It's on the Disney Channel - I'm watching the East Coast feed so the 8 pm show's on here now at 5. Channel 290 on DirecTV - repeating at 8 pm our time (West Coast) on channel 291.

It looks pretty good so far - and I'd never heard of it - neither the show nor the author - before.

Here's a link to the IMDB write up - it sounds like it might lead to a new series.

 

[LadyStardust]

Wonderful! Thank you for the heads up! I adored these books in childhood, though Samantha was my favorite. It should be interesting to see how this adaptation turns out!

 

[fortworthgal]

I was just coming here to start a new thread for this movie. We watched it last night and I highly recommend it! We were very impressed with the accuracy of even the smallest details, and the women's fashions and hairstyles are wonderful.

I will copy and paste my message about it from another forum:

Well, as an adult with no children, I feel a bit silly recommending a Disney movie, but I have to put in a plug for this one, that might not otherwise be mentioned. We caught "Molly: An American Girl on the Homefront" last night on the Disney Channel.

It is the story of a young girl living in the US during WWII, and it is quite entertaining and an *excellent* reference for anyone interested in homefront life. The women's fashions and hairstyles are spectacular, and there are even some uniforms in there. Her family takes in a British war orphan, her father is a medic serving in the ETO, her aunt heads off to Texas to join the WASP program, they experience an air raid drill, and her mother even goes to work on a fighter assembly line. As we watched it, we were very impressed with the accuracy of even the smallest details, right down to the contents of the kitchen cupboards.

The movie is based on the American Girl dolls. This is a line of dolls that portray different eras in history, they have been around for years. Molly and the British character Emily are both dolls in the series. Those of you that have daughters might find this a good way to get them interested in WWII and the golden era.

http://www.americangirl.com/movie/molly/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0828151/

http://store.americangirl.com/pls/ag/AG_pagethumb?catid=473974

It looks like it will air again December 19 on Disney Channel.

 

[scotrace]

My daughters both love the American Girl dolls and stories. Of course it is disconcerting for dad to find these rather pricey dolls stuffed under a bed, naked and with ratted hair!

I agree that this show was really well done for costumes, details, etc. Worth a look.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

This sounds like it's really a good watch. Thanks for the recommendation, I will be sure to check it out.

 

[fortworthgal]

Daisy, I think you will really enjoy it. I was insanely jealous of Molly Ringwald's (she plays Molly's mother) hair and costumes! She looks fabulous throughout the entire movie. The hairdos are great - LOTS of reverse rolls. So adorable. I'm actually considering picking this up on DVD.

Things that impressed me were the attention to detail. They show Red Cross volunteers assembling packages. A woman is drying a pie plate and it is jadite. Mother is reading a letter sent from the father serving overseas and it is a piece of V-mail. They really put a lot of effort into getting the smallest details correct. Visually, it is very pleasing and fun to pick things like that out.

I also want their house!

 

[Barbigirl]

My daughters are getting a little big for the books and dolls now but they were absolutely crazy for them a couple of years ago.

While we were in Hawaii over Thankgiving we caught the Molly movie. It was great, we all really enjoyed it. I love the costuming, it was right on era wise. I think they did well with the ages on it, Molly and the other kids did come across a 10 year olds to me.

(But for comparison's sake, I have an 11 year old that can pass for much older with no makeup and not trying)

 

[GOK]

My daughters both love the American Girl dolls and stories. Of course it is disconcerting for dad to find these rather pricey dolls stuffed under a bed, naked and with ratted hair!

I agree that this show was really well done for costumes, details, etc. Worth a look.

That's your story!

I wonder if we'll get it over here? I'll have to check the listings.

 

[lindylady]

My daughters both love the American Girl dolls and stories. Of course it is disconcerting for dad to find these rather pricey dolls stuffed under a bed, naked and with ratted hair!

I agree that this show was really well done for costumes, details, etc. Worth a look.

lol You reminded me of when I had a Molly doll when I was a child. I didn't get her hair messy, but I did lose her glasses lol

 

[TraditionalFrog]

I first became familiar with this film a few months ago because of my young niece. She recently had been given a Kit Kittredge doll. She is also awaiting the release of the Kit movie as well.

Being a history buff, I was immediately intrigued by the American Girl historical doll idea. I figured it was a good way to interest youngsters in history. So to find out more I did a web search and came across the Molly website.

This really piqued my interest as the 1940's (particularly the war years) are my favorite part of the Golden Era. Loved the movie teaser on the site. Then a problem....

I don't have cable/satellite, nor even a telly for that matter so I figured I'd not get see this picture. Then I discovered the local Border's had it on DVD in the family film section. Bingo! I can watch it on my computer. Even better, Borders was running a "buy two get the third one free" on DVDs, so I got Molly as well as two other classic movies I had been wanting to get.

I must say, it was one of the best films of recent vintage depicting the WWII homefront I have seen. The details were spot on. The story line was nice and accurate to the era as well. I love the respect and manners the children then had compared to to-day!

Normally, I'm not much in to children's films (usually only see them when visiting my sister with her kids) but I made an exception to this one because of the Golden Era theme.

Five Stars! Two thumbs Up!