"Candleshoe" has a fine cast with a couple of former prominent actors, a good script, and an up and coming new young actress. David Niven plays four parts - three of which are intentional masquerades as servants and a friend of Lady St. Edmund. He is quite good with the disguises and voice accents and changes. Helen Hayes is the matriarch of Candleshoe, an old estate handed down through the family for centuries. But, with the disappearance and feared death of her granddaughter in a plane crash several years earlier, she has no heir for the estate. She's a kind woman who has taken in some foster kids. Enter a shyster by the name of Bundage who has taken great pains over a couple of years to find someone he could pass off as the granddaughter. He wants her to look for clues in the mansion for where the infamous ancestor and pirate, Captain Joshua St. Edmund, hid a large treasure of gold doubloons. Bundage hired a detective agency that found the perfect match in a street urchin named Casey. She doesn't have parents but lives with an old couple in shabby inner city housing of Los Angeles. She's a street-smart minor hooligan who passes clearly as a boy. Jody Foster was just 15 when she played this role, and she does a fine job with it. Leo McKern is very good as the villain, Bundage. The rest of the cast all do well. Most of the film was shot in England, and the house and country scenes are very pleasant. The film has light comedy and drama, and makes a good family film. It was based on a novel by Michael Innes, "Christmas at Candleshoe." Walt Disney studios released it as a holiday film a little over a week before Christmas 1977.Here's a favorite line from the film. For more funny dialog see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie. Lady St. Edmund, "Good afternoon, John Henry." Priory, in disguise as the chauffeur, "Good afternoon, m' lady." Lady St. Edmund, "Oh, and how is your Uncle George?" Priory, "Ah, m' lady, I didn't think it necessary to trouble you with the news. But we finally had to measure him for his wooden overcoat." Lady St. Edmund, "Wooden?" Priory, "Yeah, we buried him last week, m' lady."

Directed by Norman Tokar with an hysterical screenplay from David Swift and Rosemary Anne Sisson.Candleshoe is a fun and surprisingly touching tale of childhood adventure and one of the best non animated films to come from Disney.The story is all about young orphan Casey Brown(Jodie Foster)who lives with foster parents in America.One day she is taken to a posh hotel by a private detective and there she meets con man Harry W.Bundage(Leo McKern).He tells her all about a scam he has going on with his cousin Grimsworthy(Vivien Pickles),to find the mysterious treasure hidden in the sprawling English mansion Candleshoe.Casey must pretend to be the long lost granddaughter of the owner Lady St Edmund(Helen Hayes).Once she wins the old ladies trust she can start to follow clues on a piece of paper to the treasure.When Casey gets to the mansion the old lady believes her story and she actually finds herself loved for the first time in her life.The highlight of the film though is David Niven as Lady St Edmunds butler,gardener,chauffeur,cook and best friend Priory.He goes through various disguises to prevent his mistress knowing her money is very nearly gone and all the other staff have left her.He's helped in this by some local orphans adopted by Lady St Edmund loyal and feisty Cluny(Veronica Quilligan),sweet floor slider Bobby(David Samuals),shy Anna(Sarah Tamakuni)and natural leader Peter(Ian Sharrock).Jodie Foster gives a fine early performance as the lonely teenager and David Niven and Helen Hayes are perfect.There is also more than a touch of the Ingrid Bergman film Anastasia here.In which Helen Hayes plays the Dowager Empress Marie the grandmother of the murdered Romanov children who believes the young woman is her youngest granddaughter.Yes it's cheesy and some bits look dated but this is a good film about friendship,family,adventure and fun this is one to watch whether your young or old.

The storyline bears very little similarity to Michael Innes's novel and the fight at the end is a bit infantile but this film is good. The story in the film is a bit like one of those cheesy and awful Children's Film Foundation films I detest so much, in fact it's like the Disney organisation found a discarded CFF script and turned it into a better film. Everything in this film is idealised and this is what makes it so cosy. Even the portrayal of life on the streets in Los Angeles at the beginning is very sanitised. Jodie Foster is transported from this idealised American urban deprivation to an idealised England where butlers who look like David Niven work in stately homes and where people in awful 1970s fashions still travel by steam train. It is a good film for youngsters as the plot is not hard to follow. It may not be a great film, but it is beautiful to look at. Ron Goodwin wrote an excellent score, very reminiscent of Ralph Vaughn Williams, which really adds to the film. Yes, do a remake, but keep the English setting. Helen Mirren would be great as Lady Gwendolyn and Tom Hanks would be my choice to play Priory even though he's American. I can think of a few good British actors to play Bundage. How about Hugh Laurie? Or better still Rowan Atkinson. Jodie Foster could play Clara Grimsworthy this time.

The long lost heir(heiress) gambit has been used in theater and film it seems like forever. In this film conman Leo McKern has heard of and searched out a 15 year old girl who could be the heiress to a minor title of nobility in Britain. He flies her over from Los Angeles to rural Britain and has her meet her purported "grandmother" Helen Hayes.Of course this is old stuff for Hayes. Ingrid Bergman was also to be her granddaughter in Anastasia. Here it's Jodie Foster. I don't think even Jodie Foster now would compare herself to Ingrid Bergman, but Candleshoe is a great deal lighter than Anastasia. Still Helen Hayes is a less formidable grandmother than the Dowager Empress of Anastasia, but as it turns out not quite as dotty as everyone believes she is.So now we've got elements of Kidnapped, Anastasia and now to add to that mix, a sprinkle of Kind Hearts and Coronets. David Niven as her devoted butler Priory also gets to play a chauffeur, a gardener, and a neighbor. And come to think of it, the neighbor character is a bit of a spoof on what Niven won his Oscar for in Separate Tables. It's a joy to watch David Niven do these nice little turns as other characters.So Disney taking the best of at least four films I count now and other viewers might spot some more. Candleshoe is a nice little stew of an entertaining film. And incidentally the title is the name of Helen Hayes's estate.