Remarkable how talented a child actor Natalie Wood was. Saw this on Amazon Prime- clicked it like playing 'movie roulette' - the initial fire & brimstone deserted decayed church scene is so strange but then , yeah,it's cheesy, And sweet but you wind up liking these people and rooting for them: it's got 'Lassie' 'the wicked witch Walter Brennan , etc many character actors of that time '. It has the happy ending you know is coming and, which in these days of superior cynicism, is oddly satisfying: they're happy. Good wins.Viewing this from 2015 it's an amazing & sweet time capsule I got pulled in and wound up watching the entire thing.

In general, "Driftwood" is an agreeable family film. However, at times, the dialog is really quite stupid and could have improved from a re-write.The film begins in a virtual ghost town that is occupied by an insane old preacher who spends all his time preaching to his granddaughter (Natalie Wood). Soon, the old guy dies and the kid wanders into to desert where she witnesses a plan crash and adopts a dog that survived the crash. Soon, a nice doctor (Dean Jagger) finds this VERY precocious kid and brings her home. But, things don't go very smoothly (just see the film and you'll know what I mean) and it all culminates with an outbreak of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.My biggest problem was the bizarre dialog spoken by Natalie Wood. She talks like an adult religion professor--which just seems gimmicky and weird--and VERY heavy-handed. It also didn't help that he script was, at times, very saccharine. It's a shame, as the film had many good moments as well as good performances by Jagger and Walter Brennan. Not terrible but rather flawed. And, I should mention that the film features Wood saying 'Beelzebub' (an Old Testament word for Satan) about 9000 times. Again, no child talks like that!By the way, early in the film you'll see a delivery boy. Look closely, it's Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer of the Our Gang fame.

I must have sat through this film at least twenty times, and cannot say that I was bored on any of them. My girls insisted I record it from them (on VHS) when it was on about 25 years ago, and then proceeded to watch it every Saturday morning for the next 6 months. It may be rather twee nd cute, but even now "daisy's ... they're my favourite flower" still evokes a smile from them and from my wife Predictable, happy ending - but then what else do you want from a children's film? Natalie Wood performs very ably, and the other main characters are highly satisfactory, including the lady who played the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz. Highly recommended for those with small girls, and I wish they would issue it on DVD

Fine cast races through second-string drama about an orphaned girl from Bull Frog Springs, Nevada whose Collie dog may hold the answer to an outbreak of Spotted Fever that threatens a homey town. Begins well, with Natalie Wood (spunky with a solemn little face) just fine as the Bible-quoting youngster, but the plot gets all balled-up, spending too much time on the buffoonish town dolts (like a foolish mayor and his bratty son, whose complaints about a dog bite brings the entire town into the courtroom). The subplot about the disease is agonizing, yet not nearly as bad as a second one involving two unmarried women hoping for husbands. The movie rushes along at a fast clip, but it's not very inspiring, original or inventive. ** from ****