This is not a great short film. Not at all. But it's not as bad as you would guess looking at its rating. I recognized that for quite a few of those old short films that were reviewed by Mystery Science Theatre 2000. People need to stop adapting other opinion with having watched a version where other reviewers constantly talk during the movie or having even seen it at all. MST3000 says it's bad, so it must suck. I've seen very early Kubrick films that were, in parts, worse than some of the short films mocked by MST3000. Don't you have an own mind?Anyway, in this 10-minute short famous Bonanza actor Lorne Greene tells us the story of a boy at the Canadian National exhibition two years after the end of World War 2. He's fed up with his parents getting him only from place to place that they actually want to see not really caring for their son's preferences. So he gets away and does what he wants for the rest of the day. On his voyage, he meets several grand sports champions, including boxing legend Joe Lewis and Barbara Ann Scott, until he returns to his parents in the evening, who already gave up finding him in the event visited by roughly 250,000 people.It's a short film with little significance today, but interesting to get a view into people's mindsets back in the 1950s. There's a good possibility that Charlie Pachter is still alive today (he would be roughly 70 years old) and I'm genuinely curious what he thinks about this film today.

While this short is very dated, it does a good job of basically advertising the world fair in Canada. Of course, said fair is long gone now and there basically is not a world fair anymore, anywhere, so it is rather pointless now to even watch. The only people who have seen it now are most likely those who saw it as a short proceeding the film "The Rebel Set", a MST3K episode. As such, they automatically rate it a one or three for whatever reasons, not able to comprehend that just because the gang riffs something, does not necessarily mean it is bad. I mean, on Rifftrax, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett riff "The Dark Knight" and most would say that is a fairly good film. The point is you can riff anything good or bad, and just because it is on MST3K you do not have to give it a super low score. That being said it is dated and it seems they do not really give a full view of the fair for us to witness. Only snippets, such as Joe Louis or the prime minister of Canada. Things that most of us are not going to see at the fair, though that ice skating queen was a cutie then. The two guys who are some sort of comedy team looked a bit annoying and the boy looked genuinely upset when they were trying to cheer him up. Also, it is kind of funny and a bit scary the amount of children in the lost children pavilion. Wow, the amount of kids that get away from their parents is staggering, but I cannot really blame Johnny from ditching his parents as they try and decide what to see next among some of the more mundane and boring things for a kid to do.

The most interesting aspect of this expectedly dated educational film is the character of "Johnny" himself: he's played by Charles Pachter, who grew up to be a renowned Canadian painter, sculptor, designer and historian/lecturer whose works have garnered him an Order of Canada. His web site is cpachter . com . One of his most famous works is Noblesse Oblige, 1972, which depicts Queen Elizabeth riding a Canadian moose. ;) Pachter recently mentioned his role in this film during an interview on CBC radio, which adds a nice bit of closure after several years of seeing this picture via MST3K. As others have mentioned, the film itself is a rather bland--and thus typically Canadian--walk/run-through of Toronto's famed Canadian National Exhibition, where celebrities of the day proceed to excite and bore little Johnny in equal measure while he's separated from his parents (Pachter's real parents played his on screen parents).

A great short that teaches us that wandering off from our parents in crowded areas can be a real blast! You get to meet ice skating princesses, watch baseball games, horse races, and meet political leaders! Also, when your parents pick you up from the "Lost Kids" section of the police station, they're not mad, just happy to see you.So if you're a little kid like Johnny, carpe diem! Ditch your parents as soon as you have the chance, and see how fun it can be to discover this wonderful world on your own! Also, why not accept candy from strangers while you're at it?Educational little short, really great for kids. (r#17)