Candleshoe

Jodie Foster is a tough orphaned street kid named Casey Brown. Leo McKern is a con man who passes her off as a rich old lady's long-lost granddaughter so he can plant Casey in the old lady's house so he can look for an old pirate treasure. David Niven is the butler who is doing everything he can to keep the old lady from finding out she's not actually rich.
I saw Candleshoe once when I was really little and didn't remember anything about it other than "Jodie Foster and David Niven are in it and there's a big slapsticky fight scene at the end."
And now that I've seen Candleshoe as recently as yesterday, I still don't have anything to say about it. I enjoyed it, certainly; Jodie Foster is awesome in it, the kind of tough tomboy kid that I looked up to when I was little and secretly still look up to even though I'm damn near thirty and shouldn't be using children from the 1970s as my role models.
I don't like that Leo McKern played bad guys in everything I've seen him in. He seems like he'd be such a congenial guy, like he'd be the favorite grandpa, but he's always con men or cult leaders or the new Number Twos. What the hell?
Disney seemed to make a lot of live action comedies that were light on plot and full of events. First this thing happened, then that thing happened, then another thing happened, and then there was a happy ending. The Parent Trap is like that, Freaky Friday is kind of like that and Candleshoe is very much like that. And there's nothing wrong with it. I love old Disney live action comedies. I would like very much to get my hands on a copy of No Deposit No Return because I really seem to be on a nostalgia kick lately and I used to rent that one a lot. It's yet another movie I remember nothing about except "Don Knotts is in it and the kid has a pet skunk," which is so cool! I want a pet skunk.
Anyway, Candleshoe is good. It's fun, it's plotless, it's family entertainment without being preachy or childish or crappy. Highly recommended.

End of line.
-Sally