The Country Kid

Plot

Orphaned Ben Applegate (Barry) strives to care for his younger brothers (O'Donnell and Guerin) and run the farm left to them. Their unscrupulous legal guardian, Uncle Grimes (George Nichols) schemes to take their property and separate the brothers, but he is ultimately thwarted by a benevolent judge (George C. Pearce). The Applegates are reunited, their property restored, and they are adopted by caring neighbors.

Cast

Production

The story was conceived and written as a vehicle for popular child star Wesley Barry. Barry had been signed to a Warner contract by Harry Rapf in 1922 and was one of the studio's top draws at the time. William Beaudine had directed Barry with considerable success in Heroes of the Street (1922), which led to the pair working together on a number of Warner films, one of which was The Country Kid.

Release

Released at the beginning of November 1923, The Country Kid was distributed on a state rights basis, as were all Warner pictures of the early 1920s.

It garnered mixed to unfavorable reviews. A number of critics found the film "trite" and melodramatic, and many commented on Barry's increasing age. The Variety reviewer reflected, "While there is no particular finesse in the way the picture is put together, the scenes in which the three kids figure hold a definite appeal for the countless thousands with a soft spot for homely sentiment."

Preservation

It is an extant film, archived in the David Bradley Film Collection at Indiana University and in the holdings of Warner Bros. A complete version and an abridged version are preserved. The Country Kid was one of the films purchased by Kodak for its Kodascope home library collection, the source of a number of abridged surviving films.