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7.8/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 7.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Freckles remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a soft spot for 1930s oddities where orphans talk to bears, you might find something to love here. If you prefer your movies to have a consistent tone, you will probably roll your eyes before the halfway mark.
Freckles is a strange bird. It starts off feeling like a gentle Sunday school lesson in the woods and ends up like a low-budget gangster flick. It is jarring, honestly.
The Limberlost forest looks nice enough, I guess. But the real star is Laurie-Lou, who spends most of her time wandering around with a bear cub named Cubby. It’s the kind of 1935 studio-set forest that feels like it’s made of painted cardboard and hopes.
The whole bit with the timber thieves felt like it wandered in from a completely different movie. One minute we’re reading botany books, the next we’re dealing with bank robbers hiding out in a cabin. It’s like the writers just got bored with the trees and decided, “You know what this needs? A machine gun.”
There is a scene where a tree is falling, and the panic feels weirdly muted. It’s like the actors were told to look scared, but they were also thinking about their lunch plans. And don't get me started on the wooden soldiers. The bad guy gives them to the little girl as a lure, which is just about the creepiest way to set up a kidnapping I’ve ever seen on screen.
It reminded me a bit of the vibe in Ginger, where you have that same sense of trying to balance sweetness with a slightly darker reality. It doesn't always land.
Is it a masterpiece? No. It’s a mess. But it’s a watchable, strange mess that doesn't overstay its welcome. Sometimes I’d rather watch a weird failure than something perfectly polished and boring. This definitely isn't boring.