Directed by Carol Reed (The Third Man) starring Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter) and Diana Dors (Yield to The Night). In a lower-class London community of small shops, open-air vendors and flea-marketers, Joe, a small boy, lives with his mother, Joanna (Celia Johnson), who works in and rooms above the Kandinsky tailor shop. Joe is innocently and earnestly determined to help realise the wishes of his poor, hard-working neighbours. Hearing from Mr. Kandinsky the tale that a captured unicorn will grant any wish, Joe uses his accumulated pocket change to buy a kid with an emerging horn, believing it to be a unicorn. His subsequent efforts to make dreams come true exemplify the power of hope and will amidst hardship.
A limited amount of copies of the BFI's A Kid for Two Farthings is still available to buy here.
Extras
Memory Lane: video essay by Ella Taylor
Dreams and Work: an interview with Jonathan Ashmore
All in a Day's Work: Vera Day looks back
Audio interview with Joe Robinson (2006)
The Bespoke Overcoat (1955 short film by Jack Clayton)
