Johnny Tremain

This fine adaptation of Esther Forbes's novel opens in 1773 as Johnny Tremain (Hal Stalmaster), a silversmith's apprentice, becomes involved with revolutionary colonists, though he is at first uncommitted to their cause. His views change when he takes a silver cup his mother gave him, embellished with his family crest, to a nobleman (Sebastian Cabot) as proof that he is his relative. The noble accuses him of theft, and, though he's later cleared of the charge, the incident turns him into a revolutionary. Tremain then participates in the Boston Tea Party, followed by a torchlight parade in which the rebels sing "The Liberty Tree." The patriots' continued refusal to ...