The Kidnappers (1953)

Academy Awards, USA 1955

Won Honorary Award	Jon Whiteley For his outstanding juvenile performance in The Little Kidnappers.
	Vincent Winter For his outstanding performance in The Little Kidnappers (miniature statuette).

United Artists
Directed by Philip Leacock
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Two young boys left orphaned when their father is killed in the Boer War are adopted by their grandparents who live in rural Canada. While the women of the house accept them with open arms, grandad is a deeply religious man who rules with an iron fist.  A land dispute threatens to take away their home and his daughter is falling in love with a doctor twice her age. One day the boys stumble on an abandoned baby in the forest and decide to keep it as a sort of pet. The boys are arrested and threatened with death by hanging, but are saved by an unlikely ally. Far-fetched plot overwhelms characters and story.