This allegorical fantasy about the folly and evil of war was cult director Joseph Losey's first full-length feature film. Dean Stockwell is the orphaned boy whose hair inexplicably turns green. At first delighted with his magnificently different mane, the boy soon discovers that he has become unacceptable in the eyes of the townspeople, despite the efforts of his grandfather (a sympathetic portrayal by Pat O'Brien) and feels forced to run away. The film is a fantasy piece that underlines Losey's life-long preoccupation with good and evil. Although its story is well-intentioned and has a lot of charm, the message is weakened by the fact that it is laid on too heavily. Nonetheless, it would not be long before the director himself would suffer from the attentions of a body every bit as prejudiced as the townsfolk of this film: the House Un-American Activities Committee.

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