AllMovie

Vacillating between a drama for children and a drama for adults, this conventional tale of oppression is set at the end of the 19th century. When a little boy is sent off to school in Kracow, his life is made difficult by a despotic Austrian teacher. The other students share his rebellious feelings, yet there seems to be little anyone can do. It takes one extreme situation to draw the attention of a kind-hearted fellow teacher who realizes that the dictatorial Austrian will have to be dismissed. Just as that situation begins to improve, the young hero runs into financial problems and is forced to leave the home where he boards. Anxiety mounts as no one is able to find him.