No source referenced for this article definitively states any reason why this acclaimed little film about religious intolerance, produced in England in 1960 under the title "The Star and the Cross," was held back from release in the UK for three years. There doesn't seem to have been any controversy or censorship involved, and the best guess anyone can hazard is that it was too focused on its gentle story about the friendship between two young children, a Catholic and a Jew, to be marketable to general adult audiences but with a theme a bit too heady to be a kids' picture. In any case, although screened for the British press in late 1960, it was not in general release until it went out as Hand in Hand, the supporting feature for the comedy The Punch and Judy Man (1963).

The film fared better initially in the U.S. where it was released theatrically by Columbia Pictures in 1961. It got much attention globally, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave it a Golden Globe Award as Best Film Promoting International Understanding, beating out one other nominee, the similarly themed Conspiracy of Hearts (1960). Director Philip Leacock was also nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award.

Leacock (1917-1990) was nominated for several other films at festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Mar del Plata, and Locarno, where he won for Reach for Glory (1962). During his feature career from 1948 through 1963, he occasionally worked in the U.S. Beginning in 1960, he started directing for American television, where he spent the final two decades of his career on such shows as Marcus Welby, M.D., Gunsmoke, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Fantasy Island, and The Waltons, which brought him an Emmy Award nomination.

Leacock wasn't the only contributor of note to Hand in Hand. The cast includes British film veterans Finlay Currie, John Gregson, Dame Sybil Thorndike, and Kathleen Byron, best known for her performance as the unhinged Sister Ruth in Black Narcissus (1947). Byron had a long and busy career, beginning in 1938 and culminating in roles in The Elephant Man (1980), Emma (1996), and Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Perhaps the most respected artist to work on this picture was distinguished cinematographer Freddie Young (1902-1998), an Academy Award winner for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Ryan's Daughter (1970), all of them directed by David Lean. Young was the first English director of photography to shoot a movie in wide-screen Cinemascope. In 1970, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed on him the honor of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contributions to film.

Hand in Hand received more attention and a wider audience when it was broadcast on U.S. television in 1967 as part of the CBS Children's Film Festival.

Director: Philip Leacock
Producer: Helen Winston
Screenplay: Diana Morgan, story by Sidney Harmon
Cinematography: Freddie Young
Editing: Peter Tanner
Music: Stanley Black
Cast: Kathleen Byron (Mrs. O'Malley), Finlay Currie (Mr. Pritchard), Arnold Diamond (Mr. Mathias), Philip Needs (Michael O'Malley), Loretta Parry (Rachel Mathias)

By Rob Nixon