This tale of a sensitive, freckle-faced, red-haired boy, abused by a malicious mother and an indifferent father, is a remake of Duvivier's own silent. "Poil de carotte is a welcome reminder of the lyricism of much of early French sound film, as opposed to the general realism of the Hollywood film of the same period. It is perhaps a little too romanticized at times, based as it is on an autobiographical story of a boy who was rather less attractive in life than Duvivier makes him. (But) Robert Lynen's performance...is still a remarkable piece of acting, rendered more poignant by the knowledge that Lynen was executed by the French Underground as a collaborator during World War II. Harry Baur, a fine French actor (a less stolid Emil Jannings, a less humorous Charles Laughton) here gives one of his finest performances. But it is the combination of music and imagery in three major sequences (the boy's flight through a phantom-infested barnyard, a charming sequence in which the countryside animals 'sing along' with him, and a mad dash in a wagon when frustration overtakes him) that really make the film so memorable." -William K. Everson