The Boy with Green Hair [1948]
The Boy with Green Hair (1948)
In a police station, a child psychologist uses his ability to interview a runaway boy (Dean Stockwell) with hairs completely cut-off that is reluctant to speak.
The boy tells that his name is Peter Fry and his parents had traveled to London and have not returned yet; meanwhile he is living with Gramp Fry, after being lodged in the houses of many relatives for short periods.
He gets along with Gramp, the locals, his schoolmates and his teacher; however, when he discovers that he is an orphan of war, his hair turns green on the next morning and Peter is rejected by his community.
Dean Stockwell is probably best known to a later generation as the star of "Blue Velvet" and "Quantum Leap."
But his best role came at the age of twelve with this film.
In an understated yet powerful way, he's very believeable as the young war orphan, living with his grandfather, who is at first bewildered by his sudden change on hair color, but eventually comes to accept it and what it means, hoping his hair, which has been shaved off by superstitious townspeople, comes back green. Found via Archive.org as Public Domain title.