Penrod and His Twin Brother

Penrod Schofield (Billy Mauch) is constantly battling spoiled rich kid Rodney Bitts. The problem is that Rodney's father is the boss of Penrod's father. Penrod gets grounded but he runs away to the fair. At the fair, Penrod gets trapped in a runaway balloon. He is considered missing and the reward builds up to $5k. Conman Tex Boyden knows that he floated away on the balloon and finds carnival worker Danny Dugan to be a spitting image of Penrod. Professor Caligostro dismisses the idea and quickly turnarounds to implement the idea of faking Danny as the returning Penrod.

Penrod Schofield was a character in books first published in 1914. He has a few films under him already. This one is Billy Mauch's second movie as Penrod. He's a fine child actor and he gets his twin into the action. The premise is a little out there and too convenient. The comedic elements have trouble since the tension of the drama needs to play out. There are lots of moments where people are too dumb to ask an extra question. That gets a little frustrating but it's still a compelling misadventure.