Two hundred Honolulu-area students from the fourth, fifth, eighth, and ninth grades participated in a study that examined the variables effects of five selected factors (developmental level, sex, reading ability, adult intervention, and variation in film content/form) on the ability of two age groups (nine and ten year old children and thirteen and fourteen year-old early adolescents) to enjoy, comprehend, and interpret narrative films. The four films used in the study represented one type of folk genre, the explanatory tale. The two age groups differed in their responses to the films for all factors except adult intervention, promoting these conclusions: Piaget's theory appears to be a useful guide in predicting response to narrative film, although United States children/adolescents in this study were somewhat older than those of Piaget's sample; sex was a moderating factor in film appeal; reading ability correlated with literal comprehension and interpretation, but not consistently for all four films; and variation in film content was the single most powerful factor affecting response. (Author/RL)