Posted by Jock on November 30, 2010 at 01:25:18 user Jock.
I was going to add a comment to the thread about the Bristol Old Vic's production of "Swallows and Amazons", something on the lines of 'If a new interpretation of Ransome helps to introduce a new generation to the books, it can't be all bad'. Then I thought that first of all I should look up the Daily Telegraph review of the production to which Mike Dennis referred. At the top of the article there is what I presume is publicity still from 1974 "Swallows and Amazons". In the photograph the actor playing Susan, or possibly John, is wearing dark glasses. I found this incongruity so upset me that I decided not to post my original comment.
Ransome's writing is so good that the whole SA canon deserves careful transposition to celluloid or the small screen. Joseph Losey's direction and Harold Pinter's screenplay L.P. Hartley's "The Go-Between" or John Irving's direction and Arthur Hopcraft's screenplay of John le Carré's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" come to mind as examples where a literary work has been adapted with great respect to the original.
Surely with so many Ransome fans around the world and two thriving societies (TARS and ARC) to promote his works (as well as others to sail his boats!) it should be possible to run a successful campaign?