Posted by Roger Wardale on July 02, 2014 at 11:08:31 user RogerW.
In Reply to: Re: Swallows and Amazons film posted by Pam Adams on July 02, 2014 at 09:38:34:
True. They aren't making the film for us and of course the film company want to make money the best way they can.
The truth is that only a small proportion of today's children enjoy 'The 12' and will enjoy the books, no matter what sort of spy subplot draws them to the film. If you are looking for a spy story and buy the book, you will be sorely disappointed by the gentle SA, surely? The 1974 film remained beautifully true to SA, and children to whom the film appealed went on to enjoy the books.
I started teaching junior children in 1960 and had no difficulty in turning a decent proportion into Ransome readers (poorer readers struggled: the books were written for and have been mainly enjoyed by sub-12s, yet by todays standards this will exclude all but the best readers). In 1974 there was a small surge of interest and these surges continued after the film began to appear on television. By the time I retired in 2000, there were no more than a couple of Ransome enthusiasts in the school, and the row of Ransomes remained in pristine condition, unread, while Harry Potter books fell apart.
I believe that a small child readership for Ransome will remain, often 'handed down' from generation to generation, but the number will not be swollen by any form of Ransome dramatisation that does not remain true to the spirit of the books.