My DVD reviews (SA,CC,BS) for epinions


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Posted by alan truelove on May 18, 2005 at 21:29:39 from 66.239.159.18 user atruelove.

My two reviews (amalgamated) on this US Website .. I am quite certain the only person who reads these is a curmudgeon known to me, sussmanbern who has >200 reviews.
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British Kids and Adults classic

Recommend the DVD version, which is Region 2 (needs a Global DVD player in N America). Quite cheap from Amazon.co.uk suppliers (caidman in the US for low postage to N America), or simply pick up a copy while in the UK.
The 12 Arthur Ransome Childrens' books published 1935 - 46 or so (but set 1935-39, it is surmised) immediately acquired sacred status in the British Commonwealth, (but these days perhaps mostly of interest to more introspective, imaginative children ..) extending to an international adult fan club of several thousand
http://cres1.lancs.ac.uk/~esarie/tarboard/tarboard.html
One need only point out that virtually every word and event in the 12 books has been analyzed to death over the last 15 years or so, to a unique extent in fiction. Published fan books - dictionaries, travel guides, biography etc - the accumulated material from the periodicals, and archived Internet messages - outweigh the 12 books a hundred-fold in volume. (Naturally, with incursions into many associated British, Sailing, Comestibles and other topics)
Scores of meetings are held every year, and even a Literary Weekend.
Simply, these adults (and children) - particularly Japanese - identify with or are fascinated with the characters and plots. This is usually quite healthy of course. And also the books are immensely readable, filled with painless information, and of sufficient complexity and plot so that most fans reread them dozens of times through life. Further appeal comes from moral certainty, British Code (of the upper middle-classes at least), safe and permanent family structure, and goodness-is-rewarded, and exquisite immersion into specified UK beauty-spot locales (with 2 exceptions) and detailed flora and fauna.
Only three of the books have been filmed. The start-off book (this DVD) set in Northern England's Lake District, and a pair of books (Coot Club, The Big Six) set in Eastern England's "Broads" with a partially overlapping set of characters, which pair are confusingly issued in DVD with an additional catch-all title "Swallows and Amazons Forever!" The movies are quite faithful to the books, with slight simplifications.
It is unlikely any more will ever be filmed (declining interest).
If you are a knowledgable fan, you would not be bothering to read this; so I assume you either have kids, or just want to see what the fuss is about.
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(A) Children from two families meet up. They are allowed to camp on an island in a large lake, and/or sail around, almost totally without supervision. The plot in this movie derives from a play 'war' for ascendancy between the two families (the remaining 11 plots are more sophisticated except for one which has no plot at all).
(B) Two city children are sent for short vacations to the Broads and meet up with the (same) group of local children (with slight variation). In Coot Club they learn to sail, and assist one of their new friends who has protected a nesting Coot over-zealously. This book is essentially an extended sail down the Northern Broads to Yarmouth, and then up part of the Southern Broads (in fact, with two parties, one trying to catch up with the other). In the Big Six, a local nasty boy who has been bested in Coot Club, attempts revenge on the locals. The two City kids save the day with a detective caper (similar to Emil and the Detectives).
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Be warned you might get hooked. Do you want to devote a percentage of your life (especially vacation travel) to this?

Straight-forward film of a 1930's British Classic for all ages.



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