S&A Forever videos: Coot Club and The Big Six [review]


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Proto TarBoard ]

Posted by peter on January 13, 1997 at 00:00:06:

I have just received the two BBC TV videos "Coot Club" and "The Big Six", which were ordered through Janson Associates.

One main worry, I think, of any Ransome enthusiast, is that if the stories were done on film, that they might be less than authentic to the original. Will the producers attempt to improve on the original? God forbid! Another worry worth considering is that they might be too authentic! I am referring to the possible cuyltural cringe of lines like "I say, I do think I ought to remove my stockings and put them in the pocket of my knickerbockers".
By both measurements, the videos don't do too badly. I liked "The Big Six" best, but I'll comment on Coot Club first:
Coot Club obviously needed shortening for telly, the boat race as Port and Starboard tried to catch the Teasel was ruthlessly shortened, and the whole sense of a "journey" in the voyage of the Teasel was lacking. The scene of sailing into Oulton Broad in the thunderstorm was also cut. Oddly though, the river journey from Wroxham Station to Horning [a great introduction to Broadland life and landscapes] was replaced by a horse and cart ride! And at the end there was a silly brass band bit where the Death and Glories received adulation for their rescue of the Margoletta.
Overall, better if you hadn't read the story beforehand. Coot Club the video is therefore reccommended to people who can't or won't read.

Big Six, on the other hand --- what great telly this makes! It has intrigue, treachery,baddies: just like East Enders! I thoroughly enjoyed it, right down to the tiny details, like Dick's little sigh when Dot was overromanticising a little. Also [like the book] it lacked the Twins, who just never really make it as great AR characters. BS is a pretty sad book, I al;ways find, and the real feeling of injustice right through the story is beautifully depicted in the TV version. Those poor pirates: at one stage they all look ready to cry. Harry Bangate, played by the second Doctor of "Dr Who" [after William Hartnell and before John Pertwee, I forget his name] is absolutely brilliant. The treachery themethat runs right through the book and film is illustrated by Harry's insistence that shooting the odd bittern is just another part of Broadland life. He expands on it a tiny bit more in the movie, talking about needing to fill empty platres as another justification. George Owdon and his mate are 1st class TV baddies. Overall a thoroughly brilliant production that will expand, not detract from your enjoyment of the book. The two films arte so different: think of CC as the prototype and BS as the one they got down perfectly. Buy both anyway, they're both pretty good!

Finally a little advertisemnt for Steve Janson and his company Janson Associates: they are generous sponsors of the arthur-ransome.org website so please support them by buying your videos from them! [note that their viodeo format, NTSC, does not work outside North America and Japan: otherwise get the videos off WH Smith, mentioned in another Tarboard article recently]





Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject: Re: S&A Forever videos: Coot Club and The Big Six [review]

Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Proto TarBoard ]