You may remember me writing about being excited to take Pip to watch the new Swallows and Amazons film back in the summer and us both really enjoying the experience. As you also might have seen from my kid’s gift guide a week or so back, I think the DVD would make an excellent Christmas present and lovely family film for Boxing Day.
From my review in the summer:
As an appealing family adventure film, I thought it was excellent. Ransome had a way of turning the ordinary into an adventure, and Philippa Lowthorpe has certainly captured this in a heart warming film. I actually really liked the upscaling of the robbery storyline into a spy story, although I doubt any spy of Ransome’s calibre would have been quite so careless as Rafe Spall’s Captain Flint appeared to be, and it added an element of danger such as would never have been so explicitly articulated by Ransome. As a mechanism for the film though, I thought it worked well if elements seemed slightly forced and super unrealistic. Spall did make a compelling Captain Flint though, if somewhat younger, far less rotund and much more attractive than his character ever read to me as a young child! Kelly Macdonald made a good Mother and I thought Seren Hawkes was an excellent Nancy.
Set in 1935 as opposed to the 1929 of the book, (Andrea Gibb says that they moved the date forward 6 years to be closer to WW2 and therefore make the spy line fit a little better – although I’m not sure that was really necessary) this is in some ways a period piece, which makes for a nice piece of wholesome escapism, albeit perhaps much more along the lines of the times Brexiters harker for than canny observations. I doubt any child watching it would have noticed but at times I felt there was a bit of jarring between the more modern children seeming more worldly than their 1935 characters should have been, yet also oddly incapable in ways that children of that age used to being in the countryside wouldn’t have been.
Pip, when asked which her favourite bit was says “all of it” (although I should note that whilst watching she found the spy climax scene a little scary) and thoroughly enjoyed the outing.
To celebrate the launch of the DVD, I’m really pleased therefore to be able to be hosting a giveaway – enter using the widget below:
Swallows & Amazons DVD giveaway
Terms & Conditions: 1. To enter the Swallows & Amazons DVD giveaway you must share the giveaway on either Facebook or Twitter and leave a valid link here as your entry. There are additional options for more entries. 2. The prize is a copy of Swallows & Amazons 2016 on DVD and will be sent out directly by the promoter. No cash or alternative prizes will be given 3. The prize draw will start on 12.12.16 and end at 11.59pm on 18.12.16 4. The winner will be picked from all valid entries 5. The winner will be notified directly via email. The winner must reply within seven days of receiving the email or a new winner will be picked at random. 6. I reserve the right to change the entry dates at any time, for any reason.
This should amuse the children for a while – thank you for the competition
Yes, when I was younger and I have seen the original movie several times!
yes i read it many years ago!
I read it many many years ago – loved it
Many moons ago
No I haven’t read it before.
i read it years ago at school
No, I have never read it.
No i haven’t read it but it looks good x
No, I have never read it.
Read the book over and over again as a kid and always wanted to run off to our own island
Many Moons ago … Looking forward to seeing the film!
Read it when I was a teen
i havent read it x
No but I would love to
I haven’t read the book, but we saw the trailer at the cinema and it looked great.
I have never read the book before (or seen the film!)
When i was a wippersnapper , I remember loving it
I haven’t read the book before but it is on my book list to read
Years ago at school.
Yes – but not for about 40 years…..
not read for years, be good to re-read and pass to kids to read as not read yet
Not yet, would like to though
Used to love this film as a child. Would love to watch the new version with my own children.
Not for a long time, but remember enjoying it. Will have to dig it out of the attic and revisit it too. Thanks for the chance.
I’ve never read the book
yes read the book and watched the original film many many times
my children would stay at their grandma’s house and she would build ttents and boats and watch the film
it was a firm family favourite
i still need to see the new version
I’ve not read the book before.
Have not read the book
I haven’t read the book but would love to.
I loved the book when I was younger, this would be great to watch with my niece she is too young to read the book!
i HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK
I read it as a kid, many decades ago so didn’t really remember it when watching the film
I haven’t
Never read the book but it’s on our list.
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