Quaint. That’s probably the best and most accurate word to describe Andrea Gibb‘s adaptation of Arthur Ransome‘s 1930 children’s novel Swallows and Amazons. Though it lacks the pyrotechnics of, say, Alice Through The Looking Glass, the beauty of The BFG and the adventure of Pete’s Dragon, what it has in its favour is a simplicity, which is refreshingly devoid of Hollywood schmaltz and big names. And, what’s more, under first-time feature film director Philippa Lowthorpe (who was the first woman to be awarded a BAFTA for Best Director for the BBC period drama Call The Midwife), it’s a fine example of good old-fashioned storytelling which will appeal to all the family. Though given its lack of theatrics and dry tone, older children and teenagers might feel inclined to reach for their phones well before the hour mark.

That said, the central message is clear, commendable and set out early on in an exchange between Kelly MacDonald‘s Mrs Walker and her curmudgeonly landlady Mrs Jackson played by Jessica Hynes. “They’re cooped up inside too much at home,” says Mrs Walker in reference to her five children whom she has transported by steam train from the hustle and bustle of Portsmouth for a summer holiday in the tranquil surroundings of the Lake District. “It’s not good for them. I don’t want them frightened of the world.” To which Mrs Jackson responds in a broad Northern accent: “If life was always early to bed, we’d never learn ‘owt!”

The plot may be familiar to many, but having never read the book or watched the 1963 BBC television series or for that matter the 1974 film adaptation starring Born Free’s Virginia McKenna, I came to it fresh. The gist of which is that in Gibb’s version (which I believe contains a number of radical changes from the original) four kids are allowed to camp overnight on a small island in the middle of a lake. But their boy scout and girl guide adventure is rudely interrupted by the arrival of a brace of blackguards from the local Blackett family whose uncle Jim Turner aka Captain Flint (Rafe Spall) is being hunted by a couple of Russian secret agents (led by Andrew Scott as Lazlow) who suspect him of stealing military secrets.

The plot strands intertwine. But as to who will swing from the rope, that’s all decided in a frenetic finale which, to be honest, is really the only time in the film when the pulse quickens. Prior to that, it’s a cryptic opening of charged silences and veiled threats on a train (think The 39 Steps) followed by a children’s version of the Anneka Rice vehicle Treasure Hunt in which various members of the Walker family run hither and thither to engage in a series of challenges such as how to catch a fish, how to start a fire and how to fry said fish on said fire (think Lassie sans Lassie). The children are a joy, particularly Bobby McCulloch as Roger “I don’t want to…” Walker. And Andrew Scott steps up to the plate as the pantomime villain Lazlow. But quite why Harry Enfield was cast as the pipe-smoking Mr Jackson is a mystery. Perhaps it had something to do with Loadsamoney!

Video courtesy of: StudiocanalUK

Peter Callaghan
Latest posts by Peter Callaghan (see all)