SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS is the best-remembered film adaptation of the classic Arthur Ransome novel. The plot is simplicity in itself: in 1929, a group of siblings and their mother go on holiday to the Lake District, where they are given the freedom to spend their days boating around the lakes and setting up a camp on a wooded island. While there, they meet up with some rival adventurers and a rich man who lives on a house boat at the edge of the lake.
I've never read the book, so I can't comment on how close an adaptation this is, but as a film it's serviceable enough. It ably captures the spirit of a bygone era, where children were left to their own devices in the great outdoors and all the better for it. It's hard to dislike a movie where much of the time is spent on minor intrigue and plotting the intricacies of getting one over on rivals.
There's a small adult sub-plot in the film, involving the belligerent house boat owner (played by the affable Ronald Fraser), and this sub-plot particularly reminded me of the writings of Enid Blyton. SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS might be slimly-plotted and rather simplistic in tone, but for its depiction of a forgotten world it's hard to beat.
I've never read the book, so I can't comment on how close an adaptation this is, but as a film it's serviceable enough. It ably captures the spirit of a bygone era, where children were left to their own devices in the great outdoors and all the better for it. It's hard to dislike a movie where much of the time is spent on minor intrigue and plotting the intricacies of getting one over on rivals.
There's a small adult sub-plot in the film, involving the belligerent house boat owner (played by the affable Ronald Fraser), and this sub-plot particularly reminded me of the writings of Enid Blyton. SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS might be slimly-plotted and rather simplistic in tone, but for its depiction of a forgotten world it's hard to beat.