Mystery on Bird Island (1954) User Reviews

Four Have an Adventure on An Island

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 13 February 2021]

An early CFF production from the days when cars had license numbers as brief as '3528' and kids used expressions like "Best to lie doggo".

Crisply photographed on Alderney with a busy pipe & percussion score by Graham Whettam. The plot anticipates their later 'The Ghost of Monk's Island', with mysterious interlopers on a picturesque island who - surprise, surprise - turn out to be crooks (including a young Peter Arne in a beret); on this occasion supplementing their regular income as smugglers by stealing gulls' eggs to sell to a Parisian restaurant.

As usual there's a pompous Mr Big who as usual (SPOILER COMING:) gets a dunking when his nefarious scheme is eventually foiled.

Typical BFF film

[malcolmgsw · 6/10 · 27 February 2020]

Children holidaying in the Channel Islands find two men stealing gulls eggs.They are in fact smugglers.The children with the help of adults eventually round up the gang.Nice location photography.Alexander Gauge and Peter Arne are familiar faces.

Familiar kid's adventure

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 30 May 2021]

MYSTERY ON BIRD ISLAND is one of the earlier Children's Film Foundation adventures, shot in glorious Alderney and indeed the locations are a key part of this one's entertainment value. Otherwise it's quite an ordinary, dare I say it predictable, little adventure in which a quartet of goody-two-shoes kids thwart some bird egg thieves in picturesque locales. Very Enid Blyton in feel, but the characters are thinly sketched and the villains (including Peter Arne) feel more engaging than the "goodies"! Some decent chase action at the climax enlivens what is overall a lesser CFF production.

Mystery on Bird Island

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 26 January 2024]

Two youngsters travel to the Channel Islands for a holiday, quickly befriend a pair of local siblings and together the four set about having some seaside adventures. It's only when one of them thinks they've spotted some men on a nearby bird sanctuary, though, that their escapades turn a little more mysterious and they start to wonder if some real egg poaching is going on. Now they must try to convince the adults to investigate, and to take some steps to built a keeper's hut on the tiny island of Burhou. This is where we all discover that it's not just the eggs that are being smuggled! Trying to stay one set ahead of the dastardly perpetrators, can they galvanise the children of Alderney and organise a petition to take to the government and save the birds? I quite like these CFF films - they had an Enid Blyton style of innocence to them that, though not readily acceptable nowadays, didn't pigeon-hole the boys vs. Girls roles as awkwardly or stereotypically as some I've seen. The plot's got no jeopardy at all, but features the inventive use of a ladder and a fun boat race as we end with an abominable waste of Scotch whiskey... For children of a certain age, nowadays - probably those over 50!

Island Adventure

[spidargirl · 8/10 · 18 August 2021]

What a lovely film . Beautiful location. With story I wish could have happened when I was on holiday. Well paced narrative. Worth watching if you have a connection with the Channel Isles. Filmed in 1954 just 9yrs after the end of WW2. Everything look as if it had just been built. I think Burhou is the nearest Island to France?