''Swallows and Amazons'' is a 1974 British film adaption of the 1930 novel of the same name by Arthur Ransome. The film, which was directed by

Claude Whatham Claude Whatham (7 December 1927 in Manchester – 4 January 2008 in Anglesey) was an English film and TV director mainly known for his work on dramas. Early life In 1940, Whatham, a teenage evacuee art student, had been commissioned to paint f ...

and produced by

Richard Pilbrow Richard Pilbrow (born 28 April 1933 in Beckenham, Kent, England) is a stage lighting designer, author, theatre design consultant, and theatrical producer, film producer and television producer. He was the first British lighting designer to light ...

, starred

Virginia McKenna Dame Virginia Anne McKenna, (born 7 June 1931) is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner. She is best known for the films ''A Town Like Alice'' (1956), '' Carve Her Name with Pride'' (1958), ''Born Free'' (1966), and ...

and Ronald Fraser, and a young Zanna Hamilton. Its budget was provided by

Nat Cohen Nat Cohen (23 December 1905 – 10 February 1988)William D. Rubinstein, et al (eds.''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p.171 was a British film producer and executive. For over four decades he was one of t ...

EMI Films EMI Films was a British film studio and distributor. A subsidiary of the EMI conglomerate, the corporate name was not used throughout the entire period of EMI's involvement in the film industry, from 1969 to 1986, but the company's brief conne ...

who had funded the successful 1970 film ''

The Railway Children ''The Railway Children'' is a children's book by Edith Nesbit, originally serialised in ''The London Magazine'' during 1905 and published in book form in the same year. It has been adapted for the screen several times, of which the 1970 fil ...

''.Tim Devlin. "A day in the life of Swallows and Amazons." Times ondon, England20 June 1973: 12. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 14 July 2012.

Plot

During the school holidays, the Walker children (John, Susan, Titty and Roger; the ''Swallows'') are staying at a farm near a lake in the Lake District. They sail a borrowed

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...

named ''Swallow'', and camp on an island in the lake that they call ''Wild Cat Island. They meet two local girls Nancy and Peggy Blackett, who sail a dinghy named ''Amazon'' and live in ''Beckfoot'' a house up the nearby Amazon River. The ''Amazons'' (the Blackett girls; they call themselves "Amazon Pirates" and fly the "Jolly Roger" on their yacht) have been coming to the island for years, and claim the island as their territory. So the scene is set for serious rivalry. Eventually they make friends and agree to join forces against a common enemy – the Blacketts' Uncle Jim (Jim Turner) whom they call "Captain Flint" (after the character in ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

''). Uncle Jim, normally an ally of his nieces, has withdrawn from their company to write his memoirs and has become decidedly unfriendly. To determine who should be the overall leader in their campaign against Captain Flint, the Blacketts and the Walkers have a contest to see which can capture the others' boat. As part of their strategy the Walkers make a dangerous crossing of the lake by night, and John is later cautioned by his mother for this reckless act. The Walkers nevertheless win the contest – thanks to Titty who seizes the ''Amazon'' when the Blacketts come to Wild Cat Island. Eventually there is a mock battle between "Captain Flint" and the children, after which Uncle Jim is tried for his crimes and forced to walk the plank on his own houseboat. They agree at the post-battle feast to be friends forever.

Cast

- Mrs. Walker * Ronald Fraser - Uncle Jim *Simon West - John Walker * Suzanna Hamilton - Susan Walker (credited as Zanna Hamilton) *Sophie Neville - Titty Walker *Stephen Grendon - Roger Walker *Kit Seymour - Nancy Blackett *Lesley Bennett - Peggy Blackett * Mike Pratt - Mr. Dixon *

Brenda Bruce Brenda Bruce OBE (7 July 1919Some sources cite 17 July 1919. – 19 February 1996) was an English actress. She was focused on the theatre, radio, film and television. Career Bruce was born in Prestwich, Lancashire in 1919, and started her ...

- Mrs. Dixon *

John Franklyn-Robbins John Franklyn-Robbins (14 December 1924 – 21 March 2009) was an English character and voice actor. A prolific Shakespearean actor, he trained at RADA and proceeded to work at the Manchester Library Theatre and the Bristol Old Vic early i ...

- Young Billy * Jack Woolgar - Old Billy *David Blagden - Policeman

Production

The film was shot on location in the Lake District National Park in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

during the summer of 1973. Actual locations were used to recreate the fictional lake in Arthur Ransome's novel. In April 2010, the dinghy named ''Swallow'' in the film was bought by a group of enthusiasts who restored her to sailing condition.

Release

EMI distributed the film in the UK in 1974.

Home media

The film has been made available on video, both in VHS and DVD, in the UK, but is not readily available in the USA and elsewhere.

External links

References

{{Swallows and Amazons Film 1974 films Films based on British novels British children's films Films set in the Lake District 1970s children's films EMI Films films 1970s children's adventure films Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios 1970s English-language films Films directed by Claude Whatham 1970s British films