''Adventure in the Hopfields'' is a 1954 British

children's film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films ar ...

directed by John Guillermin and starring

Mandy Miller Mandy Miller (born Carmen Isabella Miller, 23 July 1944) is an English child actress who made a number of films in the 1950s and is probably best remembered for her recording of the 1956 song "Nellie the Elephant". Early life and career She was ...

. It was made for the

Children's Film Foundation The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) was a non-profit organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom originally to be shown as part of childrens' Saturday morning matinée cinema programming. The films typically were about 55 ...

. Location filming took place in and around

Goudhurst Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. It lies in the Weald, around south of Maidstone, on the crossroads of the A262 and B2079. The parish consists of three wards: Goudhurst, Kilndown and ...

in Kent.

Plot

After accidentally smashing her mother's prized china dog, little

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

girl Jenny (Mandy Miller) leaves her mother a note and sets off from home to make the money to buy a new one by travelling with the family of her friend, Susie Harris, as they set off to go hop picking in Kent. At the station, Jenny joins the special hop-pickers' train to

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, but after failing to join up with the Harris family, she is invited to join Sam Hines and his family. After the first day of hop picking, Sam takes her with him to an antiques shop in Goudhurst where she sees a china dog just like her mother's. Sam lends her the money to buy it. Meanwhile, when Jenny's attempt to send a letter to her parents telling them where she is fails to reach them, her parents report her as missing to the police. When they eventually track her down at the hop-pickers' camp, her parents set out to go to her. They arrive during a hop wedding, when all are distracted, and the dog is stolen by two local children - the Reilly boys - untidy

Artful Dodger Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket, so called for his skill and cunning in that occupation. He is the leader of the gang of child criminal ...

style characters who disparagingly call the hop-pickers "hoppers". Jenny chases after the two boys into an old

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

, but they trick her and seal her in the upper area by taking away the ladder. When lightning strikes the old mill and it catches fire, the Reilly boys run off, but when Pat Reilly sees the mill on fire he returns to help Jenny escape, but she leaves the china dog inside. Ned re-enters the burning mill to rescue the dog and returns it to Jenny, but she doesn't even say "Thank you", so he grabs the hose from the fire engine which has attended to extinguish the fire and squirts water over Jenny and her parents and friends.

Cast

*Jenny Quin -

*Mrs Quin -

Hilda Fenemore Hilda Lilian Fenemore (22 April 1914 – 13 April 2004) was an English actress with a prolific career in film and television from the 1940s to the 1990s. Fenemore played mainly supporting roles which were characterised in her obituary in ''The ...

*Mr Quin -

Russell Waters Russell Waters (born 10 June 1908, Glasgow, Lanarkshire – died 19 August 1982, Richmond, Surrey) was a Scottish film actor. Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the ...

*Sam Hines - Harold Lang *Ned Reilly -

Melvyn Hayes Melvyn Hayes (''né'' Hyams; 11 January 1935) is an English actor and voice over performer. He is best known for playing the effeminate Gunner (later Bombardier) "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'', for appea ...

*Pat Reilly - Leon Garcia *Mrs McBain -

Mona Washbourne Mona Lee Washbourne (27 November 1903 – 15 November 1988) was an English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film '' Stevie'' (1978), late in her career, for which she was nominated for a Gold ...

*Laura McBain - June Rodney *George McBain - Micky Maguire *Lucy McBain - Janice Field *Mrs Harris -

Dandy Nichols Dandy Nichols (born Daisy Sander; 21 May 1907 – 6 February 1986) was an English actress best known for her role as Else Garnett, the long-suffering wife of the character Alf Garnett who was a parody of a working class Tory, in the BBC s ...

*Susie Harris - Molly Osborne *Frankie Harris - Barry Martin *Mrs Bligh - Phyllis Morris *China Mender -

Len Sharp Leonard Sharp (24 May 1890, Birkenhead, Cheshire – 24 October 1958, Watford, Hertfordshire) was an English actor. He was married to the actress Nora Gordon. Their daughter is the actress Dorothy Gordon. He was sometimes credited as Len Sharp. ...

*Junk Shop Owner -

Wallas Eaton Wallas Eaton (18 February 1917 – 3 November 1995), sometimes credited as Wallace Eaton or Wallis Eaton, was an English film, radio, television and theatre actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his voice roles between 1949 and 1960 in t ...

Production

It was based on a novel ''The Hop Dog'' published in 1952.

Filming Locations

Various filming locations were used in London, while Triggs Farm near

in Kent was the main location for filming of the scenes at Longrope Camp where the hop-pickers stay. Goudhurst High Street and St Mary the Virgin Church appear in various scenes. Also featured are the now-demolished

Goudhurst Railway Station Goudhurst is a closed railway station on the closed Hawkhurst Branch in Kent, England. History The station originally opened on 1 October 1892 as '' Hope Mill, for Goudhurst & Lamberhurst'', when the line was opened from . It was named after ...

and Jill Windmill, above the village of Clayton, West Sussex.

Critical reception

The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' said "the production is modest, but the sets are good and the locations well chosen... rates with '' Johnny on the Run'' as one of the most successful of CFF's productions to date." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...

'' gave the film two out of four stars, noting "An above average children's film, with believable characters and story." The ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves ...

'' rated it two out of five stars, writing, "In days of yore, the poor folk of

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the boroughs, in whole or in part, of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond, Southwark, Sut ...

flocked to

and went hop-picking...this exciting tale offers bullying, theft and a climactic lightning storm. A little piece of British social history from the future director of '' The Towering Inferno''." ''Filmink'' called it " a decent, brisk, efficient movie...No one seems to bat an eye as she

iller The Iller (; ancient name Ilargus) is a river of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube, long. It is formed at the confluence of the rivers Breitach, Stillach and Trettach near Oberstdorf in the Allg ...

gets on a train and then goes to work – what was the labor market like in 1954 England?"

Rediscovery

In 2002, a copy of ''Adventure in the Hopfields'' was discovered in a rubbish bin in Chicago, United States, and subsequently purchased by film buff Barry Littlechild for $35. The film was screened at the village hall in Goudhurst, near the filming locations, on 8 March 2002. It has since become available on DVD on specialist sites.Jane Asher's Lost Film Saved from Rubbish Author: David Sapsted and Malcolm Moore Date: Monday, Feb. 25, 2002 Publication: The Daily Telegraph (London, England) Issue: 45629 p 10 It was shown on

Talking Pictures TV Talking Pictures TV (TPTV) is a British free-to-air vintage-film and nostalgia television channel. It was launched on 26 May 2015 on Sky channel 343, but later also became available on Freeview, Freesat, and Virgin Media. It is on air for 24 h ...

in 2021.

References

External links

*
Adventure in the Hopfields
at Letterbox DVD
Clip of film
at YouTube {{John Guillermin British children's films Children's Film Foundation British black-and-white films 1950s children's films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films