Captain Eager and the Mark of Voth (2008)

Director:

Simon DaVison

Writer:

Simon Davison (writer)

Release Date:

18 April 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

Cast

Mohamed Alli-Farah	...	Kia
Alexander Andrew	...	Squad Leader
Lindsay Carr	...	Carmina
Laura Clarke	...	Shiobhan in Personnel
Steve Clark	...	Voth
Russell Grant	...	Damien - Space Manager
Tamsin Greig	...	Jenny
Mark Heap	...	Lt Scrutty Baker
Olivia Hill	...	Sarah
Charlie King	...	Soldier who gets hit a lot
Kumari-Bowles. Krishna	...	Princess Chanec
Richard Leaf	...	Kernel Regamun
Matthew Lockwood	...	Lacky Number One
Brian Madden	...	Barman
Nick Mellersh	...	Professor Moon
Beth Myers	...	Panvolkian Child
Emily Myers	...	Panvolkian Woman
Mary Myers	...	Help Angel
Scamp	...	The dog
Ben Stirling	...	Drunk
Anne Marie Swan	...	Alien
James Vaughan	...	Captain Ted Eager
Chun Wai-Lo	...	Lucky
Josephine Welcome	...	Isis of the Labyrinth

Directed by
Simon DaVison

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Simon Davison		writer

Produced by
Rebecca Bazzard	....	producer

Original Music by
Simon Davison

Cinematography by
Martin Hill

Art Direction by
Damien Creagh

Production Management
Mary Myers	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mohamed Alli-Farah	....	second assistant director
Jawal Sen	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Charlie King	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Lucy Pickering	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Ole Birkland	....	additional photographer
Simon Cooke	....	camera operator
Ross Maclennan	....	additional photographer

Other crew
Mohamed Alli-Farah	....	stand-in
Alice Bell	....	script supervisor
Alice Bell	....	script supervisor
Alex Moody	....	production assistant
Amie Tridgell	....	production assistant
Amie Tridgell	....	stand-in

Production Companies

• Imperious Films

Distributors

• Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) (2007) (UK) (theatrical)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Company:

Imperious Films

A glowing "homage" to Frank Hampson's "Dan Dare"

To appreciate this film, perhaps you have to have been born British, male and some time between the end of WW2 and the mid 1950's. And you HAVE to have been a childhood fan of The Eagle comic. The lead comic strip was "Dan Dare - pilot of the future", colourfully and idiosyncratically illustrated by Frank Hampson. The Dan Dare strip had a unique "look" which the director/cinematographer has perfectly captured; it's as if the original Eagle has come to something roughly like "life".

Despite the high quality of the artwork, the plots were as thin as most 1950's SciFi looks today,(absurdities which have also been painstakingly - and affectionately - reproduced!)

Spielberg attempted - successfully - to recreate the feel of the cliff-hanger serials from the days of his childhood (and later revived for "ABC Minors" children's Saturday morning cinema) with his "Indiana Jones" trilogy. Davison seems to have attempted to do something similar - but instead, with c.1960 Eagle "Annuals". Non-UK readers won't have a clue what an "annual" is - most English comic books released a hard-bound version every year in time for the Xmas market. (They still do, but the result is far less of a "cultural icon" than they used to be)

Comic book based films are all the rage... but they're normally based on populist American titles like Spiderman or Superman. One has to remember that Dan Dare started out not as a pilot but as a vicar, and evolved into an RAF chaplain and only THEN into "the pilot of the future". And "Eagle" was edited by a vicar and evolved from his parish magazine (called "the Anvil")

I DO fit the profile previously described - I'm a Brit, I'm male and I'm the right age. But I have doubts that anyone who doesn't fit the profile will see the point of the film.