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They Came to a City (1944)
Inspiring but unconvincing.
Lovely piece about assorted people who discovered a happy land far far away - and some found it happier than others. But as noted elsewhere, the Utopia is portrayed without any explanation of how we got there. As another reviewer says, it captured the mood of the times. That mood produced the Attlee government - and after six years of it, it took another 13 before Labour got in again - and Harold Wilson had the sense not to promise Utopia. Unfortunately, The comparison with Lost Horizon is very apt, but Shangri-La doesn't work without it's supernatural elements - which unfortunately we don't possess.,
Chocky's Challenge (1986)
OK but Mainly For Completists
This is the final series in the Chocky trilogy; not really bad but imho not quite living up to its predecessors.
It is in some ways a rerun of "Chocky's Children" but this time with an obnoxious military man replacing the businessmen of the previous series. But for me it's nowhere near as good. I don't especially like army brasshats myself, but why did this one have to be quite such a caricature? He put me in mind of the evil professor in City Beneath the Sea.
This series also suffers from the lack of a central character. Matthew Gore, now visibly adolescent rather than the young kid of the first two series', appears only at the beginning and end, while Albertine, now up at Cambridge, never quite manages to take his place. At best she is only a kind of "first among equals", and frequently not even that.
There is also a distinct inconsistency from the previous series'. "Chocky's Children", now gathered together from all over the world (would Chocky have approved of that?) have set out in pursuit of the secret of Cosmic Energy, precisely what Chocky had cautioned Matthew not to do. Indeed Matthew is apparently still following her original advice, continuing his career as as artist and avoiding anything of economic or military importance. If he is right, then logically the others are wrong, but there is little suggestion of this.
In the end, of course Chocky, aided by Matthew and another of her own species, manages to save the day. Apparently they are all to live happily ever after; but I wonder if that would really be possible, given the amount of attention they have by now drawn to themselves. I fear the cat is well and truly out of the bag.
Still, it's not too bad as kids sf goes. You may be less finicky than I am. Use your own judgement.
Chocky's Children (1985)
Great Sequel To A Great Original
An awful lot of sequels don't measure up to the original story, but this is one which does.
This serial takes up Matthew Gore's story a year or so after the end of "Chocky". He is now 13, though still much more the bright child than the adolescent. I don't know if anyone else has ever commented on it, but the actor (Andrew Ellams)bears a remarkable physical resemblance to the boy shown in Harry Willock's cover picture on the original (1968) Penguin edition of "Chocky" itself. Over that year, he has concentrated on his artistic talents, carefully avoiding anything which would interest the sinister forces who kidnapped him, and who, it emerges, are still keeping him under discreet surveillance.
Staying with an aunt in the country whilst his parents and sister are away, Matthew comes into contact with Albertine, about his own age, who is the genius daughter of a reclusive scientist living nearby. They discover that they are able to communicate by telepathy, and Matthew becomes convinced that Albertine must be another child like himself, who has been visited by Chocky. Albertine is at first unconvinced, but has an enforced rethink when the same bunch who kidnapped Matthew now come after her. This compels Chocky, who apparently never went too far away, to re-enter Matthew's life so the two of them can see to Albertine's rescue. This is accomplished with the aid of numerous other superkids (the "children" of the title)whom Chocky has contacted all over the world, and who have some strange mental powers.
All in all, and though written long after his death, this sequel stays pretty faithful to Wyndham's original story, and even has echoes of his other work. Indeed, it could be seen as a sort of counterpoint to "The Midwich Cuckoos", but this time with the Children as the good guys rather than the bad
.
There are some jarring notes, mainly a result of the series' age. Matthew's wide-eyed excitement at the discovery that Albertine's Dad has (wait for it) his own computer - is bound to raise a smile in 2005, as, in a different way, does the trouble the family had over his insistence on educating her at home. At one stage, it appears, they had to barricade themselves in the house to stop the authorities taking her away to some "third rate school". Today, of course, she would just be one more homeschooled kid,arousing no comment at all. But for anyone with enough imagination to read it as a "period piece", this really shouldn't be a problem. I you liked Chocky, you will like her children too. Enjoy.
Chocky (1984)
Unpretentious and Enjoyable.
It is always with a bit of trepidation that I approach the film or tv version of a book I liked, wondering whether it will come over so well on the screen. "Chocky", I am glad to say, is one that did and does.
I first read it not long after it was written, and always liked it. Its theme, which has seen quite a bit of use both before and since, is that of "first contact" with an alien being made by a child. 12-year-old Matthew Gore starts hearing "voices" from an alien life form, and the rest of the book is largely his and his adoptive parents' attempts to come to terms with the phenomenon.
The characters, though perhaps better educated than the average, are basically a pretty ordinary lot, and are completely bewildered by what is going on. Matthew's mother, in particular, takes a very good part as she is driven almost hysterical in her attempts to deal with what is happening to her son, and one of my regrets about the sequels is that she did not appear in them. The father manages to stay a bit calmer, and gradually comes to accept that Chocky is real and not a psychiatric phenomenon, but he too is as out of his depth as one might expect in such a situation. As for Matthew himself, to my mind he looks and acts a bit younger than his supposed age, coming over more like a bright ten-year-old, but then his original was a 1950s (or at most early 1960s) twelve-year-old, not a 1980s one, so perhaps the makers of the serial were being true to their source.
In this they were consistent. The serial sticks very closely to the book, which means that it is all very low key and "cosy", with almost no melodrama until we get to the kidnapping at the end, and even that is played down, without violence or much sense that Matthew is in danger - though the parents are convincing as they worry about their missing child. Otherwise, the focus is how matthew's involvement with Chocky impinges on his otherwise pretty normal sort of life, with his teachers raising their eyebrows about the sudden enhancement of his academic and artistic performance.
All in all, the was a good read, and the serial is a good view. If you like it unpretentious and enjoyable, grab this dvd.
City Beneath the Sea (1962)
Batman and Robin In Plain Clothes
These two childrens' serials are to some extent a "follow on" to the Pathfinders In Space" ones. In particular, Gerald Flood and Stewart Guidotti, who had played Conway Henderson and Geoffrey Wedgewood, reappear as scientist Mark Bannerman and teenager Peter Blake. Peter Williams (Professor Wedgewood) also appears occasionally as a Navy Captain.
However, I have to say that they don't impress me as much as they did in Pathfinders, though I don't think it's really their fault. They do their best with the parts, but something has definitely been lost, something which I can best describe as "context".
As Henderson and Geoff, they formed part of a larger scheme of things in belonging to the ship's company. Geoff's role, in particular, had a distinct "coming of age" element . Though only about 14, he is considered a full member of it, with responsibilities as radio operator, etc. Treated as a an adult and expected to be one, he rises to the occasion, showing himself prepared to take even unwelcome orders, and in the crisis, when there "aren't enough seats in the lifeboat" he is ready to face death along with the older members of the crew. Though Peter is also brave and resourceful, I feel the loss of this background diminishes his part.
Bannerman too seems a somewhat lesser figure than Henderson, caught up in events rather than a central part of them Removed from that wider context, he and Peter become just a sort of "dynamic duo", rather like a plain clothes version of Batman and Robin.
This impression is reinforced by the nature of the opposition. There is none of the ambivalence, the mixture of good and evil, that we got with Harcourt Brown. Professor Ziebrucken is a comic strip villain, at times reminding me a bit of The Joker and other such figures in the Batman comics. At one point he quite needlessly sentences Peter to death (losing important allies as a result) for no reason except (it would seem) to make it clear that he's the baddie. This seems uncalled for. Not only was Brown not like that, but PiS managed to be an exciting adventure with no human villain at all in the usual sense.
Perhaps, so soon after WW2, it was predictable that the bad guy would be a German (though Harcourt Brown wasn't) but he didn't need to be such a caricature of one. Captain Swendler, also a German, was far more nuanced, with a mixture of good and bad. I suppose it's a bit late now, but I can't help feeling it would have been a better story with Swendler as the villain, making him a sort of "Captain Nemo" figure.
Perhaps I'm being a bit hard on something that was, after all, made for kids, not old fogeys of 64. I don't remember noticing these defects when I watched it at 14, so I've allowed three stars. Yet so was Pathfinders, and that was done far better.
The second serial, Secret Beneath the Sea represents if anything an even further decline. That crooked director, and even more his "hired gun" - who comes over like a refugee from an Eling Comedy - are even hammier (if possible) than Ziebrucken. As Hurree Jamset Ram Singh of happy memory might once have expressed it "The hammyness is absolutely terrific". I especially regret that Kapitan Swendler, about the best character of City, disappears from Secret after the opening chapters. He could have improved it.
Peter's role also declines. In Secret, he comes over as the classic "schoolboy who gets unjustly accused". He's working now as a photographer, but at times his camera seems more central to the plot than he does.
One possibly significant point. For the first two thirds of Secret I was under the impression that I had never seen it. Then in the last couple of chapters I began seeing incidents that rang a bell. Now it could be that for some reason I never got to watch the earlier episodes, but, with six decades experience of how my memory works, I suspect that I saw the whole serial - and my mind just didn't bother to retain it. If so, my subconscious knew what it was doing.
I understand from the series guides that these childrens serials were largely discontinued after Secret. Given the distinct downward trend after Pathfinders, perhaps it was just as well.
All the King's Men (1999)
Skullion Goes Forth
All the King's Men is a fascinating if often horrifying portrayal of a little-known episode of the First World War.
David Jason takes a great part as Captain Frank Beck, who has trained a group of workers from the Royal estate at Sandringham into a company of soldiers. This role is very reminiscent of his earlier one as Skullion, the head porter in Porterhouse Blue. Both are essentially "good and faithful servants", firmly committed to the values of their social betters, perhaps to a greater degree than many of the latter themselves. His face is a picture to behold when he arrives at Gallipoli to discover the real conditions there, and perhaps the dawning realisation that said betters may have let him down.
With only a few lapses, the atmosphere of the period is well captured. Did anyone else cringe at Beck's question "Why are we here if not to prove ourselves as men?" I would probably count as "unmanly" by 1915 standards, but would have sought at least a slightly more practical reason. Beck displays a similar attitude earlier on, when he is utterly terrified that he may be denied the opportunity to lead his men into action, despite being clearly too old for active service. The scene where the 12yo telegraph boy, proudly showing off his new uniform, is upstaged by his 14yo pal who by lying about his age has acquired a real Army one is also only too believable for the time, as is Beck's remark that the young boy (whose real age he knows) is "more a man than I will get to be" if he himself is not allowed to go to war. Likewise the mobbing of the pacifist who was initially mistaken for a wounded soldier. His injuries were actually inflicted by real soldiers whom he had been treating in hospital.
Queen Alexandra makes a revealing comment when someone expresses doubt as to whether the pacifist was truly a coward, saying "We are all compelled to believe that he was a coward", presumably because admitting the possibility of any other motive might lead her and others into thinking socially unacceptable thoughts. The Queen Mother gets a number of memorable lines, notably when her son, King George V, tells her that "Kitchener is confident of victory". She responds "Let us hope that his confidence costs us less in Turkey than it has in France". It is rather hinted that she is more than a little sceptical about the whole war, but carefully concealing this as it is part of her royal duty to maintain morale. The King takes this attitude even further, when toward the end he cautions the clergyman who has sought out the real fate of the "Sandringhams" not to say anything that would contradict the morale-boosting story promoted by the War Office. Shades of "When legend becomes truth, print the legend."
There is probably more than a little legend in the film itself, though excusably so given the paucity of firm facts. The theory that the men were "executed" after capture by the Turks cannot be verified. The Turks were indeed disinclined to take prisoners, but any killing is as likely to have been done during the battle ("shot while putting their hands up") as afterwards in cold blood. In particular, the portrayal of Beck's death is highly doubtful, since what evidence there is (admittedly inconclusive) suggests that he was killed in the fighting rather than murdered. But the closing shot, as the men advance to their deaths through the mist, is evocative of that unforgettable final scene in Blackadder Goes Forth.
One final twist, which I gather is historically accurate. The sole survivor, reappearing at the end disfigured but alive, owes his survival to being left for dead and found later by a German unit, waking up in their military hospital. The only "Sandringham" ever to see the place again owes his life to the evil Hun. A suitably ironic note on which to end.
Santa Fe Trail (1940)
"The Ten Commandments" Through Egyptian Eyes.
An interesting 1940 western, though as others have noted it takes considerable liberties with history and biography.
It follows the lives of several West Point graduates of the 1850s, who are destined all too soon to become famous, as they are posted to Kansas Territory and meet up with the notorious John Brown. It has a great cast, including Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan, who rather predictably fall for the same girl (Olivia de Havilland), with Raymond Massey as Brown himself.
Massey takes a brilliant part as the religious fanatic, serving a basically good cause by the very worst of means. In his conviction that his every act fulfils the will of God, he at times anticipates Charlton Heston's Moses, though unlike Moses he doesn't get any miracles or other Divine help. However, that lack does not seem to cramp his style. When he hears the Voice of God, one has little doubt that to him it sounds very much like his own.
The good guys, for their part, have mixed feelings about Brown. To some degree, they can see where he is coming from, but they are firmly on the side of law and order. To them, he comes over much as Moses might have appeared to a bunch of decent and reasonable Egyptians, who can sympathise with his aims, but cannot accept his methods. Another parallel might be with some 21C liberal, deeply in sympathy with the Palestinians, who utterly loathes Israeli policies, yet cannot stomach the actions of ISIS or Al Qaeda. And, like Brown, they do their duty as they see it.
Inevitably, the film shows its age at times, most notably in the portrayal of the Blacks, which must surely make a modern viewer cringe. At times it is even worse than Gone With the Wind in this respect, and one must be grateful that the scenes where Blacks appear are few, and mercifully brief.
Also, at times I feel the South is let off just a shade too lightly, with little awareness that the fanaticism was not all on one side. I rather wish they could have included someone like Edmund Ruffin (the nutjob who fires the first shot at Fort Sumter) to remind us that there were plenty of extremists below the Mason-Dixon Line as well as above it.
This said, however, it is still well worth a view. Above all, it does a good job of conveying a sense of impending doom, as the little victims drink and chat together without any sense of the tragedy that awaits, in which some of them will (along with so many others) be killed or maimed. There is a bittersweet irony in the words put into the mouth of Robert E Lee (Moroni Olsen) at Brown's execution "So perish all enemies of the Union" spoken in blissful ignorance that in little over a year he will be an enemy of the Union himself. Only Olivia de Havilland weeps, in anticipation of what Brown's life and death portend.
Swallow the anachronisms and watch it.
Knights of God (1987)
King Arthur Legend Meets Secret Army.
"Knights of God" is a 1987 childrens' tv series, set in a future where Britain (or at least England) has fallen into civil war and been taken over by an extreme religious (though apparently non-Christian) dictatorship. It focuses on the adventures of a young man in whom both the Knights themselves and the resistance movement take an unaccountable interest,
The Knights' uniforms and the black helicopters they use recall an earlier series called "The Guardians" which also featured a Britain that had collapsed into dictatorship, while some of the resistance fighters are reminiscent of Secret Army and similar WW2 stuff. KoG, however, is permeated with overtones of Arthurian legend. The leader of the resistance (based in Wales) is actually called "Arthur", whilst the Knights' leader is named "Mordrin" - perhaps to invoke Mordred.
As always, there's room for a nitpick or two. About the most absurd bit is the claim that the whole Royal Family has been wiped out. Short of WW3 (and doubtfully even then) this would be a sheer impossibility. There must by now be hundreds, if not thousands, of people descended from Sophia of Hanover, by no means all of them living in the UK. The entire Norwegian Royal House is descended from Edward VII, and of course there are Germans galore. I will leave to others to ponder the philosophical point of whether it is better or worse to be ruled by a German than by a religious nutter.
Gervase (George Winter) is a rather passive kind of hero, the sort that has things happen to him rather than making things happen. And many viewers probably figured the outcome of his "quest" well ahead of time. But this is ok for what is basically a kids' action adventure, and is surely more than made up for by John Woodvine's brilliant performance as Prior Mordrin. For me, he steals the show with a great portrayal of the paranoid dictator going to pieces as his regime starts to crumble.
All in all, well worth a read or (if you can get it) a view. It's a scandal that no proper dvd has been issued. However, I understand that Youtube is filling the gap for now.
Brigham Young (1940)
Great Film of a Remarkable Chapter in American History
This film tells the story of the Mormon exodus to the west in the face of unremitting persecution, seen through the eyes of a participant (Tyrone Power). Dean Jagger plays a good Brigham Young, if perhaps a little less forceful than the real one, while Vincent Price is an excellent Joseph Smith.
Hollywood being Hollywood, there are places where dramatic effect is allowed to take precedence over historical accuracy. In particular, the murder of Joseph Smith is shown as coming after a jury has been terrorised by the mob into finding him guilty, when in fact it came before any trial could take place, so that the entire courtroom scene is fictitious. This, of course, was precisely why Joseph's enemies lynched him rather than permitting the law to take its course. They knew they could not convict him of anything serious enough to end his career.
Polygamy is not altogether ignored, but on the whole is rather played down, with only one of Brigham's wives appearing on screen, though the existence of others is mentioned. Presumably, going further than that would have been inappropriate for Hollywood family entertainment.
Later, Brigham Young is shown as leading the Saints across the frozen Mississippi (true thus far) just one jump ahead of the mob, and they all look back to see Nauvoo burning behind them. In fact, the evacuation took place over more than six months, with Brigham leading the first party out in February 1846, and the last not going until September. As far as I know, the City of Nauvoo was never burned (though the Temple was) but just gradually looted after its abandonment. It is however true that the Saints remained subject to vicious attacks long after they were clearly in process of leaving, and posed no possible threat or danger to anyone.
The hardships of the Pioneer Trail are well portrayed, and, perhaps in a sign of changing attitudes, the Indians are shown in an entirely favourable light. The film ends on a really dramatic note, when the Saints are fighting desperately to save their first harvest from the crickets, and are saved at the last minute as the crickets in turn are eaten by seagulls. I understand that the cast had to perform this scene for real, there being no way to fake it with the special effects available in 1940, and found it every bit as unpleasant as it probably was first time round.
All in all, an excellent movie portrayal of one of the greatest pioneer epics of the American West. Shame it's only available in Region 1, as it deserves a wider audience. Still, multi region players aren't too expensive these days. Enjoy it.
Free State of Jones (2016)
He Was Robin Hood - But the Merrie Men Went Home
Based - if loosely in places - upon real events, this film is a fascinating sidelight on a little-known aspect of the Civil War.
Newton Knight is a Confederate Army doctor, but becomes disillusioned with it after learning how the conscription laws are being amended to suit wealthy planters with twenty or more slaves, and even more with the ruthless way in which the soldiers' families are being reduced to destitution by the requisitions of Confederate commissaries and foraging parties, who are frequently more rapacious than the Yankees. I recall this being touched upon in another Civil War film, Shenandoah, whose protagonist translated the word "requisition" as "steal". That's pretty much how it is in this film too.
Knight returns home to Jones County, Mississippi, and gathers together a large band of deserters and draft resisters, and even a number of runaway slaves. Like Robin Hood's men in Sherwood Forest, they hide out in swamplands where cavalry cannot go and infantry are easily ambushed. From this bolthole, they go forth to recapture corn and other foodstuffs seized by the local commissary-general, and give it back to the starving local people.
Needless to say this provokes a response. They are hunted back into their swamp refuge, and any who fall into government hands - even young boys - are hanged out of hand. Under this pressure, they hoist a stars and stripes, proclaim themselves "The Free State of Jones", and seek assistance from the Yankees. The latter, however, are less than enthusiastic about such irregular forces, and fob them off with a few old hunting rifles - a pattern to be repeated after the war. But somehow, Knight and his men manage to hold out till the Confederacy falls.
Thus the first two-thirds of the film, and it's good. But the final third, I have to say, doesn't live up to it. In brief, Knight joins the Republican Party, marries a former slave, and sides with the government (though now only in a bit part as a Deputy Marshall or something) during Reconstruction.
While interesting in its way, this doesn't grip as did the wartime scenes. Above all, Knight is now a general without an army. It's all just about him. After Appomattox, we hear next to nothing about his followers, especially the white ones who were the great majority. About the only mention they get is a passing one where Knight expresses regret at his failure to persuade them to join the Union League. Yet why should they? What could it offer them? The Union showed no interest in them during the war, and is no more likely to do so now. What would they gain to make up for having to still further antagonise their "secesh" neighbours, now returned from the Rebel Army, who are already probably less than enthused by their war records? So that's it. As far as the film is concerned, they simply vanish from the scene. Knight's principal remaining follower, a Freedman named Moses, is, I understand, fictional.
Whilst this last forty minutes all takes place against the backdrop of the Reconstruction period, Knight's actual influence on the course of events is next to nil. In one scene he manages to compel election officials to let some negroes vote, but we learn that the ballot box was conveniently "lost" and their votes not counted. And the Federal government is no more help after the war than during it.
It all smacks of a "life of Robin Hood" in which the final third is given over to an anticlimactic "epilogue" with Robin fighting single-handed, and to little avail, against continuing injustice when in spite of all his efforts Prince John has ascended the throne, and the Sheriff of Nottingham is back doing business as usual. As for the Merrie Men, they are all gone home with Royal pardons, and contentedly picking up their former lives, their "Lincoln green" days in the forest put long behind them, save perhaps as a source of bedtime stories for the kids.
Sorry to sound so negative, and I still think this movie is well worth a view. But watch it for the wartime scenes. Had it stopped at April 1865, not a great deal would have been lost.
Sammy Going South (1963)
Wouldn't have missed this film for the world.
This is a magnificent story about a young boy who loses his parents in the Suez action of 1956, and sets out to find his aunt - who lives in Durban at the other end of the continent!. At his age he has no notion of the distance involved, but he has a little compass and he knows that it is south, so off he goes.
On his way he falls in with various people, some a lot more trustworthy than others. As a result he soon develops a highly suspicious nature, becoming very jumpy and inclined to take to his heels at the first sign of anything suspicious. This tendency to bolt first and ask questions afterwards almost certainly prolongs his adventure a lot more than it need have been, and I have a sneaking sympathy for the frustrated rescuer whose car the boy immobilised before escaping, and who (now a hundred dollars out of pocket) expresses a desire to drown the brat. But in light of Sammy's experiences, his attitude is not unreasonable.
The high point of the film is when Sammy falls in with a loveable rogue (Edward G Robinson), who takes him under his wing and gives him his first bit of security since his long walk began. You can see the boy's self-confidence steadily grow, to the point where he saves his benefactor's life by coolly shooting a leopard when it attacks. The boy is now so happy that he wants to forget about auntie and just stay here forever.
But it's too good to last. Sammy's guardian is outside the law, and his new life is brutally destroyed when police come along and do their duty. If I recall correctly, this loss of his new "family" is the only time in the film where Sammy breaks down and cries. But it couldn't have lasted anyway, as his friend (after a heart to heart from his oppo Harry H Corbett) acknowledges that they have no long-term future together, and that Sammy needs to return to the world of school exams and qualifications. For this reason he harshly breaks off their relationship and gives information about Sammy to the aunt - though persuading her to let him complete the journey for himself.
He duly does, but now he's a different boy. Despite the brutal parting, he remembers the old rogue with fondness and asks after him, and in general has clearly made the jump from little boy to young man. It is either luck or a stroke of genius that the actor chosen for his part, Fergus Maclelland, is actually twelve rather than ten. Over the months of film making he gets noticeably taller, which is symbolic of how Sammy has grown, along the way - and by no means only in height.
In God's Country (2006)
Gripping Film But Some Credibility Problems.
A gripping and thought provoking film about a woman raised in a polygamous sect, who flees when she learns that her daughter is to be married off to her stepfather.
All in all, it isn't bad, but I can't resist the temptation to nitpick. As other reviewers have noted, her integration into outside society seems to be altogether too smooth, in particular getting benefits and a new home with improbable ease. And the public school scene was very unconvincing. Some irrelevant advice from the Principal to teach her son (who, he conveniently forgets, was the victim of the bullying, not the bully) that "violence isn't the answer" seems to solve the whole problem, or at least we never hear any more about it. That sounds overoptimistic to the point of naiveté.
Also, I thought they made the cult leader a bit of a straw man. Is it really credible that, when the teenage girl has quite voluntarily returned to his sect, he would immediately throw away this victory by trying to force her into marrying the stepfather, while also beating up and expelling the young (and perfectly loyal) follower on whom her heart is set - an action which gives the authorities a perfect excuse to butt in. I know that some of these polygamous patriarchs are unpleasant types, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're stupid. Indeed, I get the impression that they are often well endowed with low cunning. I would expect him to be as nice as pie, presiding at the girl's wedding to her chosen boy, and letting her write to her siblings urging them, as soon as old enough, to "Come back; the water's fine". After all, he wants all the children back, not just one.
All carping aside, though, it's still a pretty good view. Watch it and draw your own conclusions.
Pathfinders to Venus (1961)
Decent Kids' Space Adventure
I recently re-watched this after a fifty year gap. It stands up better than I expected.
Main problem is that the "jungle planet" version of Venus was getting doubtful even then, and would be exploded completely only a year or so later. Still, not a bad kids adventure story, with lots of suspense. Stewart Guidotti does well as Geoff, the 14/15 year old taking on responsibilities at more like an 18 year old level, should go down well with all the teens who want to be treated like grown ups, while the more adventurous and less obedient Margaret will appeal to the younger viewers.
I'm not at all sorry I bought the dvds.
Pathfinders to Mars (1960)
Good Kids' SF
Returning to this after a lapse of fifty years, I was pleasantly surprised by how well it has stood the test of time.
My only major problem was how a ship designed for a lunar voyage came to have the supplies needed for the vastly longer trip to Mars. That aside, I had little to complain about. The visual effects are of course awful by modern standards, but that is the fault of the times rather than the programme.
Like the other two series, this one manages to pack in lots of scientific and other knowledge without holding up the plot, and Harcourt Brown makes an interesting "Zachary Smith" type of villain, making up for the dropping of the entertaining Jimmy Wedgewood from the last series. Stewart Guidotti's Geoff is convincing as the young teen playing an adult role as a crew member, and Margaret's engaging personality will appeal to those kids for whom Geoff is a bit too bland. No regrets at all about buying the dvds.
Pathfinders in Space (1960)
A Nice Trip Down Memory Lane
I saw two of the series at age 12/13 and came back to the dvds with some trepidation, but Pathfinders stands the test of time better than I expected.
Needless to say, for three children (and a pet guinea pig) to be taken on a deep space expedition requires some suspending of disbelief, but if you can swallow that it isn't at all bad. Stewart Guidotti takes a good part as Geoff, the 14/15 year old taking on grown up responsibilities as a member of the crew, while Richard Dean, as the mischievous little brother, is harder to take seriously but has his moment when, under apparent sentence of death because the rocket can only take two people back, he seeks a place on it for his guinea pig, determined to save his pet even if he cannot save himself. Sounds corny, I know, but I found it genuinely moving, and could imagine some children behaving in precisely that way. Their sister, Valerie, is more forgettable, but OK to keep the female half of the audience interested.
If you're used to modern special effects, the 1960 ones take some getting used to, but for my money it's worth the effort. The dvds gave me a nice trip down memory lane.
A Fire in the Sky (1978)
Unjustly Neglected
I saw this on TV decades ago, and finally got a (home made?) DVD after a lot of searching.
This movie seems to be in the "love it or hate it" category, and I am one of the lovers. It's probably my favourite among the "giant meteor impact" stories that were so popular a few years back. For me it avoids some of the worst faults of the genre. In particular, super-science doesn't come to the rescue at the eleventh hour. The powers that be try to nuke the comet, but they fail, as in real life they almost certainly would. There is the inevitable "failing marriage with adultery" angle, but at least it is made relevant to the plot. The woman frantically searching for her kids and husband does not find them. They have to meet up at the refugee camp after it's all over and they have come through it without her rescue. For my money, this is how it would really be - for those lucky enough to survive at all.
There is, of course, always room for the odd gripe. Given the split-second timing required, would those nuclear warheads really be fired manually? All in all, though, I like it, and am saddened that it seems to have been passed over for a proper DVD. I wonder if that is precisely on account of the things that appeal to me. Perhaps the failure of "Yankee know-how" to save the city is uncomfortable to some. Still, it has my vote and I hope the omission will soon be rectified.
City Beneath the Sea: Escape to Aegiria (1962)
Decent Kids Adventure
OK bit of kids' entertainment, involving a scientist and two children who fall into the hands of a megalomaniac professor at a secret undersea base called Aegiria. It's some fifty years since I saw it (at about age 12) but as I recall his plans to become dictator of the world are thwarted with the help of a couple of sea creatures modelled on the Loch Ness Monster.
Having served their purpose, the monsters are sent on their way by repeating the words used by a sixth century monk on their last appearance "Peace be unto you, great creatures. In the name of God, trouble us no more".