The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Discuss the television and film adaptations of Enid Blyton's stories.
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Poppy
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Poppy »

It says:

Copyright © 1990 TVS Television Limited.
All rights reserved.

I am pretty sure that it is Stuart Tresilian now though. Parts of the picture look like some of the internal illustrations of The Castle of Adventure.

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The children in the illustration look exactly like they do on the front cover of the video.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Nicko »

Thanks for checking Poppy. I meant the credit under that which is too small to read. It is probably of no more importance anyhow. I appreciate you taking the time to look.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I am certain that it isn't Tresilian, Nick, though obviously the illustrator was copying his style. There is an article on Tresilian in the next Journal and he died in 1974, long before this video was released. Front and back of video are pictured below and the cover illustrator is not credited.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Nicko »

Thanks for posting the photos Tony. Much appreciated.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Tony Summerfield »

As Poppy suggests, the illustrator has 'lifted' a lot of this straight from the Tresilian illustration above, but I am not at all sure that the castle is his. I also think it is signed, but I can't read the signature at all.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Moonraker »

I wonder if the castle on the cover reflects the one used in the film.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Carlotta King »

It does look a bit like it, I'm thinking of the bit where the children go up there for the first time and walk along that high ridge but right under and along the castle wall; the illustration looks like that, with the high, flat expanse of wall and the sloping hillside.

I really like that illustration, the colours are lovely, the dark blue night sky and the golden yellow of the castle in the moonlight, and then the nice bright jumpers the children are wearing, and the bright, rich green of the leaves, they frame it really well but without being a solid frame. And the black line art adds a real depth and quality to it.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Yes, the drawing does look like Saltwood Castle, Kent, which was used in the TV adaptation:

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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Eljay »

I remember this serial fondly from watching it as a child on its original showing. Despite its flaws (which are understandable, given that it was born out of necessity and suffered many production problems), I consider it to be by far the best Blyton dramatisation. I very much enjoyed Nick Hopkins' well-researched article in the latest Journal and look forward to the second part.

Re. locations. I was wondering which town Allie and the children visited in episodes two and four? Also, which parts were filmed at Chatham Docks, as referenced in the article?

I managed to locate the railway station shown in the opening episode. It's Wateringbury, a few miles from Maidstone on the Medway Valley Line. Some pictures here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... ay_station" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As is common with provincial stations, the ticket office closed some years ago but the mock-Tudor buildings, dating from 1844, are still very fine and Grade II listed. It's also in a picturesque location, the platform side overlooking the River Medway as seen from the footbridge in episode one. A fence has been added at the front, so the long shot of the girls sitting outside waiting for the others would have had to be done from a different angle today. Interesting how locations can look the same after many years, yet change in subtle ways.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Nicko »

Eljay wrote:I remember this serial fondly from watching it as a child on its original showing. Despite its flaws (which are understandable, given that it was born out of necessity and suffered many production problems), I consider it to be by far the best Blyton dramatisation. I very much enjoyed Nick Hopkins' well-researched article in the latest Journal and look forward to the second part.
Thank you kindly and I agree that it is probably the best single adaptation of any Blyton book. They included about 95% of the book, I would say, but obviously had to add some things due to the 200 minute running time. The villains being a bit too comical is the only thing that lets it down imo...apart from Aunt Jane's appearance of course (the story of which will be told in part two of the article).
Eljay wrote:Re. locations. I was wondering which town Allie and the children visited in episodes two and four? Also, which parts were filmed at Chatham Docks, as referenced in the article?

I managed to locate the railway station shown in the opening episode. It's Wateringbury, a few miles from Maidstone on the Medway Valley Line. Some pictures here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... ay_station" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As is common with provincial stations, the ticket office closed some years ago but the mock-Tudor buildings, dating from 1844, are still very fine and Grade II listed. It's also in a picturesque location, the platform side overlooking the River Medway as seen from the footbridge in episode one. A fence has been added at the front, so the long shot of the girls sitting outside waiting for the others would have had to be done from a different angle today. Interesting how locations can look the same after many years, yet change in subtle ways.
It's interesting to learn the location of the railway station. Chatham Docks was used for some of the army scenes I believe. St. Paul's Scout Hut in Boxley was also used.

I'm afraid that I don't know which town was visited by the family (and Brian Blessed) in those episodes but I can only assume that it must have been very close to the Maidstone base. Someone who knows the Kent area much better than me might recognize it.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Interesting posts, Eljay and Nicko. It's nice to know where scenes were filmed.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Eljay »

Nicko wrote:The villains being a bit too comical is the only thing that lets it down imo...apart from Aunt Jane's appearance of course (the story of which will be told in part two of the article).
Exciting stuff, I can't wait. The change from Aunt Allie to Aunt Jane has long been shrouded in mystery...now we'll finally get the full story! Whatever the reasons, we know that Susan George did return to film her 'handover' scene to Aunt Jane (by telephone), and another where she gives the children permission to spend a night at the castle. It's a pity the ending had to be done without her (I always found that ending unsatisfying), but at least the writers made a reasonable job of covering her absence.

I agree with you about the villains. Their constant bickering is not that funny and becomes tiresome after a while, but clearly served a lengthening purpose. I also think revealing Sam's true nature, if not his actual identity, to the viewer long before the main characters was a mistake (a 'spoiler', if you will), but again, probably necessary to further 'stretch out' the serial with the scenes of him intimidating Tassie and her mother.
Nicko wrote:I'm afraid that I don't know which town was visited by the family (and Brian Blessed) in those episodes but I can only assume that it must have been very close to the Maidstone base. Someone who knows the Kent area much better than me might recognize it.
I had a look around the villages of Saltwood, Detling and Wateringbury on Google Maps, and I don't think it's any of those. Possibly Hythe, but that would take longer to explore.

Disappointing to learn that 'Spring Cottage' was, in fact, nowhere near the castle. What a great walk that would be! I see that Saltwood Castle is now now open to limited numbers of visitors on certain days in the summer. I'm surprised it isn't open on a regular basis, given the costly liabilities involved with maintaining historic properties, but I guess the owners value their privacy. I assume Fort Amherst parkland is where most of the wood scenes were filmed (and tunnels?), although there are woods around the castle itself that would have been used whenever the castle needed to be in shot.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Katharine »

I've had this video sitting on my shelf since the last Enid Blyton Day, and never got around to watching it. The article in the latest Journal has prompted me to blow the dust off it! :D

It's obviously been watched before, as I had to rewind it before I could start, but thankfully it doesn't look as it it's been 'watched to death'.

I'm always apprehensive about watching TV adaptations of much loved books, and I'm only about 10 minutes in so, so the jury's out, but so far it's looking ok. Fingers crossed.
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Paul Greaves »

Don't forget you can watch all 8 unedited episodes (the VHS is shorter than the transmitted version) on this thread: http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... =22&t=6143" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: The Castle Of Adventure Film, 1990

Post by Billy Farmer »

Found this Thread, earlier today, after a forum search, like I have said elsewhere on this forum, I recently enjoyed watching The Island of Adventure (1982), and this afternoon, I enjoyed watching episodes 1 & 2 of The Castle of Adventure, good to see Susan George (one of my favourite Actresses), who I now know was very difficult to work with during the making of the production, also good to see Brian Blessed (very good in the role of Sam), who I recently enjoyed watching in the series John Silver's Return to Treasure Island (1986), I like all the child Actors, in The Castle of Adventure, and also the locations, especially the Castle.

I have got the edited version of The Castle of Adventure, on DVD, but I am watching the full version, which I downloaded from YouTube.
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