The Island of Adventure 1982 - TV Film and Related Book

[Katharine]

Daisy, the annoying thing about this version of the book is that large chunks of it are unaltered, which in many ways seems silly. Considering that the language was supposed to be modernised, it still talks about wicks being trimmed on lamps - would children in 1982 have understood that?

At one point the children talk about going to the beach to bathe, and yet all the photos in the book show them wrapped up in jackets as if it was very cold!

Perhaps the most ridiculous bit of 'non-editing' is in the children's escape from their imprisonment. I'm pretty certain that in the original story Lucy-Ann pretends to be feeling unwell through lack of air - not a possible story line in this version as their prison door is made of iron bars. However as the children escape, the original line has been left about Lucy-Ann really feeling unwell. Given that the original plot has been re-written, the comment about Lucy-Ann doesn't make sense.

Overall that line doesn't make any difference to the story one way or another, but I feel it's a bit of clumsy editing (or lack of).

[Anita Bensoussane]

I've got that annual-sized book too, Katharine, and it's based firmly on the 1982 film. The four children look too old and nothing at all like Enid Blyton describes, but once I got over the shock of that I did rather enjoy the atmosphere of the film as it had plenty of seabirds, sailing and Cornish seas. Having said that, I too was taken aback by the episode involving Dinah and the well! Also, on page 38 of the book there's a mistake relating to Jack's supposed sighting of a Great Auk. The text says:

He swung round to follow the flight of the bird. 'Oh - it's gone.' He sighed with frustration, still scanning the skies for the elusive bird.

Enid Blyton would have laughed like mad at that, as the Great Auk was a flightless bird!

I agree that the note at the front of the book downplays the changes:

The main story in this Colour Illustrated Edition remains unchanged from Enid Blyton's original book The Island of Adventure, but the setting and dialogue have been brought up to date.

[Wolfgang]

I commented about that book https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/for ... 15#p189682
I agree with the comments made about this book.

[Stephen]

Finally, Jo is climbing up the well and shooting at the girls who are at the top, so Dinah lets the bucket drop and hears a yell (or cry), a splash and then silence, so I'm assuming he drowns. I found that particularly sickening. It was bad enough reading it, but I shudder to think what it must be like to watch it.

Now you mention it, I do remember the girls dropping a bucket on Joe's face, presumably killing him (although not the other deaths you mentioned). The violence didn't bother nine year old me, most probably because I had become acclimatised to television deaths through the likes of Doctor Who, but I do remember at the time that it was yet another deviation from Blyton's fantastic original. Come to think of it, The Island of Adventure film might have been the first time in my life I thought "Well it's not as good as the book..."

[Anita Bensoussane]

Another departure from Enid Blyton's original was that Bill appeared to be having a fling with a woman named Maggie at the hotel. One of the boys even accused Dinah of having a crush on Bill but she said she viewed him as a father figure.

[Katharine]

The fling with Maggie I didn't bother about too much, an unnecessary addition, but nothing major. I did however notice and feel annoyed about the 'crush' suggestion. I can't remember if Dinah makes a comment about thinking of Bill as a father figure in the book or not, but it's just not Enid Blyton's style to suggest that a teenage girl might have romantic thoughts about a man.

[Katharine]

Come to think of it, The Island of Adventure film might have been the first time in my life I thought "Well it's not as good as the book..."

I think that's the important point about this version. Although I'm not keen on the violence an all the other changes, if they were the kind of things that teenagers liked to watch at the time, then fair enough, it's the putting Enid Blyton's name to it that bugged me, as she just didn't write like that - well at least not that I can recall.

I've always felt the book had enough drama and atmosphere of its own anyway without the need for someone to 'improve' it.

[Debbie]

I think Maggie when I watched it I assumed that she was a special agent like Bill. I didn't feel she had a crush on him, nor he on her, it felt like a working relationship.
Having said that I was about 7 or 8 when I watched it first, which probably coloured the thought process there!

I also didn't really pick up about Dinah killing Jo, I think I kind of assumed he would be picked up by Bill later.

What I did feel, was that the children were way too old. They looked similar in age to my uncle who was around 25 at the time. And a lot of the acting felt very forced.

[JohnM73]

Deleted.

[Fiona1986]

It's already on DVD, John. I have a copy of it.

https://ukrarities.com/product_info.php ... 1982-p-256

[JohnM73]

Deleted.

[timv]

I preferred this film version of Island of Adventure to the New Zealand version, which I have also seen, as for a start it sticks closer to the book - and shows that you can have an authentically menacing and mysterious Jo-Jo without any controversy over what ethnic background he is, thus sidelining any film/ TV company banning the book from their filming list as 'unacceptably racist'. In this version, Jo-Jo is more of a grumpy, seemingly superstitious local Cornishman who may or may not be 'putting it on' to frighten the children or just be a poorly-educated villager with old-fashioned fears of the uncanny - closer to Enid's original version of him, but also with a 'feel' of old 1930s-40s Cornish thrillers like 'Jamaica Inn'. His 'superstitious and tale-spinning local' character also has an echo of Jeremiah Bogle from the 1978 ITV 'Five Go To Demon's Rocks' version, which was played by Paul Curran who had been 'grumpy local farmhand/ drunkard' Jud Paynter in the 1970s BBC original version of 'Poldark' - whether this was a deliberate influence on the Island of Adventure series or not is unclear. One of the boy actors, Perry Benson, is best known for his role as the put-upon boot-boy in the BBC 1980s 'Upstairs Downstairs' comedy take-off, 'You Rang M'Lord' ; here he does a good job as Jack Trent. The children in this version are younger and more like the originals than in the NZ version.

The filming locations seem to be around Port Isaac in Cornwall, in the area later used for 'Doc Martin'; I recognised one or two from the 1970s BBC original 'Poldark', eg the location used in the latter for Dr. Enys' house.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I thought the 1982 film of The Island of Adventure had Jo-Jo as a vaguely Eastern European-sounding man named Jo? I like the film but the children look rather old - and I can't get over the scene involving Dinah, the well and the bucket!

[Moonraker]

I thought the 1982 film of The Island of Adventure had Jo-Jo as a vaguely Eastern European-sounding man named Jo?

Yes, that's how I remember the character - although I thought it was spelled Joe...

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's 'Jo' in the annual-sized book of the film. If the character is Eastern European, perhaps Jo is the usual short form of various Eastern European versions of Jospeh (Josef, Jozef, Josip, Joso, Joska, etc.) Some of those are used in other parts of Europe too.