Five Go Off to Camp - thoughts, observations and mysteries

[Anita Bensoussane]

Wow, that's marvellous. I'm particularly intrigued by the painted glass plate (fourth picture.) I knew that Kirrin Island was a painted glass plate but I hadn't realised until I read your posts, Petermax, that the same trick had been used elsewhere. Many thanks to you and to Andy Crespin.

Anita

[Julie2owlsdene]

Fantastic Petermax. Thanks for posting. Very interesting indeed. Many thanks also to Andy Crespin. It just shows the tricks the camera can play.

[Gary Russell]

Wow, that's marvellous. I'm particularly intrigued by the painted glass plate (fourth picture.) I knew that Kirrin Island was a painted glass plate but I hadn't realised until I read your posts, Petermax, that the same trick had been used elsewhere. Many thanks to you and to Andy Crespin.

Anita

Oh we used glass shots quite a lot actually, usually to extend/change roofs, turrets etc of buildings. these days it'd all be CGI, done in post-production, but our way was fun!

[Moonraker]

Oh we used glass shots quite a lot actually....these days it'd all be CGI, done in post-production, but our way was fun!

You could say it was in a glass of its own.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Oh we used glass shots quite a lot actually, usually to extend/change roofs, turrets etc of buildings. these days it'd all be CGI, done in post-production, but our way was fun!

Thanks, Gary. I'll have to look out for that next time I watch the show! I wonder if the camera crew ever had problems with reflections on the glass?

Anita

[Lucky Star]

I shall watch Five Go off to Camp as soon as I have a chance (i'm away in Ireland at the moment). It will be interesting as well as entertaining now that I know a little of the production process.

[Petermax]

I shall watch Five Go off to Camp as soon as I have a chance (i'm away in Ireland at the moment). It will be interesting as well as entertaining now that I know a little of the production process.

I too shall re-watch Five Go off to Camp with renewed interest. I guessed earlier that the scenery immediately around the tunnel portal was achieved by painted glass, but had no idea that the portal itself was a mock up. I assumed that it was an existing structure. Call me a Luddite, but surely the simple optical illusion of painted glass is a better way of doing things than todays extensive use of CGI?

I am very pleased indeed to see that Andy Crespin's snapshots of 31 years ago have been so well received.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I too shall re-watch Five Go off to Camp with renewed interest.

I think I might watch this one again too, now that I know the tricks of the trade

[TB3]

My word - I've been away far too long. I mean to come back to find this is mindblowing, and an honour!

Regarding what Mr Crispin has (incredibly generously) told us, here's an annotated aerial photo of Marchwood

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c345/ ... hwood5.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hope that's of some interest to everyone

Finally, here's something my brother unearthed on Youtube last night. It's a little piece about a reunion between Marcus and Jenny featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the filming of camp, including Wagonner going to-and-fro and Anne being discovered by Wooden-Leg-Sam spying on Andrews and Co.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzMh73wxyd4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One last thought - I've always felt this episode was one of the strongest in terms of production quality, and I think part of that is the expense that the crew went to dress the sidings and engine shed at Marchwood as the tunnel, and indeed the possibilites offered at Marchwood, which was after all, a working industrial railway, not a preservation line (consider how fast Waggoner dramatically charges in and out of the tunnel portal, impossible on a preservation line limited to 25mph!). The interior of the engine shed was the perfect setting for the Aladdin's cave as well, very industrial and spartan with its brushed metal surfaces, flourescant lighting and technological cleanless, and because (just like the story implies), its a location pretty much built around the train it housed. All of this really sold the idea that this was once a very secret and important place (as Enid implied), which the criminals have exploited to their own ends. Faced with the perfection of this setting, I feel the crew really made an effort to make the episode work.

The shot which demonstrates this best for me is after Andrews and Peters are arrested and Timmy is seen proudly standing on the loading dock while the kids laugh.

Behind Timmy, it can be seen that the rear wall of the engine shed (which the engine is buffered up against) has been dressed to resemble brickwork, with an inset wall showing where the tunnel to Roker's Vale once continued through, but is now genuinely bricked up (as is mentioned in the books). It really helps sell the entire thing, even though its never mentioned (beyond George mentioning the two walls) and only appears in one brief shot at the very end of the episode. Thats dedication to capturing the spirit of Enid's book.

I honestly wonder if the production staff were also inspired by the drama of the setting - the cavernous, cathederal-like tunnel, the mysterious abandoned yard, and the really-big toy train they got to play with. Either way, it seems to have left an impact on us!

[Petermax]

My word - I've been away far too long. I mean to come back to find this is mindblowing, and an honour!

Regarding what Mr Crespin has (incredibly generously) told us, here's an annotated aerial photo of Marchwood

Glad that you liked Andy Crespin's Marchwood photos TB3, they are a very rare record indeed from behind the scenes. By the way, that arial shot of Marchwood is superb and and must have taken a lot of painstaking detective work to locate the scenes of the 1977 filming. I tried and failed using Google Earth, the definition was just not good enough and Marchwood military Base has changed enormously over the last 30 years.

The production values on Five Go Off To Camp were very good and made a very pleasing adaptation of the original book. The combination of steam trains and that lovely preserved Morris 8 Tourer did it for me, as well as the late Cyril Luckham who very much brought the character of Mr Luffy to life.

[aitchemelle]

Thank you (rather belatedly) for the Photos Petermax. I've just been doing a rewatch of the series and it's fascinating to know more about how the series was made!

[Dick Kirrin]

Thank you very much for the photographs, petermax and the others for doing a bit of Blytonian detective work. Wasn't it the boys who asked the old porter in the book/film about the railway lines? Interesting how fiction turns into reality. We may no longer be boys, but our interest in Blyton's stories shows that we are still young in some way.
I may be off-topic with the next remarks, if so just ignore them. The thing I want to comment on is Julian's and George's behaviour in this episode. No, I do not want to hand out blame to any for them, there is always more than one person to an argument... . I would like to speculate about some of the reasons that Enid had for putting it in the book.
First, the boys would still be in the tunnel, if George had been with them. By now, I do very much doubt that they'd still be alive. So the quarrel is necessary for the plot.
To make my second point, I have to go through the events in their course before interpreting them. Julian's overreaction, marvellously performed by Marcus Harris by the way, leads to George (Michelle giving as good as she gets, just a class of its own) leaving without the boys. She already is in the tunnel when the boys get caught by Andrews and his men. The men tie the three boys up and leave them helplessly. George, yes the selfsame "good old George" they turned down before, comes and rescues them. She doesn't even have any spite for the boys "tied up like Christmas Turkeys", there is no "serves you right" or anything, she just gets them out. Team feeling and affection at its best.
The way I see all this is, that it is Julian who looks like a fool and pays dearly for his misbehaviour. And I think that his self-esteem suffered a bit from it. George finds the way into the tunnel before he does, OK, she finds out by accident but all the same. She manages not to get caught and fianally she saves the day while all he can do is sit and wait to be untied. Bottom line: George is not just as "good as any boy", she is better.
About the effort the villains make with the train, the interpretations of that are quite credible I think. Why not use the old tunnels as a hiding place? Black market racketeering was very common in these years or so research tells us. If you have to hide large amounts of "hot" goods which "fell from a lorry", such a tunnel comes in handy. You can store a lot in it. There are communication lines running to and from a railway station and there must have been service and maintainance paths which a lorry could use. You'd be safe there, too, as the locals all wouldn't go near the place. They had their myths about it, all you'd have to do is to make sure that they are kept alive. Ghostly trains do a perfect job here.

[Petermax]

Thank you very much for the photographs, petermax and the others for doing a bit of Blytonian detective work.

You are welcome, nice to know that these unique photographs continue to be appreciated. Your comments about the many aspects of Julian and George's behaviour in Five Go Off To Camp are actually very on topic and interesting, certainly not off topic as you suggest. This was probably one of the strongest episodes out of the whole series.

[stanmuso1]

Fantastic information, thank you all..