Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Discuss the television and film adaptations of Enid Blyton's stories.
Tony Summerfield
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Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I was phoned by a journalist from the Guardian yesterday and asked to comment on something I knew absolutely nothing about. I told her I couldn't really comment on this for that reason. Nevertheless from our subsequent casual conversation she succeeded in producing a number of quotes from me!

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/j ... -adventure" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There has been no official press release about this at all, but I am sure we will learn more when one is issued and hopefully that will do something to stop any speculation. I was amazed that an article appearing in today's Guardian has already had over 90 comments in a few hours - it makes our forums look almost dead by comparison! :roll:

For those who are interested there are a number of other reports on the internet about it. One more below.

http://www.deadline.com/2014/07/working ... franchise/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Moonraker
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Moonraker »

Interesting comment about the boat and it's oar. As said, it would just go round in circles. Where's the other oar gone?

A good article and some good comment from you, Tony. :D
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Soenke Rahn »

Ohhh, journalism .....The last things I have heard was round about the dansk idea of a film. The last English idea was the time machine idea with George, of Kindle entertainment. In Germany film number 4 is in production, but I must say that I have not seen number 3 ... Number one was really good. :-)
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Moonraker »

NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor wrote:The books all take place during summer vacations when the friends return from boarding school and get mixed up in an adventure.

Really? :roll:
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Daisy »

She sure hasn't read them all!
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Francis »

Interesting to see what arises from this - we can only hope any film shows sufficient respect to Enid's work.
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Moonraker wrote:Interesting comment about the boat and it's oar.
"Its" doesn't have an apostrophe in its possessive form, old thing! :twisted: :wink:

Interesting news about the film - though I'd prefer to see something based on another Blyton series or on some of the stand-alone novels, as the Famous Five books have already been adapted a number of times.
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Courtenay »

Good point, Anita... has anyone ever tried a film/TV version of the Find-Outers, for instance, or the Adventure series, or the Barney series? Any of those could be heaps of fun if sensitively adapted for the screen.
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

There have been TV adaptations of the Adventure series (two titles in Britain in the 80s/90s and all eight in New Zealand in the 90s) and there was a long-running Japanese TV series of the Find-Outers in the 60s-70s. The five Secret books were also adapted for TV in New Zealand in the 90s.
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by walter raleigh »

A big budget film certainly has a lot of potential if they don't change things too much. They might be able to do things that the TV series' couldn't, like find a dog that actually looks like Timmy! Although I'd much rather see a big screen version of the 'Adventure' books.How good would a CGI Kiki be! I was also quite suprised how positive most of the comments on the Grauniad article were.
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by pete9012S »

It would work if they hired a consultant from somewhere like say The Enid Blyton society and kept it true to the true spirit of the book.
Being realistic,I'm trying to think of how many of my favourite books made into films have been enjoyable...can you think of any???? :|
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I've enjoyed quite a lot of films based on books, though I view them merely as interpretations of a story and not as "the real thing". "The real thing" is the film that plays in my mind as I read the book, brought into being by the author's words. However good the casting, locations, script and period detail might be in a Famous Five film, there will always be elements that will grate. In our imaginations we have things arranged in a particular way - and one person's vision of the bay, village and island at Kirrin (for instance) will differ from another's. The same goes for characters - readers picture them very differently. I've watched some films based on much-loved books with enjoyment, interest and curiosity - but nearly always with a certain degree of detachment. The reason is that they can never match, in every detail, the world that the author conjured up in my mind.
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Zar Quon »

"spanning more than 20 books"

There's 21 of 'em. Just say 21 you twit!
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Poppy »

I am quite excited about this, but as others have said, it would have been more interesting still if it had been a different series that was being interpreted into a production, as there has been several Television series made of the FF. But as the Famous Five is perhaps Enid's most popular series, it is probably a wise move and it will be interesting to see how the film company tackle making the film appealing to today's generation. I do really hope the era in which Blyton wrote the books, is preserved. And yes - I wonder which book it will be based on....?

I have enjoyed many films made out of books - the Harry Potter films for example. I wasn't so keen on the books but the films are excellent. Also I have recently enjoyed the films of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility (both Jane Austen books) and though I must admit the books were better, the films were also absolutely wonderful. I think this was because the script was so similar to the text.
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Re: Guardian Article on Famous Five film

Post by Moonraker »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:
Moonraker wrote:Interesting comment about the boat and it's oar.
"Its" doesn't have an apostrophe in its possessive form, old thing! :twisted: :wink:
Blimey - Poppy could have got her own back with that one. :oops: At least Domino didn't comment! I note you escaped controversy by saying just 'form'!
waletr raleigh wrote:I was also quite suprised how positive most of the comments on the Grauniad article were
Yes, I was also surprised. Quite encouraging, really. :D
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