Which FF books would be the most suitable for a film?

[tiger76]

We all know that Treasure Island, and Mystery To Solve have been given the full length treatment.

My 2 choices that would adapt well to a longer viewing are.

Five Go To Smuggler's Top.

Five Go To Mystery Moor.

Both those are very atmospheric Blyton books, and in my opinion would make ideal movies,

Anyone agree or disagree.

[Wolfgang]

We all know that Treasure Island, and Mystery To Solve have been given the full length treatment.

There are also full length films of "Five go adventuring again" and "Five get into trouble", and "Five on a hike together" was filmed by a group of French enthusiasts.

[timv]

Smugglers Top and Mystery Moor, definitely - both are very atmospheric and the landscape and weather are part of the story. They could also be filmed in appropriate locations, eg Smugglers Top in an East Sussex coastal town/village looking out over a marsh - I'm thinking of Rye or Winchelsea here, and know exactly where I'd film the shots - and Mystery Moor on Exmoor . In terms of recreating the original story at the original site, Mystery To Solve could be done on Brownsea Island and the Studland golf course - again, I've had ideas for years on where exactly to do this. (There has been occasional filming allowed by the National Trust authorities on Brownsea, so it is not entirely off limits - Autumnwatch on BBC One was based there in 2008.)

As for other atmospheric books that could be drawn out plot-wise into a full length film (90 mins?), the best are probably Get Into Trouble with the eerie and menacing Owls Dene on its hill with its mysterious inhabitants - the psychotic Rooky would make a great villain for a thriller - and Fall Into Adventure with the mystery burglar at Kirrin Cottage, Jo and her abusive father, the kidnapping, and Red Tower (another psycho with a hot temper) and his isolated clifftop home. if you could overcome the damage done to media investors' and critics' image of Blyton books as 'over the top 1950s posh kids' adventures with cardboard cut-out villains' by the Comic Strip version of events in 1982, then you could quite plausibly create some realistic 'period piece' thrillers out of these Five stories, subject to modern Health and Safety quibbles. Wonderful Time with the castle mystery and Kirrin Island Again with the spies and the explosion threat would also work. Possibly the least likely would be Run Away Together (quibbles over Enid stereotyping the working class Sticks?) and Plenty of Fun and Billycock Hill (weak or semi-repeated plots?).

Or perhaps it's time to do another Adventure series , this time leaving Island out so as not to get into trouble over Jo-Jo and to turn to Valley (Nazis are always good for box-offices and are all over US TV film clips nostalgia series) and Sea (plenty of Nature and the gun-runners).All we need is a rich investor with plenty of money and enthusiasm left after Covid - any Russian oligarchs brought up on Blyton???

[Katharine]

I'd love to see Five on a Hike[ Together/u] and Five Go Off to Camp film.

The former because it is set in autumn, and I think it would be lovely to film it with all the colourful leaves. It's also one of my favourite books and if done well, the silent lake and the barn scenes could be very atmospheric.

As for 'camp' well anything that features a steam train is a winner in my book.

I agree that The Valley of Adventure would also be a good book to turn into a film - again a chance to use some great scenery.

My other favourite book to turn into a film would be The Secret Island, although that would be more along the lines of a 'Swallows and Amazons' book in that there's not a lot of action, more a gentle story of every day life. I'm not sure it would appeal to a modern audience.

[Courtenay]

My other favourite book to turn into a film would be The Secret Island, although that would be more along the lines of a 'Swallows and Amazons' book in that there's not a lot of action, more a gentle story of every day life. I'm not sure it would appeal to a modern audience.

They'd have to add in some Nazis like the recent remake of Swallows and Amazons did, to make it more exciting.

As for FF books, I totally agree about Smuggler's Top and Go Off to Camp — plenty of atmosphere and mysteriousness and creepiness that could easily be sustained for a full-length film.

[Katharine]

My other favourite book to turn into a film would be The Secret Island, although that would be more along the lines of a 'Swallows and Amazons' book in that there's not a lot of action, more a gentle story of every day life. I'm not sure it would appeal to a modern audience.

They'd have to add in some Nazis like the recent remake of Swallows and Amazons did, to make it more exciting.

I didn't bother to watch the remake as I'd heard how the original had been altered so much.

That would be my fear if a film was made of something like The Secret Island.

[number 6]

I do like the idea of Smugglers Top and Mystery Moor being adapted to film, but I'd also like to see Five have a Mystery to Solve up there, too. I know many think it's one of Enids weaker stories, but I think the plot would work quite well on the big screen. It's got potential...the Mysterious Whispering island with its ghostly statues, guards on patrol, the Five losing their boat and being trapped on the island, a discovery of a secret room that's reached by climbing down a well and evading the baddies, etc, etc. I like the story and its Dorset setting, but maybe I'm being a bit biased!

[Anne Gracie]

I agree with ‘camp’ and ‘mystery moor’ also, for reasons mentioned above. I would also like to see Demon’s Rocks. The visuals, plus the storyline is ideal for film-length suspense story material!

[Lucky Star]

The Secret of Kilimooin would be excellent as well. Lots of action., lots of opportunity for sweeping awe inspiring mountain scenery and a great plot. Other than that several of the FFO books would be perfect if done in the style of BBC period dramas.

[pete9012S]

Great thread!

Just letting my mind go loose and not overthinking it, I think Fix, Hike and Fall Into Adventure have the potential to be great films.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'd like to see the following Famous Five titles made into films:

Five Go to Smuggler's Top (rich in atmosphere and tension with the spooky old house, menacing characters and misty marshes)

Five Go Off in a Caravan (dreamy and thrilling with jolly-looking caravans, idyllic countryside, circus characters, a chimpanzee and truly evil villains)

Five Fall Into Adventure (The scenes along the coast and in the woods would look glorious on film, Ragamuffin Jo is a sparky character and the plot is full of danger and intrigue, with scary baddies).

I agree with others that a film of The Valley of Adventure would be wonderful.

[Wolfgang]

Do I take it correctly that people are not happy with the Cloud 9 version of "The valley of adventure"?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I don't know about others, but what I long for is a high-budget period film of The Valley of Adventure with the right kinds of planes, a valley and caves that tick all the boxes (dreamy, remote, wondrous but a little mournful - preferably in Austria or somewhere with similar scenery), characters who look and talk like the ones described in the book, apt theme music, plenty of excitement and danger but also slower scenes which let us linger and enjoy the wistful beauty of the valley, the closeness of the children, the poignant story of Elsa and her husband, the treasures in the caves and the characters' emotions as they live through such a strange, surreal experience. I'm after a truly unforgettable piece of cinema that will move, thrill and stun us the way the book does.

[timv]

If high-budget films of Blyton books were possible, then I would suggest doing The Secret of Killimooin in Rumania, with the appropriate scenery (and pre-modernised countryside) more available in Eastern Europe. (The name of Prince Paul's bodyguard Pilescu is genuine Rumanian, suggesting that Enid had been trawling through Eastern European names in magazines for inspiration unless she just vaguely remembered hearing of someone with that name and thinking it sounded exotic.) The Carpathians - also available to film in if a team went to Poland or Slovakia - would be ideal as the mountains, and the 'fairy-style royal palace' with its Brothers Grimm stories-style turrets seen in the original edition illustrations could be filmed at the genuine C19th 'Medieval revival' Bavarian-style Castle Peles N of Bucharest, built as a holiday home by German-origin King Carol I. The 'Killimooin' location higher up in the mountains could be the restored medieval castle of Bran in the Carpathians,marketed as the original home of the 'real' Dracula ie the C15th warlord Vlad 'The Impaler'.

For the Adventure series, Circus could be filmed in Transylvania, ie western Rumania, with its genuine medieval castles - and the stand-alone bell-tower at Borken Castle, which intrigued me when I first read the book aged 8, is a genuine architectural feature found in castles there as I discovered later while working on a medieval book project. (It was intended so the priest could sound an alarm and the villagers could hide inside if Mongol raiders from the Ukraine were spotted coming; it would be built of stone and have only one door so storming it would be diffcult.) The Journal article on the failed attempts to film most of the Adventure series in the early 1990s show that Ship might have been filmed in Yugoslavia but for the 1991 civil war; it could be done on an Aegean island with temple ruins and not too much tourism, eg Delos. The two Famous Five stories that might have difficulties for an 'authentic' film would be Adventuring Again and Fix, on account of the snow - but lack of snow didn't stop the 1978 and 1995 adaptations doing an altered version.

[pete9012S]

The two Famous Five stories that might have difficulties for an 'authentic' film would be Adventuring Again and Fix, on account of the snow - but lack of snow didn't stop the 1978 and 1995 adaptations doing an altered version.

Are those two stories along with the Famous Five short story the only times The Famous Five encounter snow?

I wonder if the three stories could be adapted into one mega snow story and then filmed?
Or maybe turned into a high quality, plot faithful, mini series?