A few photos of Blytonites in the cafe:
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*SPOILER WARNING* if you don't want to know the content of the film...
Heh - yes, the quotations highlighted by Zoe raised a lot of laughs! George's comment, "Serves him right!" was uttered when the Five discovered Wilfrid at the bottom of a well. He had fallen in and was on the verge of drowning by the time the others spotted him!
As well as looking small, Dick had a trace of a Cockney-sounding accent. I agree with whoever commented (sorry, can't remember who it was) that he seemed as if he ought to be in
Oliver Twist. George, her eyes made up quite heavily with eyeliner and mascara, appeared to have given up any ideas of wanting to look like a boy!
The opening of the film was rather odd. The children and Timmy went to Mrs. Layman's house "for tea" (Dick was already starving when they reached Mrs. Layman's and indeed talked of little but food throughout the film!) Yet when they went in Mrs. Layman handed round a tin of biscuits and told the Five they'd be staying at her house for a few days while she went to look after a relative, and then she left!
Criminals Carlo and Emilio were typical comic villains ("Boo!" *Hiss*) and I very much liked the new character that was introduced - an eccentric and spirited old man named Sir Hugo Blaize, confined to a wheelchair, who added an extra dimension to the story.
Wilfrid called up wild animals (which conveniently came one at a time!) by trilling on his pipe. In a hilarious but entertaining scene, a most obliging badger saved the day! I looked up some information on badger setts and apparently the tunnels are typically about 25-30 centimetres in diameter, so wriggling through them (as Dick and Wilfrid did and the others intended to do) would be some feat! Still, perhaps the badger was some kind of super-badger, rather like those giant striped rabbits which apparently lived "wild" on Whispering Island!
Wilfrid also used a mouse to retrieve a key which was out of reach on the floor on the other side of a door. The boy had jiggled the key out of the lock but obviously hadn't read his Find-Outers books or he'd have slid a piece of paper under the door first!
We've picked out some of the amusing parts but it was a lovely film as far as settings and acting were concerned, nicely-paced and very enjoyable. It was good to watch it knowing that other forumites/Blyton Society members were in the audience, and great to see Norman Wright introducing it. Sue Bell (bookseller who attends the Enid Blyton Day) and her daughter were at the film, having travelled all the way from Penzance, and Imogen Smallwood and Flora Watson were there too.
There were a number of children in the audience and it was heartening to see their response to the film. About halfway through, a lady sitting behind me said to her child, "Are you okay, or is it boring?" The reply was a very enthusiastic "This is
great!" I overheard another child asking, "Is there only one part left?" (the story was split into six episodes) and, on being told there were two more parts to come, replying, "Oh, that's good."
We enjoyed our chat in the cafe afterwards and I was delighted to meet William Ferguson, who wrote an article for
Journal 39 about using Enid Blyton in the classroom while teaching children in Tajikistan. He said he has used Blyton with children in several different countries and that her books are popular in Serbia.
I got out my Journals this morning as I knew a few of them contained references to the film.
Journal 14 contains an article by Darryl Read who played Dick,
Journal 15 contains a write-up (by Charles Brand) of the 2001 Enid Blyton Day at which Darryl Read and David Palmer (Julian) gave a talk, and
Journal 16 has a picture of a Christmas card sent out by the Children's Film Foundation in 1963, featuring the cast of
Five Have a Mystery to Solve.
Anita
The definitive '78 series nut.
George had pretty definitly outgrown the time when she could pretend to be a boy but otherwise Amanda Coxell played the part well. And Paula Boyd actually rivalled Jennifer Thanisch for the role of Anne. She was wonderful, especially when she turned into a tiger and soaked Wilfrid with a bucket of water. The character of Julian was a bit understated in the film, most of the childrens scenes were dominated by the others, Wilfrid especially became the star of the show. All the best lines appear to have been given to the others. Perhaps the director wasn't a fan of Bossy Julian.
