First of all sorry there's no poster for this film, or video box or anything! We taped it off the tv a few weeks ago and got round to watching it today. We also finally watched Schindler's List today, I've decided to focus on this one because it's one I'd actually like to see again!Yeah, Schindler was very good and all, and I've glad I've finally seen it, but which one of these films am I going to try and remember? Yes, The Admirable Crichton one of my dad's favourite films. Set in 1905 a wealthy Lord and his three daughters, along with two young suitors, a lady's maid and a butler are all shipwrecked on a desert island, it soon becomes clear that the only person able to take care of themselves- or indeed anyone else- is Cricthon, the butler. Two years pass and Crichton is governor of the island with the others working happily to keep them all going under his rule.
Written by J.M. Barrie of Peter Pan fame I thought the film (originally a play) was charming, amusing and clever -and not short of saucy fun. My dad said he liked it as a child because he always had a thing for shipwreck adventures. I've seen Swiss Family Robinson (1960) too many times as it was one of my mum's favourite childhood films, but it is boring and the family are awful! The family in Crichton were amusing caricatures and the supporting characters (the two witless suitors and the cock-er-ny maid Eliza) were hilarious too. All the best elements of Swiss Family Robinson are there; the impossible inventions and the magnificent huts made from island detritus are a million times better than in the Disney film. It made me want to be stuck on a desert island with Crichton! And obviously I, like the other four girls, would be completely in love with him, even if he is played by creepy little Kenneth Moore! He was great and I found the ending quite sad, a comment I suppose on the way it would have been back when Barrie wrote it in the early 1900s, but as a colour film made in 1957 I was sad that Crichton resigned to marry Tweeny and Lady Mary had to marry that cretin instead of her beloved butler. Sigh!
Really funny though- I say old chap! You just tied our boat to a turtle!
It's pronounced the same as Red Dwarf's butler-droid-gone-nuts-after-being-stranded-on-a-planet-for-centuries; Kryten.
ReplyDeleteNow I finally get the reference! But this doesn't mean I'm looking forward to new Red Dwarf episodes, they should have stopped after series six damn it!!
"They've got less meat on them than a chicken mcnugget!!"