Lord of the Flies (1963)

Director:

Peter Brook

Writer:

William Golding (novel)
(more)

Release Date:

13 August 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Evil is inherent in the human mind, whatever innocence may cloak it...

Plot:

Shipwrecked on an island, the castaway boys eventually revert to savagery despite the few rational kids' attempts to prevent that.

Plot Keywords:

Boy | Island | Plane | Hunting | Fire

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

James Aubrey	...	Ralph
Tom Chapin	...	Jack
Hugh Edwards	...	Piggy
Roger Elwin	...	Roger
Tom Gaman	...	Simon
Roger Allan	...	Piers
David Brunjes	...	Donald
Peter Davy	...	Peter
Kent Fletcher	...	Percival Wemys Madison
Nicholas Hammond	...	Robert
Christopher Harris	...	Bill
Alan Heaps	...	Neville
Jonathan Heaps	...	Howard
Burnes Hollyman	...	Douglas
Andrew Horne	...	Matthew
Richard Horne	...	Lance
Timothy Horne	...	Leslie
Peter Ksiezopolski	...	Francis
Anthony McCall-Judson	...	Morris
Malcolm Rodker	...	Harold
David St. Clair	...	George
Rene Sanfiorenzo Jr.	...	Charles
Jeremy Scuse	...	Rowland
John Stableford	...	Digby
David Surtees	...	Sam, twin (as The Surtees Twins)
Simon Surtees	...	Eric - twin (as The Surtees Twins)
Nicholas Valkenburg	...	Rupert
Patrick Valkenburg	...	Robin
Edward Valencia	...	Frederick
John Walsh	...	Michael
David Walsh	...	Percy
Jeremy Willis	...	Henry

Directed by
Peter Brook

Writing credits
William Golding		(novel)
Peter Brook		(writer) uncredited

Produced by
Lewis M. Allen	....	producer (as Lewis Allen)
Gerald Feil	....	associate producer
Al Hine	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Raymond Leppard

Cinematography by
Tom Hollyman		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Peter Brook
Gerald Feil
Jean-Claude Lubtchansky

Casting by
Terry Fay
Michael McDonald		(as Michael MacDonald)

Makeup Department
Lydia Rodriguez	....	makeup supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Toby Robertson	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Leslie Colombani	....	sound assistant
Carter Harman	....	sound recordist
James Townsend	....	sound supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
George Berrios	....	first camera assistant
Leslie Colombani	....	lighting assistant
Gerald Feil	....	photographer
Tom Hollyman	....	photographer
Miguel Nazario	....	second camera assistant
John Walsh	....	clapper boy

Casting Department
Barbara Hodgdon	....	casting assistant: Washington
Jean Hollyman	....	casting assistant
Dolores Keator	....	casting assistant: Jamaica
Stella Maude	....	casting assistant: London
Fiona St. Clair	....	casting assistant: Puerto Rico (as Fiona St Clair)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Susan Fletcher	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Nell Cox	....	assistant editor
Liliane Korb	....	assistant editor
Solange Lubtchansky	....	assistant editor
Stella Maude	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Raymond Leppard	....	conductor (uncredited)

Other crew
Lewis M. Allen	....	presenter (as Lewis Allen)
Phil Crawshaw	....	general assistant
Dana Hodgdon	....	presenter
Sesyle Joslin	....	general assistant
David Korda	....	general assistant
Stella Maude	....	script supervisor
Sheila More	....	title designer
Guy Neale	....	title designer
Digby Turpin	....	title designer
Edwin Wilson	....	assistant to producer
Elinor Wright	....	assistant to producer
M.J. Bogdanowicz	....	technical consultant (uncredited)
Cynthia Keith	....	registered nurse (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Two Arts Ltd.

Distributors

• British Lion Film Corporation (1963) (UK) (theatrical)
• Continental Distributing (1963) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (1990) (UK) (VHS)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Lumiere Pictures (1996) (UK) (VHS)
• Public Media (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1976) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)
• Concorde Home Entertainment (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2013) (USA) (DVD)
• Diamond Entertainment Group (DEG) (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Future Film (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• King of Video (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)

Other Companies

• Nagra/Kudelski Sound Recorders  the producers gratefully acknowledge
• Volkswagen of Puerto Rico  the producers gratefully acknowledge

Also Known As:

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:AA (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Iceland:12 | Finland:K-11 | Australia:PG | USA:TV-14 (TV rating) | UK:PG (tv rating) | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

El Yunque, Puerto Rico

Company:

Two Arts Ltd.

Trivia:

In 1996, 35 years after the film was made, the BBC created a documentary about the making of the film called "Time Flies", which reunited the main cast and crew on the beaches of the Caribbean where it was filmed; an article written by one of the actors, Tom Gaman, mentioned that of the boys, only the one who played Ralph (James Aubrey), pursued an acting career. Others went on to have very different ones: Gaman became a freelance forester in Inverness, California; Hugh Edwards (Piggy) became an engineer for a Russian firm; Tom Chapin became a gold mine geologist in Nevada and the twins David Surtees and Simon Surtees (Samaneric) remained together, living with their families in the UK and working as a guidance counselor and political administrator respectively. (NOTE: Contrary to Mr. Gaman's article, another of the boys besides James Aubrey, Nicholas Hammond, who played Robert, had a quite extensive film AND TV career, playing, among other roles, one of the children in The Sound of Music (1965) and the title role in TV's "The Amazing Spider-Man" (1977).)

Goofs:

Factual errors: As Piggy is near-sighted, his spectacles could not be used as a "magnifying glass" to light a bonfire: lenses for near-sightedness would scatter, not focus, the sun's rays. (This error occurs in the original novel and was perpetuated in the 1990 remake of the film.)

Quotes:

Ralph:That was murder.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

A MASTERPIECE.

This is one of those rarest of rare birds: a film that is totally faithful to the novel upon which it is based.

During his lifetime, William Golding was ever protective of his greatest creation. When it came to making a film of 'Lord of the Flies' some of the greatest screen writers and playwrights of the day had a go at producing a script for it - all of them being turned down by Golding himself. Finally, it was decided to attempt the film as a sort of Drama Workshop. Thus it was that 30+ boys, plus director Peter Brook, a film crew and the regulation chaperones found themselves living in a bunk house, which had been an old canning factory, on the island of Vieques off Puerto Rico, with little more than copies of the novel and an outline of the idea and the limitation of the school holidays in which to make the film.

The result defies belief. This is a masterpiece of Youth Drama, years ahead of its time. Even today, 40 years on, it is still staggering in its truth and clarity. The powerful imagery, chilling in its simplicity, far transcends anything which could be achieved with present day digital trickery. Not for this film the obvious blood and guts of action horror; here we have the most unspeakable acts made far more terrifying by their very understatement. (Simon's death must be one of the foulest acts ever filmed - but then, in reality, it was not - it is all in the imagination of the viewer and becomes far more terrible than any actual depiction of the act of ritualistic murder could ever be!).

When the great day of reckoning comes, this film will stand head and shoulders above all other film adaptations of novels.