Kidnapped (1971)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Delbert Mann

Writers:

Robert Louis Stevenson (based on "Kidnapped" and "David Balfour")
Jack Pulman (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 March 1973 (Sweden)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History | Romance

Plot:

When young David Balfour arrives at his uncle's bleak Scottish house to claim his inheritance his relative...

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film | Based On Novel

Cast

Michael Caine	...	Alan Breck
Lawrence Douglas	...	David Balfour
Vivien Heilbron	...	Catriona Stewart
Trevor Howard	...	Lord Advocate
Jack Hawkins	...	Captain Hoseason
Donald Pleasence	...	Ebenezer Balfour
Gordon Jackson	...	Charles Stewart
Freddie Jones	...	Cluny
Jack Watson	...	James Stewart
Peter Jeffrey	...	Riach
Roger Booth	...	Duke of Cumberland
Geoffrey Whitehead	...	Lt. Duncansby
Andrew McCulloch	...	Andrew
Claire Nielson	...	Barbara Grant
John Hughes	...	Simon Campbell

Runtime:

USA:100 min | UK:107 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Sweden:15 | USA:G | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK

Company:

Omnibus Productions

Trivia:

A number of books on Michael Caine have alleged that cast and crew were not paid because of cash problems.

Movie Connections:

Version of Kidnapped (1995) (TV)

Soundtrack:

For All My Days

The Scottish and the "British"

May I take this opportunity to correct a misunderstanding that has arisen in connection with "Kidnapped". In doing so I shall not attempt a review of the film itself, other than to note here that it is reasonably well-made and entertaining.

Whatever the rights and wrongs (ethically speaking) of the breakup of the old clan system in the Scottish Highlands, and the claims of the Jacobite Succession, it is just plain wrong (factually speaking) to refer to the English as the "British" by contrast with the Scots. The term British refers to anyone who was a subject of the British Crown, subsequent to the Act of Union of 1707; it can refer indifferently to Scots, Welsh, English and Northern Irish, and historically (prior to Home Rule) to the Irish generally.

There may be some sentimentality on the part of American viewers who, mindful of their own War of Independence, wish to identify with others struggling against "British" rule. But the terms British and English are not, and should not be considered, interchangeable.

(There is great ignorance about this distinction in Continental Europe as well; I have had many animated discussions with German-speakers, who have failed to distinguish between "England" and "Grossbritannien", and with Francophones, who think that the whole of "Grande-Bretagne" is also "Angleterre". This may be politically comforting, but is culturally and historically WRONG!)