The Darwin Adventure (1972)

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Director:

Jack Couffer

Writers:

Jack Couffer (story), Max Bella (story)

Stars:

Nicholas Clay, Susan Macready, Ian Richardson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicholas Clay	...	Charles Darwin
Susan Macready	...	Emma Wedgewood Darwin
Ian Richardson	...	Capt. Fitzroy
Christopher Martin	...	Sullivan
Robert Flemyng	...	Prof. Henslow
Philip Brack	...	Thomas Huxley
Michael Malnick	...	Hooker
Aubrey Woods	...	Bishop Wilberforce
David Davenport	...	Robert Darwin
Hugh Morton	...	Josiah Wedgewood
Carl Bernard	...	Moreno
Richard Ireson	...	Wickam
Luke Batchelor	...	Darwin's child
Rachel Brennock	...	Darwin's child
Denise Gyngell	...	Darwin's child

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

science | religion | religion versus science | charles darwin | character name in title | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 1974 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

A Aventura de Darwin

Filming Locations:

Falkland Islands

Company Credits

Production Co:

Brightwater Film Production,Palomar Pictures (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

An original and entertaining adventure film from the early-'70s

An adventure film and biographical study from 1972 vis a vis the young Charles Darwin's ventures in Latin America and the Galapagos that is organic, idiosyncratic and purposeful. Darwin's objective curiosity and enthusiasm about the natural world which led to "Tte Origin of Species" and "The Descent of Man" is revealed by the flair of young, handsome English actor Nicholas Clay: in appearance he is reminiscent of a flamboyant Jane Austen figure - he wears Regency costume and has medium-length wavy chestnut hair. Ian Richardson's Captain Fitzroy - a moral Christian, counterpoints Darwin's new principles and theories about evolution. The film ends with Huxley's successful defence of Darwin's principles before the British Association.

American director, Jack Couffer photographed and compiled 60000 feet of material illustrating wild life as Darwin described it in "The Voyage of the Beagle", according to Rod Cooper in Kinematograph Weekly (July 1971.)Vis a vis Derek Malcolm's review in The Guardian, in August 1971, Couffer and producer Joseph Strick (producer of The Savage Eye, Tropic of Cancer and Ulysses) were interested in ecology in general. The film features a vivid and exotic range of images from tropical butterflies to iguanas on the Galapagos Islands. One scene features finches on the Galapagos using cactus spines with their beaks to poke holes in tree branches to capture grubs. Another striking scene features Jesus lizards running on the surface of a pool in the Amazon rain forest.

The film was made in and around the Harefield Grove Estate, near Denham and Colchester, where the maritime scenes on the Beagle were filmed. Especially worth mentioning is the BBC2 land-mark documentary-series from 1978 - The Voyage of Charles Darwin, starring the Chaucerian Malcolm Stoddard as Darwin and Andrew Burt as Captain Fitzroy.