The Darwin Adventure (1971-1972) is a subtle but very adventurous adventure film from the early-'70s which were pioneering years. The compelling visions conjured by Denys Coop's camera are both pastoral and organic. US director Jack Couffer photographed and compiled 60000 feet of nature scenes filmed in such diverse and scattered locations as Spain, the Amazon Delta, Tierra Del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, Kenya (Lake Baringo), the Galapagos Islands, Barro Colorado Island in Panama and the Monkey Jungle in Florida showing startling purpose, while filming also took place in the summer and autumn of 1971 at Colchester and Harefield House, Denham, London. The variety of wildlife includes orangutans, gorillas, marine and land iguanas, a critical mass of flying birds (gannets?), bull sealions, army ants, vampire bats and jesus lizards etc. The natural wonders relating to the Latin American geographical locations are depicted by images of the granite-like promontories of the Andes mountain range and the verdant tropical Brazilian rainforest. Anthropological scenes include the scene where Darwin observes vampire buts sucking on the blood of cattle and a petrified forest in Latin America; Darwin observing finches on the Galapagos Islands and aggressive bull sealions at the Falkland Islands. Darwin is played by young handsome English actor, Nicholas Clay who sports wavy chestnut hair and Regency-Era costume at the time of the voyage and he shows both subtlety and flair. Captain Fitzroy is played by Ian Richardson while the dapper silver haired mutton-chop sporting Carl Bernard plays Moreno the Governor of the Galapagos Islands and Tony Robinson plays a man in the crowd at the meeting of the British Association held at Oxford in 1860. Other memorable scenes include time-lapse images of what look like budding Scottish thistles and fox-gloves (?). The Observer's Philip French described this movie as being 'simple but ambitious and breathtaking' back in 2009 and I think that it was last aired on B.B.C. 2 back in October 1982 and more recently in the US. Especially worth mentioning is the documentary series The Voyage of Charles Darwin (1978) starring the graceful and slightly Chaucerian English actor Malcolm Stoddard.
