On holiday with their mother in the Lake District in 1929 four children are allowed to sail over to the nearby island in their boat Swallow and set up camp for a few days. They soon realise...
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Title: Swallows and Amazons (1974)
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Cast
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Virginia McKenna | ... | Mother - Mrs. Walker | |
| Ronald Fraser | ... | Uncle Jim | |
 |
Simon West | ... | John Walker - Swallow |
| Sophie Neville | ... | Titty Walker - Swallow | |
| Suzanna Hamilton | ... | Susan Walker - Swallow (as Zanna Hamilton) | |
|
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Stephen Grendon | ... | Roger Walker - Swallow |
|
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Kit Seymour | ... | Nancy Blackett - Amazon |
|
|
Lesley Bennett | ... | Peggy Blackett - Amazon |
| Brenda Bruce | ... | Mrs. Dixon | |
| Mike Pratt | ... | Mr. Dixon | |
| John Franklyn-Robbins | ... | Young Billy | |
|
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Jack Woolgar | ... | Old Billy |
|
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David Blagden | ... | Policeman |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Add Synopsis
Storyline
On holiday with their mother in the Lake District in 1929 four children are allowed to sail over to the nearby island in their boat Swallow and set up camp for a few days. They soon realise this has been the territory of two other girls who sail the Amazon, and the scene is set for serious rivalry. Written by J-26
Taglines:
Arthur Ransome's Immortal StoryParents Guide:
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Details
Country:
UKLanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
May 1977 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons See more »Company Credits
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IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
Color (Eastmancolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Second of three filmed versions of "Swallows And Amazons" after the made-for television black-and-white six episode television series Swallows and Amazons (1963) which had been made and first broadcast about eleven years earlier. The third version, Swallows and Amazons (2016), was made and first released about forty-two years after this 1974 motion picture. See more »Goofs
When the children are fishing from the boat the fish that John catches is very clearly already dead when he catches it. See more »Frequently Asked Questions
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I read all the Arthur Ransome books as a child, and re-read them recently as an adult, but until today had not seen this film.
It's well filmed, with only minor plot adaptations (although large chunks are missed out), and the scenery and period details are especially well done. The boats look good!
The chunks missed out from the original story do give the film a slightly "chopped" feeling - it's difficult sometimes to work out how the characters got where they are.
The acting lets the film down a bit, I think. The best of the Swallows is Titty by quite a long way - Susan is OK, but nothing special, and the boys are both awful - the worst kind of declamatory child acting. The Amazons are pretty good, but as they feature less in the book the bad acting of John and Roger really does spoil the film a bit. Odd that of these actors, John seems to have gone on to have the best career!
The thing which the film lacks most, perhaps inevitably, is the narrative. Watching the film made me realize just how the skillful prose of the books draws you into another world - something the film doesn't quite manage.