Review: Children’s Film Foundation Bumper Box Vol. 5
After reviewing Volume 4 of these great collections, it was lovely to get another nostalgia hit as I dived into 9 more cinematic outputs from the Children’s Film Foundation.
The Films:
- The Secret Tunnel (1947)
- Circus Friends (1956)
- The Piper’s Tune (1962)
- The Rescue Squad (1963)
- Daylight Robbery (1964)
- All at Sea (1969)
- The Hostages (1975)
- Robin Hood Junior (1975)
- The Boy Who Never Was (1980)
Once again this collection is filled with family friendly escapist fun, while also showing how language, fashion and filmmaking has evolved from the 1940’s through to the beginning of the 1980s.
Much like in the previous collection, plenty of well known names of the time are scattered across the stories, including Carol White, Peter Butterworth, Robin Askwith and Keith Chegwin…how many of those names you recognise is probably a good indicator of how old you are!
Age is no barrier to enjoying these short adventure tales though, each filled with kids enjoying the company of their friends and the outdoor life…no staring into screens or taking selfies of their exploits here!
Accompanied by five short films from the Children’s Film Foundation collection, a new 16 minute documentary and a fully illustrated booklet, this collection is another welcome addition to the BFI’s CFF output so far.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Five short films from the Children’s Film Foundation collection – Bouncer Breaks Up (1953, 9 mins), A Good Pull-Up (1953, 17 mins), The Chiffy Kids (1976, 17 mins), The Magnificent 6 and ½ (1976, 16 mins), Our Magazine No 11 (1955, 10 mins)
- Danger at the CFF (2023, 16 mins) : a new documentary by filmmaker and CFF aficionado Jason Gurr as he revisits some of the stunts that featured in the films and how child actors wouldn’t be expected to do such things now!
- Fully illustrated booklet featuring new writing by CFF expert Vic Pratt and a CFF quiz by the BFI’s Trevona Thomson
Review by Dave from discs kindly supplied by the BFI.