bob-97

I love this film! Major studio productions of the lives of Christians are often inaccurate and painful to watch. This isn't.

Wesley is not most famous simply for founding Methodism - rather, his claim to fame is as a powerful revivalist and evangelist. Like Whitefield, Finney, Moody and the like he was greatly used by God to bring challenge, salvation and blessing to thousands of lost souls.

The scriptwriter Lawrence Barrett had an invaluable source for his material - Wesley's own published journal. Many Christian viewers will recognise the scenes in the film - using word-for-word reproductions from Wesley's own recollections.

I was moved to tears during two of the scenes depicted - one when Wesley was a member of a congregation in a chapel and a later one involving the resolution of an earlier issue concerning a highwayman. In contrast there was a hilarious scene involving the reaction of some church members to one of his sermons (the reference "riff-raff" may identify this for you if you've seen the picture!).

If you are a Bible-believing Christian I would heartily recommend this film to you, and I thank God for those responsible for its production for not compromising or watering down the gospel.

I have only seen this series once - for 15 (I think) consecutive Saturday mornings in an English cinema back in the 1950s.

I absolutely loved it!!

The cliffhanging endings fired my imagination. One that particularly impressed me was the one in which Captain Africa was lying senseless under a descending portcullis which was threatening to impale him. I could hardly bear to wait the seven days until the next episode to see whether (or rather, how) he would escape from that one!!

I also developed a great longing to own a pith helmet - an ambition sadly unfulfilled to this day!

At the time I was not aware that this serial took footage from other, more illustrious, features (as a reviewer here suggests). But from my childish perspective it was a terrific series and thoroughly entertaining. I would love to see it again.

Best wishes to John Hart (still with us in 2003) and any other survivors of the series.

bob

The other day I was considering the question "What was the best "soap" ever?" This relatively little-known Aussie series must rank highly on my personal list of favourites and probably (just) comes out top. The reason lies mainly with the ability of the series to come up with one cliff-hanging episode after another, and for such a long period. (Dallas, at it's best, also had this quality). The effect of this in my case was to cause me to think about the programme between episodes and to look forward with eager anticipation to the next. The plots and twists have sometimes been described as "unbelievable", but then, why should entertainment be believable? Charles Dickens, for example, had deliciously unbelievable coincidences in his novels to entertain and thrill his readers. "Sons and Daughters" was full of these moments and one moment in particular - a scene in a prison cell - included THE most shocking, unexpected and thrilling twist I've ever seen in any film or TV programme ever. Fantastic!!!

bob