The Blue Peter

I last saw this film in the 1970s and on the copy I saw recently the colour has deteriorated quite a lot since then. Back then I saw it just before I went exploring the Welsh countryside for several weeks myself and was pleased to find the reality just as rich and lovely as it was in the film and putting the story to one side, there was something about how the film captured the quiet but dramatic atmosphere of this part of Wales that wasn't artifice. That factor is much less obvious watching the film today, where it tends to look a lot more artificial (it is at one point in the film for obvious reasons!), and with the Welsh road network vastly improved since then, Aberdovey is no longer the back of beyond that it it felt back then. Kieron Moore makes a convincing Naval Officer and though that part of the backstory is a little thin, his efforts to get to grips with a random group of youths is (from my own personal experience) much more true to life than many other films of this ilk. In School kids can be a nightmare, but take a small group and stick them in a strange environment and it rarely turns out like Lord of the Flies.

Kieron Moore, a reluctant hero, comes to the Outward Bound Sea School in Wales - a real institute - to teach sailing to the pupils. He doesn't feel up to the tasks, unsure of what, if anything, they're supposed to learn from him. Can he find a purpose and love with Sarah Lawson?

It's an interesting drama of people finding out who and what they are, not only youngsters but adult. Shot in Eastmancolor, the copy I saw showed the usual unfortunate color degradation that the chemical processes do; water is sometimes blue, sometimes green, and sometimes a dark mustard yellow. The performances are good, and the story, although in many ways standard, is bolstered by a heroic score by Antony Hopkins.

Kieran Moore plays a naval officer who has been released from captivity in Korea having suffered brainwashing.It is felt that he would benefit from being in charge of youths in an Outward Bound training camp on the Welsh coast.Much of the film in so far as it relates to Moore and his charges is predictable.It is rather difficult to take some of it too seriously when you realise that Fowler was 29 and Newley 24 when the film was made.Strange how the British cinema often asked actors in their twenties to try and play 10 years their junior.However that aside it is a reasonable film with some good exterior shots in a rather strange looking Eastman Colour.This was one of the last efforts of the ill fated Group 3 production company.

Kieron Moore plays Mike Merriworth. He's just returned to Britain from a North Korean prisoner of war camp*. It seems he was one of the first men captured in this war and he was captured because he'd gone back to help make sure others didn't get left behind in the evacuation. So, in essence, he's a hero. But he doesn't feel like one and hates all the press attention he's receiving. This is because he was tortured and brainwashed while in captivity and clearly is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

As a result of Merriworth not fitting in and being a grouchy anti-social sort, instead of being sent back to duty in the Merchant Marines, he's instead transferred to a be an instructor at the Outward Bound Sea School at Aberdovey, Wales. If you care, this town in in Central Wales on the coast...and it's apparently still there.

The main theme of the film seems to be 'damaged goods'. Clearly, Merriworth is damaged psychologically. He never smiles, is curt and unpleasant as well. In addition to his baggage, a few of the students under his command are also suffering from a variety of traumas...such as the son of a dead test pilot as well as a couple juvenile delinquents who were likely sent to the school in lieu of reform school.

So is it any good? Generally, yes...and quite interesting. What I did not love were a few of the characters who seemed more like formulaic characters than real teens--such as the fat kid named 'Tubby', the kid with a crippling fear of heights, and the tough kid (Anthony Newley). Still, I could look past this and you should be able to as well. Very unusual and worth your time.



*Despite most movies and TV shows talking about Americans in the Korean War, many other United Nations troops were involved as well. So having a British prisoner of war was clearly possible...along with having Greek, Aussie and many other soldiers and sailors as prisoners.