woolcock

I remember watching this TV Show in the 1950's in Australia during the first decade of Television in the country. Robert Shaw was a great swashbuckler leading his motley pirate crew in a new adventure each week. It was very entertaining and the theme music I remember to this day.

When I saw the whole series was available in the USA on DVD I naturally bought it. Imagine my disappointment when I found the original theme and song 'Lets go a roving ..' had been completely discarded in the program in favour of one generic theme with lots of woodwinds and percussion. I wonder why the original music could not have been retained? Perhaps there had been a problem with the original print that was now remastered for DVD. Whatever the program definitely lost something in the translation. It is great to be able to watch the show again after many decades but my memory feels betrayed by the substitution of the program's theme music.

This is a comment on the series of 'Cold Case' not an individual episode. Each week I am impressed by the way another period of time is reproduced as the setting of the crime - the cars, buildings, rooms furniture etc. The actors dress and hair do are always just so right for the times. It also amazes me how well the younger actors are matched up with older ones to show the passage of,in some cases many many years. I remember I thought this show would deal with unsolved cases just a few years old but some have been as far back as the 1940's and earlier . As a crime show this one stands out because of its unusual approach, extremely high production values and of course its excellent cast of actors who present their characters so believably. The background music complements the time of the case that is being investigated, so well. We hear songs that were played in the year that the crime story takes place. The script writers should take a bow as each week there is a totally new story, another cold case to create for our detectives to solve. The quality of the stories has been maintained - in fact I believe it has become stronger as a little more is revealed about our main characters' backgrounds. It is a show I look forward to watching each week. I was sorry this Monday night was the last of the current series.

What great atmosphere - the characters live in fear of the creatures in the forest that surrounds the village - a fear that we, the audience felt too. The young people in this Village know only this life that the elders have created for them - just as each of us is brought up in the world our parents have created. However ultimately we have access to a greater world outside our villages and towns - the people in the Village do not. The fear of what lies beyond the marked village boundaries creates the basis of the film. Boundaries marked by yellow banners, paint and towers. At times the wooden observation towers reminded me of prison sentry boxes. Mr Shyamlayan has created a memorable film building a plot based firmly in our own fairy tales - with elements of deep, dark forests and the unknown creatures who live there. Didn't Little Red Riding Hood wear the 'bad colour'? The tension in the Village builds as it seems creatures from the forest are invading. Finally help is needed from outside the Village. The cast did an excellent job - the elders all knowing and wise, the young people following the rules. Perhaps the Joaquin Phoenix character could have been played by a younger man. The climax when the blind girl Ivy, reaches the outside world is ironic - of all the villagers it was she that stumbles into the outside world but is not aware of the truth that surrounds her.