The Piper's Tune

This Children's Film Foundation film from 1961 had been released by the BFI on Volume 5 of the CFF films. It is a slightly unusual film. Supposedly set in the Napoleonic wars,but the action takes place in the Scottish Highlands. The film is directed by acclaimed women's director Muriel Box. The production company is ACT films,the technicians union.

The film has a familiar narrative running through it. A bunch of adults,in this case a troop of French soldiers being constantly thwarted by five children There are some well known faces among the adults. George Woodbridge and Frederick Piper being the most recognisable.

I caught this one on Talking Pictures TV as part of their new season of Children's Film Foundation features for 2025. It's a late black and white story about a group of kids thwarting an unruly assortment of French troops during the Napoleonic War. At first I was wondering what on earth the French were doing in Scotland before I realised that the presence of surnames like Martinez meant that this is supposed to be set in northern Spain and merely filmed in Scotland. Neither Spanish nor French speak in accents which makes for some confusion. There's a little back and forth and outwitting adults on the part of the kids, but generally this is quite subdued given the standards of the genre and only the presence of twins gives it any originality.

Watched this in the mid to late sixties on German TV and was always trying to find a copy. Is there anybody out there who has one and would be willing to make a copy for me? I'm looking for this one for more than 40 years. This would be a dream come true! My e-mail address is waldenpond88@hotmail.com.

The British Children's Film Foundation (CFF) produced lots of very good and very thrilling movies for kids in the fifties and until the mid sixties. Everything that has been made after 1966 is unfortunately not nearly as good as the early black & white films.

Rank Screen Services and Rayant Pictures were among the movie production companies who made movies for CFF.

The CFF has been founded by Mary Field.

This is about a group of children who are crossing the Pyrenees in order to escape their enemies.