Had enough of the hideous here and now? Take a moment of me-time, turn off your phone and whizz back to analogue days with this effervescent assortment of retro-cinema corkers from the Children’s Film Foundation – Britain’s best-loved makers of quality children’s cinema for kids young and old, from the boxy blazered 1950s to the synthetic-fibred 1980s.
This very British cinematic rabbit hole leads to a land of eccentric fun, silly scrapes and escapist thrills where you’ll encounter nine marvellous feature-length mini-masterpieces for kids, not to mention a sumptuous sideshow of unusually invigorating extras. So grab your outsize bag of sherbet lemons, crack open a Vimto and settle down for a terrific box-set binge to beat those modern-world blues!
The Films:
The Dog and the Diamonds (1953), The Stolen Airliner (1955), Blow Your Own Trumpet (1958), The Missing Note (1961), The Big Catch (1968), Blinker's Spy-Spotter (1972), The Flying Sorcerer (1973), Mr Selkie (1978), Gabrielle and the Doodleman (1984)
Extras
- Five short films from the Children’s Film Foundation collection - Horsey hi-jinks and sneaky saddle-snappery in Stable Rivals, saggy socked seaside shenanigans in Swift Water, the Chiffy Kids meet Kenny ‘Dr Terror’s House of Horrors’ Lynch and Harry H ‘Steptoe and Son’ Corbett in Pot Luck and Alice the Chimp in The Big Kick, plus a reminder of pre-internet pastimes in Our Magazine No 4.
- A brand spanking new documentary by filmmaker and CFF aficionado Jason Gurr as he revisits some of the greatest ever locations used in the many productions
- Fully illustrated booklet featuring new writing by CFF expert Vic Pratt, recollections from Samantha Weysom (The Appointment) on her role in Mr Selkie and a CFF quiz by the BFI’s Trevona Thomson
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