Maurice

The reference to A SWARM IN MAY (1983), in the thread about fictional "Choirs in television series and movies", prompts this separate thread about the Children's Film Unit (CFU).

There are numerous references, in the Forums, to the Children's Film Foundation but no comparable attention to the Children's Film Unit.

It is difficult to make informed comment about CFU movies which have not had the benefit of repeat broadcasts or VHS/DVD releases.

Audience reaction, when the films were made, indicate a potential treasure trove of half-forgotten gems which should now be available on DVD - though one reviewer had reservations:

1. DARK ENEMY (1984)

This depressing children's film may not meet good technical standards, and the acting is amateur, but then it is the product of the Children's Film Unit of Great Britain, funded to encourage children to make movies.

The setting for this post-nuclear holocaust story is a bucolic valley where children till the soil because the adults are all dying off.

Young Aron (Rory Macfarquhar) is curious enough about the unknown past to brave travel beyond the confines of his village, and what he discovers, as he meets his deformed sister for the first time, is that materialistic greed was the root cause of a disaster that no child can fully comprehend.

Gloomy and foreboding, this is a surprisingly somber look at the future.
Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide, NYTimes.com

2. DAEMON (1986)

This Children's Film Unit production is bound to grip young audiences: a horror story told from a child's point of view, the new kid in town who's convinced he's possessed by the devil.

In all, a remarkable achievement from a production crew whose average age is twelve, highlighted by a warm performance from Susannah York who neither steals the show from the featured young performers nor from the young audiences it will undoubtedly entertain.
Author: SGo, Time Out Film Guide

Maurice

Awayday (1997)
The Gingerbread House (1996)
Nightshade (1996)
Willie's War (1994)
The Higher Mortals (1993)
Emily's Ghost (1992)
How's Business (1992)
Survivors (1990)
Under the Bed (1990)
Doombeach (1989)
Hard Road (1989)
Infantile Disorders (1988)
Scary Tales : Under the Bed (1988)
Take Cover (1987)
Time to Talk (1987)
School for Vandals (1986)
Daemon (1986)
Mister Skeeter (1985)
Dark Enemy (1984)
A Swarm in May (1983)
Captain Stirrick (1982)

barrule

Hi Maurice, Here is one extra, not listed CFU Film


Children's Film Unit Something Wicked This way Comes










WATCH MAKER FILMS

Have bought the rights to sell the CFU films

Maurice

Thanks barrule. Your post is a revelation.

At the BFI database, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES is missing from the list of CFU films directed by Colin Finbow - and from filmographies of Ben Clennell, Mark Ashman and Tony Collins.

Perhaps an alternative title was introduced to avoid confusion with the Walt Disney film, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (1983, dir. Jack Clayton), starring Jason Robards and Jonathan Pryce.

As no other CFU film includes the three actors, that possibility seems to be ruled out.

Excellent news, barrule, about Watch Maker Films.

Steve Crook

How much is known about the CFU? Who was behind them? (Rank being behind the CFF) They don't seem to have done as much as the CFF and I don't think I know any of their films. What was the quality like? The quality of the writing, the filming, the acting

Steve

CaptainWaggett

The only one I've seen is A Swarm in May which is a fairly stolid adaptation of one of William Mayne's choir school novels, wth Jack May and Frank Middlemass as the masters. It's OK but not particularly exceptional and I doubt that many children were particularly gripped by the subject. Wasn't the CFU the junior wing of Film 4? IIRC they used teenagers in production as well as in front of the camera.

Steve Crook

I do remember seeing something where some youngsters got the credit for cameraman, lighting etc. I always thought that was a CFF film but it could have been a CFU film

Steve

clubster

I have got Emily's Ghost and Daemon from the CFU, both of which were excellent.

David S.

THE CFU films often seemed a bit more radical and edgy, and darker and bleaker than the CFF's; DOOMBEACH, about radioactive waste from a nuclear power station causing harm and death being a good example of this. Channel 4 used to show them - indeed they were obliged to.

Yes, with the CFU output, kids actually did the technical stuff as well as the acting. It was to get young people into film making. Because of this the films sometimes had a rawer, slightly less professional feel than the CFF's but this gave them a good atmosphere and sometimes more of a gritty 'documentary' feel.

Good to see stills from the unreleased Something Wicked!

The musical about a Victorian pickpocket gang, CAPTAIN STIRRICK, sticks in the mind. It had at least a couple of TV screenings. I recall it had one young gang member who'd bitten off someone's thumb, and had a typically bleak ending. It did have a good grubby, nineteenth century London feel.

The post-apocalyptic DARK ENEMY was also memorable. Channel 4 showed this one on Christmas Eve, 1984, despite its lack of festive cheer (and CAPTAIN STIRRICK had a Christmas Day showing a couple of years earlier. )

barrule

barrule