Christmas Cracker
A Bargain Stocking Filler for all Ages
The new Children’s Film Foundation Bumper Box Set contains nine films ranging in date from 1956 to 1984 plus some animal acting highlights, and some documentary material on the history of the Foundation.
The CFF was a not for profit company founded in 1950 by J Arthur Rank, supported by the industry and funded from the Eady Levy, a tax on the sale of cinema tickets. It made scores of films at a rate of 5-6 a year, much loved by kids at "Saturday Morning Pictures".
CFF ceased production in 1987, the company morphed into the Children's Film and Television Foundation and then finally into our very own Children's Media Foundation. The archive was inherited by the CMF, which benefits from a proportion of the sales. it's held and curated by the British Film Institute which has a programme for reissuing films from the collection on DVD.
The stories focus on children, they are the heroes and heroines (fewer of the latter than there would be today), there is a lot of action and not too much dialogue. The themes are universal, as relevant to kids today as they were then, good and evil, adventure and jeopardy, animals, comedy, fantasy and magic.
The world the films are set in is recognisable but very different. Perhaps to children the films are period drama. There are no mobile phones, few cars, no supermarkets, kids play in the streets, on city bomb sites and wander in the countryside. But the stories remain relevant and entertaining.
Adults will see different things, the freedom which today’s children have lost, the risks that both children, and adults took for granted then, and a world which even in the 1950s was still recovering from the Second World War. Adults will also recognise child actors who have gone on to have distinguished careers in film and TV, for example, Olivia Hussey and Susan George, Phil Daniels and Dexter Fletcher. There are very recognisable adults too, Roger Daltry, Miriam Margoyles, Geoffrey Palmer and Bernard Cribbens among many others, and of course in 'Cup Fever' the Man. United stars of 1965 as themselves, including a very young George Best.
These nine films show good examples of the range of CFF films from the from the excitement of 'One Hour to Zero', via the comedy of 'Anoop and the Elephant', and the pop music themed adventure, 'Pop Pirates', to the more realistic 'Cup Fever', it’s all there.
So please buy, enjoy, and support CMF all at the same time. The box set can be bought online
The shop price is £24.00. A 15% discount is available to CMF members. Please enter CFFPROMO in the promo box at checkout.
Happy Christmas!