British Children's Films and the Children's Film Foundation

[acratas]

I was wondering if BritMovie will ever be giving any recognition to British children's films,the work of the CFF and perhaps adding children's films as a genre on this site.

I don't seem to be able to locate much information on any sort of definitive listing of such films,even those produced under the auspices of the CFF-are there such lists or archives? Any site URLs to search or comments on what you think of the relevance of this genre to BritMovie would be appreciated.

Thanks,

MaBakunin

[Steve Crook]

acratas:

I was wondering if BritMovie will ever be giving any recognition to British children's films,the work of the CFF and perhaps adding children's films as a genre on this site.

I don't seem to be able to locate much information on any sort of definitive listing of such films,even those produced under the auspices of the CFF-are there such lists or archives? Any site URLs to search or comments on what you think of the relevance of this genre to BritMovie would be appreciated.

Thanks,

MaBakunin

I don't think it's a complete list but quite a lot of the CFF films are identified as such on the IMDb. Go to the IMDb search page and enter Children's Film Foundation (CFF) in the Word Search and select Production Company in the pull-down list. That finds 83 titles.



Steve

[DB7]

There's a pretty good list at TV Cream.

[Steve Crook]

That's a very good list :)



I used to like them when they showed them on Bravo (before it went all trendy)



Steve

[DB7]

SteveCrook:

I used to like them when they showed them on Bravo (before it went all trendy)

It's a whole genre I've missed out on. I'm surprised they don't repeat them during the sumnmer holidays.

[Steve Crook]

It was a great idea. The CFF used to let children (often the children of actors or other people "in Sexy Beast" but with plenty of "ordinary" children as well) not only perform in the films but also to help make the films as well.



Quite a few young performers made their first appearances in CFF films. Susan George, Linda Robson, Phil Collins and others. They had some good actors and directors to help them and they were often quite decent films.



In their later years, in the 1980s, the CFF morphed into the CFTVF (Children's Film and Television Foundation) and they made some films for TV.



They are sometimes a bit twee, especially the earlier ones, but they are generally well worth looking out for if you can find them.



Apart from seeing them on Bravo (the old version), I'm interested in them mainly because of the one directed by Michael Powell and written by Emeric Pressburger, The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972). I'd like to know what Emeric was on when he wrote that story :)



The Boy Who Turned Yellow was released on a commercial video. I found a copy second hand. The jacket mentions a few others so there were probably a few that were commercially released.



Steve

[Marky B]

Ah,yes the halycon days of being an ABC minor.

Is the Children's Film Foundation still going/

Ta Ta

Marky B

[Steve Crook]

Not as far as I know



It became the CFTVF in the 1980s. But them it faded away not long after that.



Steve

[DB7]

It's now a small body called the Children's Film Unit that was under the auspices of FilmFour/CH4.

[Stephen Griffiths]

I compiled a list ages ago of all of the CFF movies and their availability. Here it is, there may be some errors here:



Children’s Film Foundation Films:



Skid Kids (1953)

The Clue of the Missing Ape (1954)

Kekec (1954)

The Kid From Canada (1957)

Soap Box Derby (1957)

The Adventures of Hal 5 (1958)*

Blow Your Own Trumpet (1958)

Toto and the Poachers (1958)

The Cat Gang (1958)

The Salvage Gange (1958)

The Big Fish (1959)

Rockets in the Dunes (1960)

Bungala Boys (1961)

Hunted in Holland (1961)

The Last Rhino (1961)

The Missing Note (1961)

The Monster of Highgate Ponds (1961)

They Found a Cave (1963)

The Flood (1963)

The Rescue Squad (1963)

Wings of Mystery (1963)

Eagle Rock (1964)

Go Kart Go (1964)

Seventy Deadly Pills (1964)

Cup Fever (1965)*

Runaway Railway (1965)*

The Christmas Tree (1966)

Operation Third Form (1966)

Calamity the Cow (1967)

Flash the Sheepdog (1967)

The Hunch (1967)

The Sky-Bike (1967)*

The Big Catch (1968)

Lion Heart (1968)

Escape from the Sea (1968)

A Ghost of a Chance (1968)

Great Pony Raid (1968)

The Headline Hunters (1968)

The Mysterious Wreck (1968)

On The Run (1969)*

Cry Wolf (1969)*

All At Sea (1969)

Mischief (1969)

Up in the Air (1969)

Skinny and Fatty (1970)

Egghead’s Robot (1970)*

Junket 89 (1970)*

Scramble! (1970)

Blinker’s – Spy Spotter (1971)

The Johnstown Monster (1971)

The Hoverbug (1971)*

Mr. Horatio Knibbles (1971)

Hide and Seek (1972)*

Raising The Roof (1972)

Mauro The Gypsy (1972)

Kadoyng (1972)

The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972)*

Anoop and the Elephant (1972)

The Troublesome Double (1972)

Sea Children (1973)

Paganini Strikes Again (1973)

Smokey Joe’s Revenge (1973)

Zoo Robbery (1973)

Firefighters (1974)

Flying Sorcerer (1974)

Where’s Johnny? (1974)

What Next (1974)

Robin Hood Junior (1974)

The Camerons (1974)

Hijack! (1974)*

Man From Nowhere (1975)

The Copter Kids (1975)*

Battle of Billy’s Pond (1975)*

Avalanche (1975)

The Hostages (1975)

Echoe of the Badlands (1976)

One Hour To Zero (1976)

Sky Pirates (1976)*

Glitterball (1977)*

Nosey Dobson (1977)

Peregrine Hunters (1977)

Sammy’s Super T-Shirt (1977)

Fern, the Red Deer (1977)

Seal Island (1977)

Night Ferry (1977)

Blind Man’s Bluff (1977)

Black Island (1978)

Electric Eskimo (1979)

Mr Selkie (1979)

Flying Without Wings (1979)

Big Wheels and Sailor (1979)

A Hitch In Time (1979)*

The Boy Who Never Was (1979)

High Rise Donkey (1979)

A Horse Called Jester (1979)

Danger On Dartmoor (1980)

The Mine and the Minotaur (1980)

4D Special Agents (1981)

Tightrope To Terror (1982)*

Friend Or Foe (1982)*

Pop Pirates (1984 – Children’s Film & TV Foundation)

Breakout (1984 – Children’s Film & TV Foundation)

Out of the Darkness (1985 – Children’s Film & TV Foundation)

Terry On The Fence (1985 – Children’s Film & TV Foundation)

Haunters of the Deep (1985 – Children’s Film & TV Foundation)

Exploits at West Poley (1986)



Those marked (*) were either once available as a video release or form part of Network Videos' DVD range released a year or two back. I have a feeling that they didn't sell as well as they had hoped and I'm not sure that they will be releasing any others.



Stephen

[hoggers]

Four CFF DVD's have been released under the title of 'Saturday Morning Pictures'. I bought them all about a year ago and they're superb. They may be releasing more soon. Here's a link for the DVD's currently available.



http://www.play.com/play247.asp?searchtype...ion&page=search

[David S.]

This is an old conversation, but as a CFF fan I thought I'd contribute, as I have a bit of extra info: the CFF and The Children's Film Unit (they're the ones who let kids make the films as well) are/were completely different bodies.



The Children's Film & Television Foundation still exists, run by Anna Home, who produced many BBC children's dramas in the '70s. There seem to be plans for it to be much more active again in the near future.



Sadly I think the Network dvds have finished, before we even got to Sammy's Super T-Shirt, The Glitterball, Kaydong or High Rise Donkey. It was great to be able to see some of the Sixties ones.

[Steve Crook]

David S.:

This is an old conversation, but as a CFF fan I thought I'd contribute, as I have a bit of extra info: the CFF and The Children's Film Unit (they're the ones who let kids make the films as well) are/were completely different bodies.



The Children's Film & Television Foundation still exists, run by Anna Home, who produced many BBC children's dramas in the '70s. There seem to be plans for it to be much more active again in the near future.



Sadly I think the Network dvds have finished, before we even got to Sammy's Super T-Shirt, The Glitterball, Kaydong or High Rise Donkey. It was great to be able to see some of the Sixties ones.

Interesting, thanks David. I thought I'd seen one (or more) of the older CFF titles where they showed children as part of the crew. But that might be the old memory playing tricks.



Steve

[David S.]

I'd imagine that all the CFF productions were very low budget indeed and would probably have had to be filmed very quickly, so needing a professional crew. The CFU were/are an educational charity, though, actually there to train and workshop young people in the art and craft of film making - a great idea.



I remember noticing that that the CFU's output could often be relatively quite bleak and disturbing, or hard hitting - Doombeach, etc. compared to the CFF. Their output is available on dvd and video now, and some of it seems quite interesting:



http://www.btinternet.com/~cfu/prods.htm

[plasticjock]

Stephen Griffiths:

I compiled a list ages ago of all of the CFF movies and their availability. Here it is, there may be some errors here:



Children’s Film Foundation Films:



Skid Kids (1953).....//.....Exploits at West Poley (1986)



Those marked (*) were either once available as a video release or form part of Network Videos' DVD range released a year or two back. I have a feeling that they didn't sell as well as they had hoped and I'm not sure that they will be releasing any others.



Stephen

Stephen, you can add, if you wish, the film "Young Jacobites" (1959) to the list. I recently had an email from Jeremy Bulloch, who featured in this film with Francesca Annis, confirming that it was a CFF film.

They also appeared together in the previous year's "The Cat Gang".

[DAVID RAYNER]

It should be remembered that the CFF, as well as producing features for children's matinees, also produced many serials, usually of 8 episodes with each episode around 17 minutes in length.



A few that come to mind were Five on Treasure Island (1957); Five Clues to Fortune (1957 and starring a very young David Hemmings) and Valley of the Kings, shot on location in Egypt in Eastman Colour in 1964 and starring Ray Barrett and 12 years old Elizabeth White (I wonder what happened to her).

[Steve Crook]

Some of the CFF, CFTVF & CFU films that have been mentioned aren't on the IMDb. If you have some basic information about them we can get them added.



The more you know the better but the minimum they need nowadays to get a new title added (from that period) is probably:

• Title (Year)
  
• Director
  
• Actors or crew (at least 3 people)

If you can provide at least that information then it can be added to the IMDb.



Steve

[David S.]

DAVID RAYNER

It should be remembered that the CFF, as well as producing features for children's matinees, also produced many serials, usually of 8 episodes with each episode around 17 minutes in length.



A few that come to mind were Five on Treasure Island (1957); Five Clues to Fortune (1957 and starring a very young David Hemmings) and Valley of the Kings, shot on location in Egypt in Eastman Colour in 1964 and starring Ray Barrett and 12 years old Elizabeth White (I wonder what happened to her).

And several series of stand alone one-off shorts, too, such as Double Deckers prototype The Magnificent Six-and-a-Half, which Network were good enough to include some samples of on each of their 'Saturday Morning Pictures' discs. I think that ran for three series in all, the third with a completely different cast.



I believe they did a '70s series of shorts, too, which was perhaps similar: The Chiffy Kids (I know the Chiffies were the name of the awards that they presented to their films.) Did anyone ever see that?



It's such a pity that so much of this output, which has tremendous period charm, is completely inaccessible.

[samkydd]

As a nipper I remember seeing a Film type programme on TV with Michael Rodd on children's hour, previewing new movies that would appeal to us kids! Many of the films were Disneys of course, but some of them were British and produced by something called The Children's Film Foundation.



Can anybody tell me what it was all about (it was never explained on the programme) and what happened to it?

[Steve Crook]

Originally posted by samkydd@May 11 2005, 08:40 AM

As a nipper I remember seeing a Film type programme on TV with Michael Rodd on children's hour, previewing new movies that would appeal to us kids! Many of the films were Disneys of course, but some of them were British and produced by something called The Children's Film Foundation.



Can anybody tell me what it was all about (it was never explained on the programme) and what happened to it?

It evolved into the Children's Film and Television Foundation but then gradually died the death. A shame as it was a great idea and gave a lot of kids a good start.



See articles at PaPAS site and TV Cream and the earlier thread in this forum.



Steve