Adventure in the Hopfields

[Film Man]

The man you mention who has the 16mm print of Adventure In The Hopfields is me...Barry Littlechild.



So far it has had over 400 charity showings around Kent & Sussex the next being on March 8th 2009 at Wadhurst Village Hall at 15:00.



I don't show it so much now as it is showing signs of wear and a new copy would be about �2000 and I don't want it transferred to DVD...as I don't hold any film rights on it.



Pleased people are still interested in this incredible movie.

Film Man.

[darrenburnfan]

Adventure in the Hopfields was actually filmed in the summer of 1953 and released in 1954. The 16mm copy that was found in a skip is not the only copy, as the Children's Film and Television Foundation (formerly the CFF) have a 35mm copy in their archives as they have a 35mm copy of most of their films. As far as I know, the BFI also have a 35mm copy of Adventure in the Hopfields. However, as with most CFF films, there is little hope that they will be released on DVD as the CFTF don't think their would be a market for them these days. I think they're wrong, though and that they should give it a go. A very few CFF films, such as The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972) have been released on video and / or DVD in the past, but apparently didn't sell very well. I think Carlton now own the DVD rights to them, as they were originally distributed by Rank.

[Film Man]

Yes it was 1953...Coronation year, as celebration flags are seen outside the Goudhurst Pub, in the Antique Shop sequence. Trouble is, no one likes to be told they are wrong.



Of course it isn't the only print...(no such thing as a lost print, as a private collector out there has a copy of all films)... but try and get the BFI or CFF to hire you a copy! Why do these gems rot in cans because no one has the authority to let them out?



CFF Films are now Social History and should be made easily available to interested parties...after all it was a 'Foundation' with the great J. Arthur Rank and Sidney Bernstein behind it all....as with everything today, big money is the key



Even Mandy Miller (still alive and very well), Melvyn Hayes, Anthony Valentine and Jane Asher couldn't find a viewing copy on any format, before I came up with the print. Even the writers Son and Assistant Cameraman, came to me as they had had no luck in tracking it down.



Although credited to John Guillermin as the Director...The London sequences and Train material was Directed by Don Chaffey, who went on to Direct many Disney films.





Film Man

[ghughesarch]

A minor footnote on locations - while the bulk of the filming may have been in and around Goudhurst, I've been able to see a brief clip, and the windmill is Jill Mill at Clayton near Brighton (whose neighbour, Jack Mill, is "The Black Windmill" in the eponymous Michael Caine film).

[Film Man]

Correct...It was the Jack & Jill Mills, they also used tho old Brighton Film Studios for Mill, Train and Hop Hut interiors.



Because of financial problems during filming...The crew put the film rushes in The Vine Pub's safe, until they were paid wages.



Mary Field (the boss at the CFF) was a first class film maker in her own right...making many agricultural shorts, including Hop Picking, so the subject was just what she was looking for.



22 ceramic Staffordshire dogs were used and broken...in one scene Mandy Miller has the top half showing from under her arm as the bottom part was smashed!



It was also one of the first films to use magnetic recording techniques...before this it was optical sound on film....and many film companies sent technicians along to observe.



The Antiques Shop in Goudhurst was an Ironmongers at the time (again interiors were done in Brighton)...Today the shop is in fact an Antiques Shop.



All the locals were paid half a crown per day...more than what the farmer was paying for Hop Picking...the half crown was soon dropped!



The film remains a terrific reminder of what Hop Picking was like at its peak.



Film Man

[darrenburnfan]

Your location details are very interesting, ghughesarch and Film Man and invaluable to anyone interested in just where Adventures in the Hopfields was actually filmed. The CFF in those days did marvellous work on such low budgets and really knew how to make a children's film. A pity they couldn't afford to shoot in colour in that period, as the beautiful Kent countryside would have looked lovely in colour and they had the weather for it at the time of the shoot, too.

[Film Man]

167 people crammed into Wadhurst's Village Hall on Sunday Afternoon March 8th to view Adventure In The Hopfields. What is it that makes this British Children's film so popular? The extra films on Hop Picking in Kent made it an afternoon to remember.

Film Man.

[Film Man]

Many people ask why it is Hopfield's rather than Hopgarden (as they call them in Kent). It seems that the Church insisted on a payment for 'Fields' in their Parish...So farmers called them Gardens to evade payment. The CFF thought children would identify a Field better than a Garden.



Another piece of useless trivia...Film Man

[Film Man]

Watching the film last night in a packed Village Hall...I can see what you mean Darenburnfan. He doesn't smile once...even when the Lion is saved. Maybe his Dad, The Director,

had some sort of spell over him? The audience laughed when Wilfred Bramble and Jimmy Edwards appeared...it went down very well considering it was one of the CFF's worse efforts.

[Film Man]

Just to mention that 'Adventure In The Hopfields' is being shown on a big screen at a charity showing on July 10th in Ticehurst Village Hall. East Sussex at 20:00. Plus interesting support films.

Film Man

[Hengist]

Filmman kacey - Adventure in Hopfields

I thought I read that Barry Littlechild rescued the only copy of this film from Los Angeles.

[darrenburnfan]

It may have been the only copy they knew of in the States (and a 16mm copy at that), but there must be 35mm copies of it here in the UK, even if only at the BFI. Lots of 35mm prints would have been made for UK cinema exhibition at children's matinees and, even if most of them were subsequently destroyed when the children's matinee market dried up in the early 1970's, there must be one or two copies left around somwhere. In fact, the above also applies to all CFF films from the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's.

[Film Man]

Of course there are other copies...The BFI have a 35mm copy (although they never seem to want to show me it) Carlton have a 35mm print but again they only hire clips to TV companies, it is impossible for the man in the street to get access...Network DVD would have brought it out during the Saturday Matinee Series but sales were so poor of what they did bring out, it never happened. Apart from my 16mm copy I only know of one other 16mm copy in South Africa...not a very good print. In all my 55 years of collecting film I have only ever seen one advert selling a print. We need a group to march on Carlton demanding the release of all CFF films!!!

Film Man.

[Film Man]

Just to say...Barry Littlechild will be showing 'Adventure In The Hopfields' in Ticehurst's (East Sussex) Village Hall on Friday July 10th in the evening... charity showing for Ticehurst Ramblers Association. A very rare presentation for 2009.

Film Man.

[Film Man]

For all CFF lovers 'Adventure In The Hopfields' was shown once again to a packed Village Hall in Ticehurst, East Sussex on July 10th. Together with documentaries of the period a great deal of money was raised for charity. As no other bookings have been organised...this might have been the last big screen showing.

Film Man.

[darrenburnfan]

You've done a great job keeping this film available for the viewing public, Film Man. It's good to know that it's still being seen and enjoyed an incredible fifty-six years after it was made.



By the way, three months on, did Ian Jessup contact you?

[Film Man]

Thanks Darrenburnfan for your great support...Sadly Ian never made contact...However I have many future shows for Lionheart and have made a little doco on all the locations used. This is now presented before the main film. Long live the CFF.

Film Man.

[theialight]

This is such a wonderful movie. They used to show it in my elementary school in the early 1980's.



There are other movies that were shown in my elementary school that I would like to know the names. They were always about kids...one was a movie about some kids in Amsterdam...they rode their bikes to town and bought some cheese. Someone criminals had hidden a diamonds in the cheese. The kids bought the cheese, took it home to their houseboat and the criminals chased them. Does anyone know the name of this movie? I don't know why my elementary school in Florida, in the US showed British movies, but I sure am happy they did. I LOVED them!!! Thank you for all suggestions and help!

Meri Pyle

[darrenburnfan]

It sounds like the CFF film Hunted in Holland (1960) starring the then 13 year old Sean Scully, who was signed up by Walt Disney on the strength of his performance in that film and got the star role in The Prince and The Pauper, filmed at Shepperton Studios in 1961 and released in 1962.

[alan gowdy]

Having read these posts I wish the film were generally available - Goudhurst is one of my favourite villages.