The Box of Delights (Devin Stanfield)

(Amazon UK link)

I knew it was a few years since we acquired the DVD of ‘The Box of Delights’. It's a six-part adaptation of the book by the same name written about a hundred years ago by John Masefield. I was startled to realise, on searching my Amazon lists, that we were given this DVD for Christmas 2011 - eleven years ago - and that it’s been sitting in our to-be-watched drawer all this time.

But on New Year’s Day, we decided to watch something in the afternoon for a change. We looked at our Christmas DVD collection, and chose this one, knowing we had plenty of time - and that, if it turned out to be something we didn’t want to see, we could stop after one episode.

It turned out to be an extremely well-made film, if a tad long-winded in places. The hero is a boy called Kay (Devin Stanfield) who must be about eleven. He’s on his way back home from boarding school for the Christmas holidays when he encounters an old man called Mr Hawlings (Patrick Troughton) with a friendly dog at a station. There’s an instant rapport, then Kay has to run to get his second train. On that he meets two rather less pleasant characters. They are dressed as clergymen but cheat him out of some money.

Kay starts getting messages about wolves running, and an old lady with a star ring. It’s a little confusing - perhaps I should have read the book first, but somehow it has never appealed - and is thrown into some exciting, sometimes tense adventures. It’s hard to know who to trust, at first; but the film does a very good job at distinguishing the ‘bad’ guys by evil grimaces, and camera action that distorts their faces.

The film was made in 1984 so the special effects look rather basic and dated now, but they were cutting edge technology at the time, very cleverly integrated into the film. A picture comes to life with a waterfall that moves, for instance, and a mule that becomes real. With today’s CGI and other computer techniques it would probably have been quite straightforward, but the 1984 version is remarkably well done.

There was one sequence, in the second episode (as far as I recall) that was animated entirely, after Kay meets someone called Herne the Hunter. I didn’t understand this sequence, nor why it was included, unless to demonstrate that there are always enemies about. But although it was nicely done, it didn’t take the story any further, other than introducing Herne, but with no explanation as to who he was, or what his relevance is (though he does appear again later when Kay needs help).

There’s some violence in the book, and some tension - I kept wondering when Kay was going to be spotted as he observed or listened to different ‘bad’ guys plotting and, at times, giving monologues. There’s a dramatic escape for a lot of people towards the end, although I was a little bewildered as to how people imprisoned for two days, splashing through dirty water, and trudging through snow were clean, dry and singing Christmas carols without any warm baths, change of clothes or even hot drinks. Suspending reality for a fantasy film is fine. I had no problem with the idea of a magical box that enabled people to shrink in size, or move at speed. But somehow the lack of dirt or damp felt like a plot hole.

It’s undoubtedly a Christmas show. It was broadcast over six weeks with the final one on Christmas Eve of 1984 and was apparently very well received by children of all ages, caught up in the magic and mystery of the story. The whole thing takes place over just a few days, culminating in a huge midnight service at the cathedral.

I was a bit disappointed with the very final scene which I was not expecting and which made it all feel rather like cheating.. although it’s apparently left more open than in the book by the presence of two people sitting in the station. I think I prefer an open-ended finish than the one Masefield wrote.

That apart, it’s a classic ‘good vs evil’ story with an exciting climax, and the unusual factor in the ‘evil’ guys being apparently respectable clergymen. Some of it looks dated now - such as the fights with wolves, which clearly didn’t involve any actual or even computer-generated wolves - but some of it is very well done. The acting is excellent, and the tension real.

We hadn’t expected the ‘extras’ to be anything more than lists or photos, given the era of the series, so were very pleasantly surprised to find three archive scenes from the TV shows ‘Blue Peter’, ‘Pebble Mill at One’ and ‘Take Two’ in which some of the actors were interviewed, and some of the technicalities of effects were discussed - I thought them rather more interesting than many ‘making of…’ extras which tend to be a bit long-winded and sometimes self-indulgent.

I would definitely recommend ‘The Box of Delights’ for adults or children of about eight and older, who like action stories, either to watch in one three-hour session, or as individual half-hour episodes.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews