Lord of the Flies - Criterion Collection (1963)

Kids Gone Wild

This is an absorbing account of children living with no supervision.
Based on William Golding's classic novel, a group of schoolboys are stranded on an island after their plane crashed. Two cliques soon form--one is a civilized group wanting to concentrate on finding shelter, food, and being rescued. The other is more savage, wanting merely to hunt wild pigs and have fun.
These differing priorities soon clash and head toward calamity. This realistic depiction of children was virtually unheard of back in 1963, and it's even pretty rare nowadays. But kids left without any guidance, rules, or consequences? It's easy to say there would be some mischief and unwise decisions.
Although I enjoyed the remake, I found this original version much more raw and engaging. The story is basically identical, with some minor exceptions. But I'm really starting to enjoy some B&W films, I hope I'm not getting old.
Criterion comes through again.

March 2, 2008

Blah.

The point, I think, of making a novel into a movie is to take the text and replace it with a visual. In this case, and in most cases, all the awesome good bits of the text are butchered in the name of artisitc license. Well "boo" to that! I cringe when my students ask to see the movie after we read the book, because it's just not the same. Where's the part with Simon and the head? And what's the deal with the parachutist? Those are important elements of the text that are either glossed over, mangled, or removed completely. I object to such tinkering with greatness! The merit in such films is only to encourage students to write reviews or to compare/contrast. Any other use, such as a substitution for the text, is not reccomended. Rhetorical question: Why don't film makers create a real version of the text? Enough said. Just read the book. May 1, 2007

Fly No Further

If you are looking for the definitive theatrical version of "Lord of the Flies", here it is. All essential thematic elements are included without laboring over miscellaneous detail. Sure, it could be longer to include every detail from the novel, but it loses nothing at its current length. I found it very useful as a follow up to classroom study, and my students adjusted well to the black and white presentation. You know it hits the mark when you need to pass out Kleenex, after Simon and Piggy's deaths, to a jaded bunch of ninth graders. Worth the investment!! January 18, 2007

One of a Kind, a True Classic

"We're Englishmen, and the English do everything right!" one of the choirboys says soon after finding themselves on the island. From then on, it's a steady degeneration into savagery. I saw Lord of the Flies (and read the Golding novel) when it first came out in the '60's, and it keeps getting better everytime I see it. There are just so many memorable images: "Piggy", the nerdy kid with the shattered glasses lens; flies buzzing around the hog's head impaled on a stick; the "Beast", etc. This is great story telling, and the kids' characters are so well delineated. Low budget and filmed entirely on location, the camera crew had to be very resourceful in overcoming obstactles. (Speaking of budgets... Criterion Editions does great work, but there's no reason to charge 40 bucks for this DVD. The transfer is excellent, but it's no better than an earlier issue on videotape put out by another outfit.) In special features, the filmakers discuss how they discovered an ingenious use of the zoom lens, a relatively new gadget at that time. (The effect is not the cheesy zoom in/zoom outs used ad nauseum on '70's TV shows.) An "indie" film of sorts, Lord of the Flies was filmed in black and white, but then, so were classics like On the Waterfront, To Kill a Mocking Bird and The Haunting. Technicolor film was very expensive, and you didn't want to leave too much of it on the cutting room floor. The '90's version is OK, but I think the film makers erred in making the kids military school students. The seed of violence has already been planted, and it's not so far a leap to savagery. July 17, 2006

The Power of the Conch

We were handed paperback copies of Sir William Golding's novel in my seventh grade class back in 1973, and it was not until three years later when I saw the 1963 movie. The plot was about thirty or so British schoolboys, ages 6 to 13, whose plane crashes in the South Pacific Ocean and were the only survivors. They came ashore on a small uncharted, uninhabited tropical island where survival and the hopes of being rescued took precedence. While the pilot perished in the crash, there were no other adults and the boys were left to fend for themselves.

The task was left to two of the oldest boys, Ralph and Jack. Ralph did his best to keep order with the younger boys where survival was the key by building shelters and gathering food. They would also build a fire as a signal to alert any passing ship or plane. While exploring the island and walking along the surf, Ralph and a fat, nearsighted boy, suffering from asthma, named Piggy stumbled upon a conch washed up on the shore. To Ralph the conch was an important symbol that whoever held onto it had the power to speak.

During their isolation on the island, the boys managed to get along until Jack, a choirboy who initially proclaimed that the British people were the most civilized on earth, wanted to have fun and hunt since the island was inhabited by wild pigs. This led to a falling out between him and Ralph, and two separate factions ensued. Jack's group were mainly other choirboys who split away from the main group, settling on one part of the island where they would engage in savagery with painted faces and long hair. Aside from Piggy, Ralph's group included a boy named Simon, two twins named Sam'n'Eric and some of the smaller boys that were called "littleuns".
The longer the two groups remained, hostilities between them grew more and more.

Since no adults were present, one fear they faced was that of "the Beast". Jack's group was determined to hunt down the beast, and the nightly rituals was dancing around the fire and chanting, "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

The trauma was that of a weak Simon who happened to stumble upon one of these rituals and was killed by Jack's group. His bloodied body thrown into the sea. The traumas continued as Jack's attention turned toward Ralph's group. The need for Piggy's spectacles to start fires was one thing and finishing off Ralph was another. Piggy would later be killed by a boulder falling on top of him and the conch smashed into worthless pieces. Sam'n'Eric would be apprehended and forced into Jack's group. This led to the littleuns abandoning Ralph as well.

Ralph, now alone, was in fear for his own life. Jack's goal now was to hunt him down and kill him, even if it meant smoking him out by burning the entire island. While Jack and his group were in pursuit, Ralph ran as fast as he could until he stumbled on the beach and would look up at a naval officer who happened to come ashore with a rescue party.

The plot in the film came very close to that of the novel. There was a remake of "Lord of the Flies" in 1990 that, to me, did not make any impression. The plot was altered where American boys from a military school faced similar situations. As for the 1963 film, I find it a classic not one worth missing.
July 7, 2006

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