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I first read this book when I was very small; about nine. I didn't understand all the language and political talk, but the bits about about young David Balfour and his various adventures interested me greatly. Later, when I was around twelve or so, I read a kid's version that left me wondering what all the fuss was about. So I put it aside and forgot about it.
Jump forward to January of 2000. I happened to pick the old thing up and read it again, and was entranced. The villainous uncle, the rebel against the government, the shipwreck, the assassination of the Red Fox and the adventures as they 'take to the heather or hang', and then the farewell with half the story left untold- fascinating!
I eventually learned there was a sequel (David Balfour aka Catriona), tracked it down, and enjoyed that as well. The sequel picks up exactly where the first one left off: David is attempting to get James of the Glen cleared of charges of murder. Since this is the same murder Davy was framed for, he's running the risk of sticking his own neck into the noose beside James. Meanwhile he's got to help Alan Breck get safely back to France, while enduring the attentions of one Miss Barbara Grant, daughter of Lord Prestongrange- who is the man who's trying James for treason and murder. Then- as if that wasn't enough- David finds himself smitten with Catriona Drummond, granddaughter of the notorious Rob Roy, and a number of complications arise from that little situation.
Not only are these stories great adventures, they give a very good look at the political and social aspects of 1700's Scotland. Although- never before have I had to keep a dictionary at my side when reading an English-language...ok, technically it is the Scottish language...book! Many of the words are defined at the bottom margin, but even so it's sometimes up-hill treading. I still want to know what 'birstle' means.
Eventually I made the discovery that Disney did a movie of Kidnapped in 1960. So I got curious and did a little more research and found there'd been Kidnapped movies made since 1917, in the old silent black-and-white movie days. Well, no chance of getting my hands on that, I figured, nor the 1938 or '48 versions, but I was fortunate- if one would call it that. A&E ran the 1948 version in April of 2001 and I watched it. Let me be blunt: it sucked. Disney-esque, but without the charm. It also deviated considerably from the book; there's a couple completely gratuitous and unconvincing sword-fighting scenes and a really pointless plot twist between the Captain and David's uncle. Plus, they have David- not being swept off the Covenant in a storm, but actually leaping over the side to escape the Captain during the fight! For shame!
Roddy MacDowell is on the far right in the first pic below. James MacArthur on the left in the second.
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I did finally get one of the Disney videos...not bad, IF you can overlook the terrible accents. The script is so very nearly word-for-word by-the-book that once you've seen this, you'll probably have three-quarters of the book memorized. The shipwreck scene is simply atrocious, but one must bear in mind that this was well before the special effects abilities that people are so used to these days. Peter Finch really has the role of Alan down; he's all full of fire and bluster, but you can see he has a real loyalty and kindness in him too. Unfortunately, James MacArthur's David is reduced to saying 'Yes sir' and 'No sir' a lot, but he does get across the mood he's in when he says it.
Then there was a 1971 version, starring Michael Caine as the rebellious Alan Breck Stewart (an Englishman, I wonder what Alan would say of that?), but no hope of getting that, since it was only released on video in Europe. (At least, not till I get a PAL-compatible VCR). Another version, apparently a TV movie of 13 or so episodes, was done in France in 1978; it starred David McCallum as Alan Breck and Ekkehardt Belle as David Balfour. Another PAL version.
So I went on to the most recent version, a 1995 TV movie by Hallmark's Timeless Adventures Series (co-executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola Productions) that went to video. And here I struck gold. Brian McCardie portrays David Balfour (superbly) and Armand Assante portrays Alan Breck Stewart (extremely well, although not quite as I envisioned Mr. Stewart). It starts out following the book fairly closely, but gradually moves away and takes off on its own. The results are good; it all follows very logically and makes a point of showing that David and Alan have two completely different stories going on. They're travelers who are taking part of a road together, partly by choice but partly by necessity. Stevenson's story is essentially a 'coming of age', and it's marvelous to watch as 'Davie' discovers there's more to him than even he knew. He doesn't exactly 'grow up', but he grows into himself, matures. The only part I'd be critical of is the shipwreck scene. It was done better than Disney's was, but that is not exactly praise.
It's very hard to find this video, the most likely place to locate it is on an auction site. And it takes some persistence, not so much for competition but just waiting for someone to list one.
Links
Lights, Camera...Brian McCardie is the website I made after I saw
more of his work. Impressed, yeah, you could say that.
ABSOLUTELY ARMAND ASSANTE! Armand Assante's official page, and
it's huge!
James MacArthur Scrapbook The Disney version. A wonderfully
complete page on James MacArthur's work.
Finch, Peter Biography Screenonline's bio on Peter Finch.
The Michael Caine Homepage The 1971 version. As it says...
Roddy McDowall and Dan O'Herlihy The 1948 version. Bios courtesy of the
Internet Movie DataBase
Warner Baxter and Freddie Bartholomew The 1938 version. Bios also
courtesy of IMDB
David McCallum Fans Online The 1978 version. Enormous page on
David McCallum
Ekkehardt Belle Also the1978 version. Filmography
from IMDB.
Die Abenteuer des David Balfour
(1978), a webpage
in German that has pictures of the 1978 production.
This Untitled page is the life and works of RL Stevenson.
Pictures
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The posters from the Disney, 1938, 1948, and 1971 productions. Strange how often it's Alan Breck who gets the most attention, seeing as it's David's story!! Also a rather interesting note: on the Disney poster, Peter Finch is portrayed as a right-hander, but if one looks below at the video cover, one will note that his sword is in his left hand! Dan O'Herlihy, Alan Breck in the '48 version, also appears to be left-handed.
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Left: the front and back of the (decent, extremely by-the-book) Disney video version. Right: the 1978 version that only comes in PAL format, starring David McCallum and Ekkehardt Belle.
The front of my favorite one, the (splendid and hard to find)
1995 version...in color
...and the rear!
This one's not nearly as 'by the book' as Disney, which is both good and bad. Some of the characters are missing, and others are new. On the other hand, if you know the book, you don't automatically know every word the characters are going to say before they actually say it. It keeps you guessing, and that's a good thing.
This scene wasn't in the movie; it was a publicity picture taken
by Hallmark. (Thanks to
the webmaster at Absolutely Armand Assante for that info. And
here we have a third southpaw, Brian McCardie's David Balfour.)
For more pictures, check out Lights, Camera...Brian McCardie All copyrighted to Hallmark!
So far I have encountered about 100 different book covers. No, I am not exaggerating. After all, the thing's been in print since the late 1800's! And if you think I'm gonna post 'em all up... ye'r daft indeed! ; ) But this one here is my own particular version:
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| Rather reminds me of James MacPherson, actually. | The author himself, Robert Louis Stevenson. |
bravenet.com
