Most Recent
- A New Year - A New Era for Street Fighter
- Searching For That Lost Song
- The Avengers Movie Assembles!
- On The Road With Missouri Jeff
- Top Ten Cheesy Halloween Horror Movies
- Retro Graffiti: Nostalgia Hits the Streets
- Top Ten Worst Animated Movies For Kids
- 1970s Drug Culture Lingo
- 6 Reasons Why Total Recall is Totally Rad
- Let’s Pretend it’s 1988
Browse by Subject
Meta
Other Places
When The Wolves Were Running
Posted by
Nostalgiaholic | on
December 9, 2007
Nostalgiaholic shares an old Christmas-time favorite “The Box of Delights”.
Time for a Christmas confession…
I’m a snow junkie.
It could be Christmas Eve night, you could be wrapping presents with the tree alight, surrounded by loved ones, hell, even Santa Claus himself could be there, but without snow falling outside, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas. The white stuff is one of two things ESSENTIAL for coaxing out the warm, fuzzy, egg nog-infused holiday feelings in me. I know I’m not alone in this.
Last night half of my holiday prayers were answered when we got an uncharacteristic truck-full of snow dropped on us, must be at least two feet. Now, it’s time for me to nab some rum and dust off the other half of my Christmas criteria. A scratched old VHS tape with “The Box Of Delights” scrawled across it’s yellowing label. My Dad recorded this tape when I was young, and every Christmas it was traditional to watch it putting the tree up (we watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when the tree came down). This oftentimes bizarre series of six episodes comprise the best Christmas movie I’ve ever watched, and best captures that ethereal warmth you get during the holidays… or after eight glasses of Chardonnay.
Based on a children’s novel published in 1935 by British author and poet John Masefield, this mystical adventure was turned into a six-episode BBC mini-series in 1984, just in time for Christmas. Starring Devin Stanfield as the young (filthy rich) English lad Kay Harker who’s coming home from a private school for Christmas. Kay befriends an old Punch ‘n Judy man (basically a very old form of puppet show theatre) named Cole Hawlings (Patrick Troughton… Doctor Who himself baby!), who entrusts him with protecting a magical box from some nasty wolves who walk as men. Led by the lugubrious Abner Brown (Robert Stephens) these evil wolves masquerade as clergymen and “Scrobble” anyone between them and the wonders that the box contains.
Confused…? Don’t worry, so was I when I first saw it. Not being well-versed in either the British culture or language can somewhat hamper your ability to follow the plot, but stick with it and you’ll be rewarded with not only a great movie experience, but an educational one as well. I was the only kid on the block who knew what a Cloister, a Poultice, and Punch ‘n Judy were. From the moment the effervescent violins of Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s orchestral arrangement of “The First Noël” begins during the opening sequence, you know this is going to be a very different brand of Christmas movie. The entire series has an old-world European feel. A place and time where people decorate trees with candles instead of electric lights, go to midnight mass, live in ancient stone cathedrals, and where magic seems a heck of a lot more likely to actually exist.
Youtube has got the opening sequence featuring “The First Noel” here.
The series blended live action with a variety of animation styles to bring the magic of the Box (and of the evil Abner Brown) to life. Hand-drawn demons and phoenixes would jump to life alongside the actors (something that had rarely been seen on TV at that time), and a scene where Cole Hawlings brings a painting of a mountain down from the wall and expands it into a whole room to escape from the bad guys was a revelation in budget special effects. Of course it can’t all be good… Limited funds, and too much experimental animation leads to a hilariously bad scene where Kay goes back in time to find Arnold of Toady (my fav character) in a warp speed flying wooden canoe.
Good versus evil, life and death, the ultimate showdown with Abner and the rescue of his hostages (like any clergymen, he kidnaps alter boys… ouch) doesn’t disappoint and everyone makes it back to Tatchester Abbey in time to have a merry Christmas.
I would absolutely recommend this jolly piece of BBC history to anyone who can find a copy that will work in North American DVD players (watch out for UK or Region 2 DVDs, they won’t work). Despite some frightening dream sequences that may or may not scar young children for a lifetime, it’s fine to get the whole family together, plug in the tree, get some hot chocolate bubbling away, and press play. I promise it’ll be a completely unique Christmas movie experience, one you’ll come back to again and again. That is until the ‘ol VHS tape can take no more repeated viewing abuse… like mine.
Oh c’mon ! It can take one more for the team… besides, it’s snowing like crazy outside, what else am I going to do ?
Much Love…
Bookmark: Del.icio.usSpurlFurlSimpyBlinkDigg
RSS feed for comments on this post
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
Loading ...One Response to “When The Wolves Were Running”
-
Judy
Dec 11th, 2007
at 6:56 pm1Reply to this comment.You mentioned that a copy of the Box of Delights is difficult to obtain. If you are able to obtain a source for the series on dvd can you let me know?
Wax Nostalgic?
Shwag
