The Box of Delights [DVD] [1984]

Me and my partner sat and watched this together last Christmas Day, we are both the same age and reminisced about it previously so I bought us a copy for Xmas afternoon viewing. Loved watching it again! PS: Obviously is dated, so anyone who wasn't around in the 80s might find it lame, or may even find it a brilliant story.

My children, in fact all the family, loved this BBC production when it was first broadcast in the mid-1980s. The pleasure was enhanced for me by the atmospheric title music, part of the Carol Symphony by Victor Hely-Hutchinson, which had remained in my mind from a BBC Children's Hour radio production of The Box of Delights in my own 1950s childhood.The story, from a book by John Masefield, is a fantasy in which Kay Harker, a young boy on his way home from boarding school for the Christmas holidays, meets Cole Hawlings, apparently an old punch and judy man, but actually a centuries-old possessor of the elixir of life and the Box of Delights, which confers magic powers on its possessor to go swift, go small or travel into the past. Hawlings seeks Kays help to prevent the box from falling into the hands of the wicked Abner Brown, desperate for the power and wealth it would bring him. Kay has a fantastic series of time-and space-travelling adventures with his young cousins and succeeds in defeating the evil in time for the threatened 1000th Christmas service at Tatchester Cathedral to to be saved.This reissue on DVD confirms the production's classic status, with its faithful setting in and around a country cathedral town at a snowy Christmas time, the closely observed 1930s period detail and spendid English character acting from leading actors. Robert Stephens plays the fruitily evil Abner Brown, masquerading as Principal of a theological college, with his absurd sidekicks. Patrick Troughton (famous from his earlier role as Dr Who) is a moving Cole Hawlings and Devin Stanfield a charming, resourceful and well-acted Kay Harker. The many other roles, from Kay's group of cousins to disbelieving police inspector to the captured ("scrobbled") bishop are equally well taken in a cast with no weaknesses.For its time, the production was technically innovative, using combined live acting and animation that, although less realistic than later computerised development has made possible, is visually and dramatically effective and part of the production's period charm.If you don't know the Box of Delights and want a Christmas treat that will enchant the whole family, you can't go wrong with this splendid DVD.

I hadn't seen this since I was a seven year old child in the run up to Christmas and I decided to buy this DVD as the price was right. Memories flooded back. The dirty rat eating green cheese in the sewer. The frantic animated flight from danger morphing from a deer to a fish to a bird. The phoenix rising from the ashes in the fire grate. The sense of impending danger every time the bad guys turned up. The flying car. The theme music. The beautiful green "mother of pearl"? box of the title. I remember I wanted to own a box just like that, but the BBC commercial wing didn't crank them out for Christmas. The BBC didn't merchandise like it does today. Also the DVD includes interviews, on kids shows of the day e.g. Blue Peter, with Patrick Troughton and the kid who played Kay Harker. Also an interview with the guy who played Kay Harker and the director on it's 30th anniversary. Good Buy.

Like most people considering buying this item I suspect, I remember watching it as a child and loving it. So, all these years on, has the Box of Delights retained its magic?Quite simply, the answer is yes. I remember bits and pieces of this 6 part series from when I was a kid, and how it scared me as a child ('The wolves! The wolves are running!') in that way we all quite enjoy. And once the theme tune started up, it all came flooding back at a rate of knots.The story was exactly as I remembered it, with 'Fox Face Charlie', 'Ratty' and 'The Boy Under the Waterfall', and it would be great to watch with your kids if you have any (made me wish I had a couple of nippers to share the experience with), especially in the run up to Christmas, as a Yule Tide theme runs throughout the series.I remembered it had scared me as a kid and made me snuggle up close to mum (hey, I was only 7 OK!) but I must admit I was quite surprised that it made me leap out my seat again not more than 10 minutes into the first episode (hey, I'm only 34 OK!). It's even more surprising when you take into account the dated effects.Looking at it now, the visual effects are terrible, the story full of holes, and the child actors (bar one) just horrible - but none of these things seemed to matter to me when I was a child and oddly, thanks to nostalgia I guess, they didn't seem to matter to me all these years on either.For those who haven't seen it the story is basically about a young boy who comes home from school for the holidays and a strange old man gives him a magic box to hide - The Box of Delights. So powerful is this box, that dark forces, twisted creatures, and evil men are out to try and wrestle it from him.The real magic of the Box of Delights though, is the charm and childhood innocence it contains and manages to conjure up and reawaken in all those who watched it as a kid. A trip down memory lane that was well worth the money I paid, and one I'd been wanting to take again since the first time I saw it. And now, thanks to this DVD I have.