I note that most of the reviews on here, especially those that award the film a low mark, seem to concentrate on whether or not the film is suitable for children. Not having any children of my own, I am not in a position to enter this debate; in any case, it should be for individual parents, who will know what their children are interested in and what is likely to upset or frighten them, to decide this question for themselves.
Although it has long been popular with younger readers, Henry Williamson's "Tarka the Otter" was in fact written for adults. It is the story of the birth, life and death of a wild otter living in the Country of the Two Rivers, the valleys of the River Taw and River Torridge in North Devon. Because Tarka is killed by a pack of hounds, some have seen it as an anti-hunting tract, although I am not sure that Williamson intended it as such. He disliked sentimentality about animals- one reason why he would not allow Disney to make a film of the book- and probably accepted hunting as part of country life. In 1927, when the novel was written, otters were much more common in the British countryside than they are today, and were widely regarded as vermin, at least among the angling fraternity who never take kindly to any creature that preys on fish.
It is therefore unsurprising that they were widely hunted during this period; otter hunting did not cease until 1978, a year before the film was made, when the otter was placed on the list of protected species. (Since then otters have made something of a comeback; ironically, they are now less endangered than otterhounds, the dogs once used to hunt them, which are among the rarest breeds in Britain).
How does one make a film of a book like this? One solution would have been to make it as a cartoon, as had been done the previous year with another classic of the English countryside, Richard Adams's "Watership Down", but this would probably not have met with Williamson's approval. (And feature-length cartoons have always been very much the exception rather than the rule in the British film industry).
In the event the job of making the film went to David Cobham, a maker of wildlife documentaries. Cobham's solution was to make what the film in the style of a wildlife documentary, with lovingly photographed scenes of the English countryside and its animals, birds, insects and flowers. The only difference is that it is set in the past rather than the present day and tells a fictitious story, narrated here by Peter Ustinov. The result is a film of great visual beauty and, as it keeps closely to Williamson's story with a few minor changes, also of emotional power. A must for all nature-lovers. 8/10.
Although it has long been popular with younger readers, Henry Williamson's "Tarka the Otter" was in fact written for adults. It is the story of the birth, life and death of a wild otter living in the Country of the Two Rivers, the valleys of the River Taw and River Torridge in North Devon. Because Tarka is killed by a pack of hounds, some have seen it as an anti-hunting tract, although I am not sure that Williamson intended it as such. He disliked sentimentality about animals- one reason why he would not allow Disney to make a film of the book- and probably accepted hunting as part of country life. In 1927, when the novel was written, otters were much more common in the British countryside than they are today, and were widely regarded as vermin, at least among the angling fraternity who never take kindly to any creature that preys on fish.
It is therefore unsurprising that they were widely hunted during this period; otter hunting did not cease until 1978, a year before the film was made, when the otter was placed on the list of protected species. (Since then otters have made something of a comeback; ironically, they are now less endangered than otterhounds, the dogs once used to hunt them, which are among the rarest breeds in Britain).
How does one make a film of a book like this? One solution would have been to make it as a cartoon, as had been done the previous year with another classic of the English countryside, Richard Adams's "Watership Down", but this would probably not have met with Williamson's approval. (And feature-length cartoons have always been very much the exception rather than the rule in the British film industry).
In the event the job of making the film went to David Cobham, a maker of wildlife documentaries. Cobham's solution was to make what the film in the style of a wildlife documentary, with lovingly photographed scenes of the English countryside and its animals, birds, insects and flowers. The only difference is that it is set in the past rather than the present day and tells a fictitious story, narrated here by Peter Ustinov. The result is a film of great visual beauty and, as it keeps closely to Williamson's story with a few minor changes, also of emotional power. A must for all nature-lovers. 8/10.