Swallows and Amazons

Swallows and Amazons is a 1974 British film adaption of the 1930 novel of the same name by Arthur Ransome. The film, which was directed by Claude Whatham and produced by Richard Pilbrow, starred Virginia McKenna and Ronald Fraser, with Zanna Hamilton. Its budget was provided by Nat Cohen of EMI Films who had funded the successful 1970 film The Railway Children. Plot During the school holidays, the Walker children (John, Susan, Titty and Roger; the Swallows) are staying at a farm near a lake in the Lake District. They sail a borrowed dinghy named Swallow, and camp on an island in the lake that they call Wild Cat Island. They meet two local girls, Nancy and Peggy Blackett, who sail a dinghy named Amazon and live in Beckfoot a house up the nearby Amazon River. The Amazons (the Blackett girls; they call themselves "Amazon Pirates" and fly the "Jolly Roger" on their yacht) have been coming to the island for years, and claim it as their territory. So the scene is set for serious rivalry. Eventually they make friends and agree to join forces against a common enemy – the Blacketts' Uncle Jim (Jim Turner) whom they call "Captain Flint" (after the character in Treasure Island). Uncle Jim, normally an ally of his nieces, has withdrawn from their company to write his memoirs and has become decidedly unfriendly.