emilywes56 After reading the book and watching the 1990 version of Lord of the Flies, I watched at last the original first black and white version of the film Lord of the Flies. The story interested me from the beginning, I thought it was fascinating and scary. This film has good pace, some wonderful black and white frames and it follows strictly the line of the book. The basic principle of civilization is being destroyed when an airplane crashes in a remote island and when the children in it take total control of their existence and survival. This film is a character study, which with clever details it helps us understand the different psychological situations of every child's mind. For example, we see Piggy wears his clothes until the end of the film, until the minute he dies. He is one of the most peaceful and logical characters in the island, and also he never becomes violent or savage. We see also, kids which are naked or painted in the face and body, signs of a more rapid evolution in disorder and disobedience.

Vidfan Many have written of the stellar cast, the amazing cinematography, the brilliant direction, etc. And like any movie review, it's all subjective. This movie is remarkable. It is much of the above, and more. But it has its flaws.By necessity, the format of film requires a writer/director to abridge a book. If one were to film every "word" of the book, the result would be an incredibly long, and probably boring film. So of course, this film leaves much out. But what it does get, it gets right. It's stark, brutally direct and unforgiving.Having said that, I found parts of the direction lacking. Endlessly drawn-out shots of the sky, the beach, the jungle were distracting, as if the director was trying to slow down the story, and had me reaching for the fast-forward button. Some shots made little-to-no sense at all, while others were too quick, too short to truly grasp the situation.My biggest complaint was the score. I honestly couldn't figure out what Raymond Leppard was going for. Was he trying to evoke a feeling of loneliness? Isolation? Fear? Boredom? Whatever it was, it didn't work. Rather, it just annoyed. For example, throughout the movie the score kept returning to a single, tuneless melody played by a solo flute (or piccolo?). It wavered around, with no discernible rhythm or melody, as if someone was simply "making noise" on it. It was shrill and irritated in a nails-on-blackboard does.Overall, the movie shines as an example of honest filmmaking, despite its flaws. Next time, I'll just mute the sound and imagine the dialogue!

Parker Lewis Much has been written about Lord of the Flies (a reliable staple on school reading lists, and no doubt banned by some politically correct schools in America - shame). Anyway, it's sort of a precursor to Big Brother or The Real World, where you have young folk let loose in a house on their own. Another reboot is necessary, this time where the castaways have wi- fi, and communicate through texts and social media. No-one physically dies, but there's a slew of character assassination online.Toby Robertson as the naval office (uncredited) deserves credit for his outstanding role.The reunion documentary from 1996 - "Time Flies" (shame there's no IMDb entry) was interesting, seeing the actors all grown up, reminiscing about their time on the movie. It's a shame that James Aubrey died in 2010. I'm not sure if he was the first of the child actors from the movie to pass away, but sad.

ofpsmith As a big fan of William Golding's 1954 novel, I was eager to see Peter Brook's 1963 film, as I knew that Golding himself had shown approval of it. In the midst of a school trip (or evacuation as the film makes clear), a plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean. The only survivors are the children. Ralph (James Aubrey) is a natural benevolent leader who gets the group together and decides the first order of business is to make a fire so that they can be rescued. Piggy (Hugh Edwards) is the overweight adviser to Ralph, who although represents reason, is often picked on. Jack Merridew (Tom Chapin) is the malevolent choir boy, who seems to care little about being rescued, and whose desires are hunting and having a cult of personality. Although the boys are productive at first, Jack soon turns most boys against Ralph's democratic practices and begins a new tribe on the island. Soon almost all boys turn against Ralph. The film has very little theme music, and often relies on long running takes to illustrate the story. Cinematography is excellent and the child actors really do a good job. The film follows the novel very carefully and faithfully adapts it to screen. I enjoyed both the book and the movie fully.