Lord of the Flies (1963)

What makes it different from others?

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

As a fan of the source material, I can honestly say that this classic film version of "Lord of the Flies" matches, and even exceeds the original novel in many ways. First of all, despite the original novel being gone of the most genuinely shocking and deeply disturbing books I have ever read (and the fact that the book is much more graphic than the film, and some of the book's most striking sequences are altogether ignored in this adaptation), I find this cinematic version to be even more creepy. While it isn't gruesome in any sense of the word, it manages to be more a psychologically damaging work.Mankind's descent into the inevitable pits of madness portrayed in Golding's controversial classic is powerfully captured on gritty black and white film as death and chaos reign. The film is shot in a cinema verite-type style; much of the film doesn't feel like a "film" at all, it feels real. Rather than any possibility of gore being the main aspect of this haunting work of art that is strikingly horrific, much of the terror comes from editing, camera movement, and atmosphere. everything builds up before at last exploding into violent horror at the very end. although it is not listed as such on IMDb at the current time, "Lord of the Flies" is a near masterpiece that I would label as a REAL horror movie.

Shot on a low budget with tropical backdrop and an entire cast of children. There are Four standout preadolescence characters that represent different factions about life in this inverted Island society. Ralph who is by nature very practical (the protagonist)who represents order, and early in the movie is the productive leader.Jack is the antithesis of Ralph who was strong willed and an ego maniac as he already is making the majority of the young boys into warriors. As the movie wears on Jack takes off his school uniform and transforms into a cannibal savage type complete with war painted face and palm leave loin coverings. The vast majority follows suit over time which puzzle Ralph. Then there's Simon, slender and small in stature, who's dialogue is minimal at best but gives an impression of all that pure and good in the world and most importantly doesn't sway and is non-impressionable to the savagery that's brewing around the island. Finally there's our tragic figure Piggy. portly, bespectacled and colorful martyr of the story who tends to the little ones. Piggy who is teased and badgered by the group except for Simon and Ralph. Piggy's value to the young savages is his glasses which are used to start fires. Ralph quickly loses control of the children as they transform into wild like cannibals with war painted faces and spears. Some are even naked by films end. Two reasons for this is there is no adults around and secondly no hope of rescue in sight which poses many thoughts in my mind as I viewed this movie. The mystique of this picture is the unknown from past events. Why did the plane crash. How many Adults where on board? Why did this Boarding school from England travel across an ocean to this remote location? So many answered questions which is the glue that holds your imagination.You can't help yourself to continue watching this down hill spiral of this juvenile civilization, School yard style. Great performances by James Aubrey as Ralph Tom Chapin as Jack. Tom Gaman as Simon and Hugh Edwards as Piggy. Cleverly, the filmmaker's shot this movie in black and white as to not let the greenery overtake the somber and cannibalistic tone of the movie. On a spoiling note the death scenes of Piggy and Simon are heart wrenching. Film makers use music to soften the blow but not in this movie when it comes to death. When you see an innocent dead child floating in the murky water it shocking. A must see film on life's lessons that show's that human's young and old can easily fall into their inner demons.To quote Emma Cole, "...Our souls may be consumed by shadows,but that doesn't mean we have to behave as monsters."

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.

Simon: "Maybe there is a beast. What I mean is : maybe it's only us."Since I just finished reading the book last night, it felt natural for me to check out the movie. I decided with the older version as it is the one whose snapshots came up while I was searching for the cover of my book to feature in my book review.The movie starts with a series of black and white pictures over sound. We deduce from them that it is set in England, that a war, probably a nuclear war, has started and that kids are being evacuated by plane. We hear a crash. The next scene, we see two kids on a beach and they wonder if there are any adults left. They start by getting everyone's name. They find a shell in the sea, that the young boy who is only referred to as Piggy, informs them is a conch. In order to have everyone gather, Ralph blows the conch and they decide who should be the leader. While Ralph is soon elected leader, another boy, Jack, who lives only to hunt the wild pigs on the island, soon threatens the power of both the conch and Ralph.The film is a quite good adaptation. It is very faithful to the text and apart from two scenes, I couldn't really see many differences.I was annoyed by a few things however. First of all, I felt the music and sounds weren't fitting the atmosphere. I also think the scenes that lead up to a sort of communal frenzy among the boys were so frantic they lost all sense of realism. It simply didn't seem to fit. Last but not least, I think the acting was fairly poor. I understand that an ensemble cast of young boys is not the easiest thing to manage but a lot of overacting ensued which took away from the film's credibility.The movie, which was extensively cut, was a good telling of the book and I felt they did pick out the key scenes from it in order to form a compact, yet linear and understandable tale. When seeing a movie from a book you have read, it tends to be a great disappointment when some of your favorite scenes go missing or when you feel the movie isn't understandable as a whole because of some involvements cleared out in the book, but that didn't happen here.In many ways it reminded me of the French film La guerre des boutons (1962) but if had to recommend only one, I'd go with the French one. I think, even though Lord of the Flies' addresses far more serious cultural criticism than the, mostly, comedic relief of its French counterpart, the acting of the ensemble cast is far better in La guerre des boutons.I liked: Faithful to the book. The island. The Lord of the Flies scene.I disliked: The music and sounds. The acting.62/100 A good adaptation sadly stained by irritating (to me) quirks.Read more at: www.theordinaryreview.blogspot.com