Lord of the Flies **** (1963, James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, Hugh Edwards, Roger Elwin, Tom Gaman) – Classic Movie Review 3596

Director Peter Brook’s imaginative, distinguished and original 1963 black and white film version of the William Golding classic novel Lord of the Flies is a chilling essential art house movie. The famous story is about a group of schoolboys falling apart and running wild when they are shipwrecked and stranded alone on an island. They fall into two warring factions – Ralph’s group wants to build shelters and collect food, but Jack’s lot wants to have fun and hunt – as civilisation starts to break down.

Brook’s film is engrossing, and beautiful to look at, with remarkably believable performances in difficult circumstances from the boys – James Aubrey as Ralph, Tom Chapin as Jack, Hugh Edwards as Piggy, Roger Elwin, Tom Gaman, Roger Allan, David Brunjes, Peter Davy, Kent Fletcher, Nicholas Hammond, Christopher Harris, Alan Heaps, Jonathan Heaps, Burnes Hollyman, Andrew Horne, Sam Surtees and Eric Surtees.

Considering that the book is a parable of mankind’s struggle for civilisation versus its basic nature for savagery, an antidote to the heroic version of the Robinson Crusoe island shipwreck story, this literal portrayal works extremely well. Brook reaches for surrealist poetic realism and achieves it, but above all he makes his adventure drama thriller as moving as it is disturbing. Tom Hollyman’s black and white cinematography is very striking, as is Raymond Leppard’s score.

It was remade as Lord of the Flies in 1990 by Harry Hook in widescreen and colour, with Balthazar Getty, Chris Furth and Danuel Pipoly.

Peter Brook CH CBE (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022). He married actress Natasha Parry in 1951 and had two children: Irina, an actress and director, and Simon, a director. Parry died of a stroke in July 2015, aged 84. Brook died in Paris on 2 July 2022, aged 97.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3596 derekwinnert.com