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Tuesday, September 07, 2021

"Kidnapped" (1959)

You know what I love?


I love classic Disney movies that are based on even-more-classic books.


I especially like it when their opening credits involve a copy of the book they're based on.  There's something so homey about them.  They give me such delicious anticipatory tingles.


I first watched Kidnapped (1959) in my tweens, and I became a firm fan of James MacArthur then and there.  How could I resist his earnest portrayal of the sensible, kind, ever-helpful David Balfour?  


I think I related to David a lot, too, as a tween.  He's intelligent and level-headed, but he's plunged into a disorienting new world that has rules and expectations he's completely unfamiliar with, and it's hard for him to keep his balance there.  He's constantly needing to pick up on new social cues, ask questions, and decide whether to try to understand the new people around him, and their foreign-seeming ways, or just go on his way and ignore them.

When I was 12, we moved from the Midwest to North Carolina.  And I experienced much of the same cultural dislocation and confusion.  I think I saw Kidnapped before we moved, maybe once, but it was after we moved that I rewatched it many times.  I don't think I realized why it resonated with me so much, at the time, but I'm pretty sure now that my love for fish-out-of-water stories comes from having felt very much out of step and uncertain for the first two or three years after we moved.


Anyway, the movie opens on a sad circumstance: David Balfour's father has died, leaving the young man alone in the world, except for an uncle who lives far away, whom David has never met.  After bidding his father's grave farewell, and asking the local minister for advice, David sets out to find this unknown uncle, Ebenezer Balfour.


David is a cheerful young man, but his first sight of his family's ancestral home is not very encouraging.  Especially since a local woman tells him she curses that family every day because they're so horrible.


Ebenezer Balfour (John Laurie) is pretty scary too.  He threatens to shoot David.  Then he welcomes him into the crumbling hall, offers to share a fairly sinister bowl of gruel with him, then locks him in a spare room.  Not exactly the welcome David was hoping for, considering that his uncle is the laird around there and reported to be quite wealthy.


One thing leads to another, and David winds up kidnapped (surprise!) by some unscrupulous sailors.


The ship runs down a small boat in the fog, then rescues the only survivor: Alan Breck Stuart (Peter Finch).  And that's where the real fun begins.  Because as much as I love David Balfour, I love Alan Breck Stuart even more.  (I always hear him say his name that way, with the Stuart at the end even though he gets called simply Alan Breck most of the time.)


From here on out, what was simply a fairly interesting story about an unfortunate young man because a completely wonderful buddy movie.  Like all the best buddy movies, it forces two very opposite people to rely on each other, with delightful results.  

David Balfour is a lowland Scotsman, quiet and a little shy, good at keeping to himself and staying out of people's way.  Alan Breck Stuart is a highland Scotsman, loud, stubborn, sly, and outgoing.  They make unlikely allies, on the surface, but its their differences that make them such an effective team.


One seasoned, wily fighter and one brave-but-untested young man more than hold their own against a shipful of enemies, but they end up separated and cast ashore.  David has no idea where he is, and so, being a fine and upstanding young citizen of the British Empire, he asks some passing redcoat soldiers for help.

Trouble is, those soldiers are hunting for Alan Breck Stuart and some of his friends.  You see, Alan Breck Stuart and his friends are Jacobites, supporters of the fight to free Scotland from British rule.  In fact, he's carrying a lot of money that's meant to support the Jacobite effort.


Due to David being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the redcoats assume he's aiding and abetting Alan Breck Stuart (which, let's be fair, he did while aboard the ship), and he winds up getting hunted himself.


Happily, the two friends are reunited while fleeing the authorities, and they set off across the Scottish Highlands to deliver the Jacobite funds and find David a way back home.  

We shall now pause our narrative to admire the gorgeous Scottish scenery, because much of this was actually filmed in location in the Scottish Highlands!




Okay, that's enough scenery.


Along their way, David Balfour and Alan Breck Stuart encounter a series of interesting characters, including Robin MacGregor, played by Peter O'Toole making his big-screen debut and definitely making the most of his blue eyes and curly hair.


Alan Breck Stuart and Robin MacGregor are old rivals, almost enemies, prompting this sternly adorable glare.


Being both hot-blooded highland gentleman, they inevitably begin a swordfight inside the tiny croft where Alan and David have been staying while David recovers from a fever.  Happily, the man who owns that croft is a wise and wily man himself.  To save his house from being ruined and these two honorable-but-hasty gentlemen from depriving the Jacobites of some fierce fighters, he suggests an alternative way to duel.


Commence the bagpipe showdown!


Friends, if you've ever wanted to see Peter O'Toole wearing a kilt and playing a bagpipe while making snooty faces, you have come to the right movie.


Because David helped him so much with his quest to deliver the Jacobite funding, Alan Breck Stuart hatches a plan to help David get to the bottom of his kidnapping and maybe even acquire the estate that is rightfully his, not his uncle Ebenezer's. Which involves consulting a lawyer.


(Mild spoilers.)  It also involves the lawyer and David hiding nearby while Alan tricks Ebenezer Balfour into admitting that he paid those sailors to kidnap his nephew so he wouldn't learn that HE is the rightful laird and not Ebenezer.


This is my favorite part of the movie, because Alan Breck Stuart is so darn cunning and clever and witty and... mmmmmmmmm, he's wonderful!


All's well that ends well, and David Balfour finally gains the inheritance and new home that he set out to find at the beginning of the movie.  But he has to say goodbye to Alan Breck Stuart, who is off on another adventure, and that always makes me a bit sad.  Still, you totally get the sense that the two of them will run into each other again one day, so I don't get too sad.  After all, David has his own adventures ahead too.


Are the Scottish accents in this movie any good?  I have no idea!  And neither do I care.  I love this movie, these characters, everything.  It completely charms me.


This has been my contribution to the No True Scotsman Blogathon hosted this weekend by Real Weegie Midget Reviews :-)

22 comments:

  1. Thanks for bringing this film to the blogathon, I've olny seen the Michael Caine version so now your post me has me intrigued with tthis great cast. Thanks for joining.

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    1. Gil, I haven't seen that version, but I will one of these days! I do love this one, though :-) And the book!

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  2. This sounds like a fun adaptation, and fairly faithful to the book? I read/skimmed the book as a teenager, so I remember... SOME of the plot, haha. Alan Breck is a sassy boi and I always loved him.

    "I hear the sound of glass breaking!" "You have some rudiments of sense."

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    1. Katie, yes! It's quite faithful to the book, though it obviously trims a lot out. And Alan Breck Stuart is definitely sassy ;-)

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  3. M'kay this movie has cute Scottish guys in it soooo...I'm watching it!

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    1. Eva, indeed it does. I hope you have a great time watching it!

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  4. Ah, one of the Disney movies that cemented the James MacArthur crush of my youth. Who am I kidding, it was/is a lifelong crush.

    There was a 1978 TV mini-series based on both Kidnapped and Catriona that featured David McCallum as Alan Breck Stuart. It aired here in Ontario but I haven't seen it in ages. Nowadays, you can find almost everything, right?

    Not only did Peter O'Toole have his curly hair and blue eyes, I think he had his original nose. My, what actors have to go through!

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    1. Paddy Lee, I think that once you're a James MacArthur fangirl, you stay a James MacArthur fangirl. Between this and The Swiss Family Robinson, I was a goner ;-) And still am!

      Okay, David McCallum as Alan Breck Stuart? Oh my goodness!!! I will have to see what I can find :-D My mom is a major McCallum fan, and I know she would love it too!

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  5. This blog post has me wanting to read the book again, but watch this version again. I remember watching it as a kid in the 90s on Disney late night I don't remember what it was called then. But after the kids programming stopped for the night it actually did that back in the 90s then they were show through the week reruns of classic Disney shows and then on the weekends they would show movies.

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    1. Carissa, watching this version made me want to reread the book too! Maybe I'll read it aloud to my kids this fall. Mmmm, so good.

      We never had cable when I was a kid, so I missed out on all that Disney programming :-o

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  6. Ah, this brings me back to the good old days when every new Disney movie that came out was instantly my favorite of all time -- Kidnapped was no exception. There are more movie versions than you can shake a bagpipe at -- even one with Armand Assante (!!) I'll throw out one more -- I recently saw the 2005 TV movie version with Iain Glen as Alan Breck. It was okay, but there's nothing quite like a bright technicolor classic Disney with an old leather bound book in the titles. Great stuff!

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    1. Brian, well, they were great picks as favorite movies! There are definitely loads of movie versions of this, and I'm actually a bit surprised that I haven't watched more of them... except that this one is just so wonderful, I think I've never felt the need to see any others!

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  7. Yes, the Disney book title sequences are the best! I really want to see this one, now. Great post, Rachel!

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    1. Muse, I hope you can see it, then! Doesn't look like Disney+ has it right now, alas. But you can rent it on Amazon Prime.

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  8. I love to hear when a movie speaks to the viewer on a personal level. This makes the review much more engaging and interesting. Anyhow, I think this is my favorite version of the story. Great review!

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    1. Maniac, I'm glad you enjoy those personal narratives ;-) I always like reading posts like that too -- so much more interesting to me than just a straight review!

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  9. This movie sounds great! I liked James MacArthur in Swiss Family Robinson when I was little but we didn’t own the movie. The scenery is gorgeous!!

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    1. Phyl, it's a load of total fun :-) I didn't realize until I started writing this that they really did film it on location! Quite impressive for "a kid movie," I think.

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  10. Ahh, I grew up watching this one. *hugs it tightly* I love all the witty lines, and I think perhaps one of my favourite parts was the snooty looks that happened during the bagpipe showdown! XD

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    1. Gabby, this is such a huggable movie!!! Especially those snooty looks, hee hee. My goodness, such a gem.

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