Black Jack *** (1979, Stephen Hirst, Louise Cooper, Jean Franval) – Classic Movie Review 6986

Writer-director Ken Loach’s dark and complex 1979 costume adventure drama is based on Leon Garfield’s novel about the adventures of a roguish 18th-century French sailor and thief called Black Jack (Jean Franval) in Yorkshire who kidnaps young Tolly (Stephen Hirst), and the boy becomes his interpreter and sidekick. Black Jack escapes from a hanging and rescues a young girl from a private insane asylum.

Loach, some way off his usual territory, does not quite achieve his usual special success either with his screenplay or with his actors, but the film has plenty of credibility and atmosphere, with Loach’s observational style to the fore, and it always looks arresting thanks to the cinematography of Chris Menges, shooting mainly in 16mm and on a modest budget on location in Yorkshire.

At the box office in 1979-80, it did not really get to its target audience as a popular film of a novel for children. But now it has been rediscovered as a semi-classic adventure film from Loach.

Also in the cast are Louise Cooper, Andrew Bennett, John Young, Russell Waters (in his last film), Pat Wallis, William Moore and Doreen Mantle.

Black Jack is directed by Kenneth Loach, runs 110 minutes, is produced by Kestrel Films and National Film Finance Consortium, is distributed by Enterprise, is written by Kenneth Loach, is shot by Chris Menges, is produced by Tony Garnett, is scored by Bob Pegg, and is designed by Martin Johnson.

Helping its re-evaluation upwards, it is named by Wes Anderson as one of the inspirations for his Moonrise Kingdom (2012).

It was released on DVD in the UK by BFI Video in 2010.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6986

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