''Adventure in the Hopfields'' is a 1954 British

children's film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that generally relates to children in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are made f ...

directed by

John Guillermin Yvon Jean Guillermin (11 November 192527 September 2015), known as John Guillermin, was an English film director, writer and producer. Working both in the United Kingdom and the United States, he was most active in big-budget, action-adventure f ...

and starring

Mandy Miller Mandy Miller (born Carmen Isabella Miller on 23 July 1944) is an English former child actress who made a number of films in the 1950s. She is also remembered for her recording of the 1956 song " Nellie the Elephant". Early life Carmen Isabella M ...

. It was made for the

Children's Film Foundation The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) is a non-profit organisation which makes films and other media for children in the United Kingdom. Originally it made films to be shown as part of children's Saturday morning matinée cinema programming. Th ...

. Location filming took place in and around

Goudhurst Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. It lies in the Weald, around south of Maidstone, on the crossroads of the A262 and B2079. The parish consists of three wards: Goudhurst, Kilndown a ...

in Kent.

Plot

After accidentally smashing her mother's prized china dog, little

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

girl Jenny (Mandy Miller) leaves her mother a note and sets off from home to make the money to buy a new one by travelling with the family of her friend, Susie Harris, as they set off to go hop picking in Kent. At the station, Jenny joins the special hop-pickers' train to

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, but after failing to join up with the Harris family, she is invited to join Sam Hines and his family. After the first day of hop picking, Sam takes her with him to an antiques shop in Goudhurst where she sees a china dog just like her mother's. Sam lends her the money to buy it. Meanwhile, when Jenny's attempt to send a letter to her parents telling them where she is fails to reach them, her parents report her as missing to the police. When they eventually track her down at the hop-pickers' camp, her parents set out to go to her. They arrive during a hop wedding, when all are distracted, and the dog is stolen by two local children - the Reilly boys - untidy

Artful Dodger Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket and his nickname refers to his skill and cunning in that occupation. In the novel, he is the leader of th ...

style characters who disparagingly call the hop-pickers "hoppers". Jenny chases after the two boys into an old

windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...

, but they trick her and seal her in the upper area by taking away the ladder. When lightning strikes the old mill and it catches fire, the Reilly boys run off, but when Pat Reilly sees the mill on fire he returns to help Jenny escape, but she leaves the china dog inside. Ned re-enters the burning mill to rescue the dog and returns it to Jenny, but she doesn't even say "Thank you", so he grabs the hose from the fire engine which has attended to extinguish the fire and squirts water over Jenny and her parents and friends.

Cast

*Jenny Quin -

*Mrs Quin - Hilda Fenemore *Mr Quin -

Russell Waters Russell Waters (10 June 1908 – 19 August 1982) was a British film actor. Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the Old English Comedy and Shakespeare Company then app ...

*Sam Hines - Harold Lang *Ned Reilly -

Melvyn Hayes Melvyn Hayes ('' né'' Hyams; born 11 January 1935) is an English actor and voice-over performer. He is best known for playing the effeminate Gunner (later Bombardier) "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'', for ...

*Pat Reilly - Leon Garcia *Mrs McBain -

Mona Washbourne Mona Lee Washbourne (27 November 1903 – 15 November 1988) was an English people, English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film ''Stevie (1978 film), Stevie'' (1978), late in her career, for ...

*Laura McBain - June Rodney *George McBain - Micky Maguire *Lucy McBain - Janice Field *Mrs Harris -

Dandy Nichols Dandy Nichols (born Daisy Sander; 21 May 1907 – 6 February 1986) was an English actress best known for her role as Else Garnett, the long-suffering wife of the character Alf Garnett, in the BBC sitcom '' Till Death Us Do Part''. Early l ...

*Susie Harris - Molly Osborne *Frankie Harris - Barry Martin *Mrs Bligh - Phyllis Morris *China Mender - Len Sharp *Junk Shop Owner -

Wallas Eaton Wallas Eaton (18 February 1917 – 3 November 1995), sometimes credited as Wallace Eaton or Wallis Eaton, was an English film, radio, television and theatre actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his voice roles between 1949 and 1960 in th ...

Production

It was based on a novel ''The Hop Dog'' published in 1952.

Filming Locations

Various filming locations were used in London, while Triggs Farm near

in Kent was the main location for filming of the scenes at Longrope Camp where the hop-pickers stay. Goudhurst High Street and St Mary the Virgin Church appear in various scenes. Also featured are the now-demolished Goudhurst Railway Station and Jill Windmill, above the village of Clayton, West Sussex.

Critical reception

The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' said "the production is modest, but the sets are good and the locations well chosen... rates with '' Johnny on the Run'' as one of the most successful of CFF's productions to date." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' gave the film two out of four stars, noting "An above average children's film, with believable characters and story." The ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' rated it two out of five stars, writing, "In days of yore, the poor folk of

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

flocked to

and went hop-picking...this exciting tale offers bullying, theft and a climactic lightning storm. A little piece of British social history from the future director of ''

The Towering Inferno ''The Towering Inferno'' is a 1974 American disaster film directed by John Guillermin and produced by Irwin Allen, featuring an ensemble cast led by Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. It was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from the novels '' The ...

''." ''Filmink'' called it " a decent, brisk, efficient movie...No one seems to bat an eye as she

iller The Iller (; ancient name Ilargus) is a river of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube, long. It is formed at the confluence of the rivers Breitach, Stillach and Trettach near Oberstdorf in the Al ...

gets on a train and then goes to work – what was the labor market like in 1954 England?"

Rediscovery

In 2002, a copy of ''Adventure in the Hopfields'' was discovered in a rubbish bin in Chicago, United States, and subsequently purchased by film buff Barry Littlechild for $35. The film was screened at the village hall in Goudhurst, near the filming locations, on 8 March 2002. It has since become available on DVD on specialist sites.Jane Asher's Lost Film Saved from Rubbish Author: David Sapsted and Malcolm Moore Date: Monday, Feb. 25, 2002 Publication: The Daily Telegraph (London, England) Issue: 45629 p 10 It was shown on

Talking Pictures TV Talking Pictures TV (TPTV) is a British free-to-air vintage film and nostalgia television channel. It was launched on 26 May 2015 on Sky. Later it also became available on Freeview, Freesat and Virgin Media. It is on air 24 hours a day and fe ...

in 2021.

References

External links

*
Adventure in the Hopfields
at Letterbox DVD
Clip of film
at YouTube {{John Guillermin British children's films Children's Film Foundation British black-and-white films 1950s children's films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films Films scored by Ronald Binge