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Sixties
Television
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Knights,
Pirates and Legends |
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click on logos for programme info and on above image for theme
songs
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Although
not, strictly speaking, 'Sixties' television programmes, the great
'swashbuckling' action adventure series produced during the Fifties
and into the early Sixties enjoyed many repeat transmissions during
the early and mid-Sixties and were certainly vital viewing for me
and still remain some of my strongest and dearest memories of Sixties
television. So popular and enduring were the characters and stories
that they are still periodically being shown on various channels and
stand up well even against today's high-tec productions. With the
passage of time it is fascinating to see the early screen activities
of actors who went on to become household names and big screen stars.
Strangely, the swashbuckler genre was not initiated by British television
companies but rather as a result of American film studios attempting
to win back or attract dwindling cinema audiences lost to the new
medium of television. Many of the classic epics, lavish biblical and
historical films had been produced in Britain, partly as a result
of American movie companies earnings being frozen by the government
of the time, and mainly British cast and crew were used to produce
such classics as Ivanhoe, Knights of The Round Table and The Master
of Ballantrae. |
An
additional reason for British production was the possibility for the
use of scripts and stories contributed by writers blacklisted in the
American industry for 'un-American' activities, including Waldo Salt,
Ring Lardner Jr., Arnold Perl, Ian McLellan Hunter and Adrian Scott.
The Fifties saw many pilots being produced for potential television
series. Hal Roach Studios produced pilot episodes for 'Tales of Robin
Hood' in 1951 and others included 'The Sword of D'Artagnan' (1952),
'Captain Kidd' and 'Ali Baba' (1956), 'The Sword', 'Prince Valiant',
'The Gaucho' and 'The Fox' and 'The Highwayman' (1958).
A number of series were successfully produced and transmitted during
the Fifties - many of you will, of course, remember classic shows
such as 'The Count of Monte Cristo', 'The Gay Cavalier', 'The Scarlet
Pimpernel', 'The Black Brigand', 'The Silver Sword', 'The Black Arrow'
and the 'original' Robin Hood six-part series of 1953 starring Patrick
Troughton, later to achieve more lasting TV fame as 'Dr Who' - but
I will deal here only with my 'top ten' classic series of 'swashbucklers'
that had a major impact for me with transmission during the Sixties. |
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On
the demise of regular transmission of these shows the genre did not
really resurface until ITV produced 'Arthur of The Britons' in 1972.
The most successful series of the period was, without any doubt, 'The
Adventures of Robin Hood' which Hannah Weinstein's Sapphire Films
started producing in 1955.
The popularity and financial success and it spawned considerable competition
from other companies eager to get in on the act, most notably with
'The Buccaneers' (1956-57), 'The Adventures of Sir Lancelot' (1956-57),
Harry Alan Towers' series 'The Adventures of The Scarlet Pimpernel'
(1956), ITC's 'The Count of Monte Cristo' (1956), George King's 'The
Gay Cavalier' (1957), ITC's The Adventures of William Tell' (1958-59),
the US/UK co-production of 'Ivanhoe' (1958-59), ABC/ATV's 'Sir Francis
Drake' (1961-62), and the Danzigers' 'Richard the Lionheart' (1962-63). |
Danzigers' New
Elstree Studios - click image for more info at CinemaRetro |
By
the time production of Richard the Lionheart had started, in April
of 1961, the Danzigers' Elstree Studios were starting to decline.
The final episode of Lionheart was completed in December 1961, as
well as another swashbuckler - 'The Spanish Sword' - which used many
sets, props, costumes and cast members from the Lionheart series.
Despite the likely closure of the studio (left) the Danzigers produced
scripts for what would have been their first colour series, the Arabian
Nights 'Adventures of Ali Baba', but the project was abandoned when
Associated Rediffusion withdrew financial support. |
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These
were, of course, ITV-transmitted series. The BBC also had its own crop of
period 'swashbucklers' but these tended to be more dramatic productions
based on 'classic' works, made in the form of (usually six or more) serialised
parts and usually transmitted live. These included 'Treasure Island' and
'The Black Arrow' (1951), the aforementioned 'Robin Hood' starring Patrick
Troughton (1953), 'Clementina' and 'The Three Musketeers' (1954), 'The Black
Tulip' (1956), 'Redgauntlet' (1959), 'The Splendid Spur' (1960), 'Rob Roy'
(1961), 'The Count of Monte Cristo' (1964) 'Further Adventures of The Musketeers
(1967) and various productions of R.L. Stevenson's classic 'Kidnapped'.
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SixtiesCity 2008