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Erskine Childers Message Board


Amanda posts on 3/25/2010 7:42:29 PM The antagonists are not "Nazis" as this book was first published in 1903, and Nazis were in WWII. Rather, they are Germans, or more accurately the German government/military. However, the main antagonist is a British traitor who is pretending to be German.
Derk posts on 8/13/2005 10:23:17 AM I would like to have and see the video. Who can help me with information where and how to order?
Christian Roussel posts on 7/22/2005 7:03:29 AM Mike, you've got me thinking now! Perhaps you have some sort of abridged version? Certainly my copy (Penguin Classics, 'Complete and Unabridged' it boasts!) appears to be the real deal. I'm struggling to remember; let's see, in the original book it's Carruthers who listens in on the meeting at the salvage depot on Memmert Sand (I have the charts in front of me, that's how I can remember the names so easily!). Carruthers goes mainly because his grasp of the German language is so much better than Davies'. In my copy of the book once he's eavesdropped all he can he makes his way back to the waiting Davies under the cover of the fog. I think it's later in the book that Carruthers comes across the actual sheds that the barges are being made in. But they aren't actually near the islands themselves, they're someway inland I think. If the film ever comes out on DVD I'd be the first in the queue. While it may not be as good as the book (not many transitions to film are) it's still has a certain charm. Anyway, good reading Mike.



Mike Hadley posts on 7/19/2005 10:34:06 PM Many thanks for your reply Christian. It is not so much the differences between the book and the video that are of interest to me but more the fact that when I first read the book at school (in about 1954) the question of the large shed where the barges were being made matched up very well with the current video. However, the book I now have is very different as there is no mention of this shed and it is Carruthers who is nosing about and not Davies. Anyway, give me a bit of time to look at the video again and re-read the book just to make sure that I am not imagining thigs - at my age weird things happen sometimes. Eill post another message in due course.
Christian Roussel posts on 7/19/2005 10:37:04 AM In reply to Mike: There are a number of differences between the book and the film. Most of these differences offer only small injections of action simply to spice up the film a little. I personally love the book (I've read it three times) but looking at it from a purely cinematic point of view I can understand some of the changes. For example; the Kormoran is no longer a sail barge in the film but an tug with an engine and at one point is about to ram the Dulcibella until the timely intervention of Jenny Agutter's dingy. Our hero Davies is also given a good whack on the head by a German sailor whilst nosing around on the fog enshrouded sand banks. I think in the book he simply trips and hits his head on something (an old anchor?). And Mike you're right; Carruthers does have an altercation with a German sailor in a large shed. I think he bests him by shoving a rail car at him which probably crushes him to death (but let's gloss over that!). He then makes good his escape with the rest of the Germans none the wiser. During the climax of the film the 'invasion' barge being towed by the Kormoran actually contains real soldiers (just to add more suspense). I've got to be honest though, I can't quite remember how Dollman gets his comeuppance in the film. In the book he simply throws himself overboard and drowns when no one is looking. Does he get killed when one of the boats is rammed? I can't quite remember. All the best.
Mike posts on 4/3/2005 11:50:33 AM When I read this book in the early fifties it made reference to a large wooden shed used to manufacture invasion barges, and a video I now have shows the shed and also shows Davies spying inside and then being chased away. There is no mention of this shed in the 1993 edition of the book and the way Dollman died is also different. Can someone tell me why these and other changes have been made.
Wil Richardson posts on 3/6/2005 2:51:03 AM This book takes place before WW1, there are no nazis in it. 'Huns' perhaps, Imperial Germans, definitely, but no nazis. The main antagonist is also not a German, he's an English traitor.


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