Gerald Durrel in Corfu 1939

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I have just seen this wonderful 1930s story on a young Gerald Durrell on holiday in Corfu just before WWII. I think it was made in 2005. Has anyone seen 'My Children and Other Animals'?

 

[Fletch]

/Children/Family

Great memoir. Wasn't aware it had been filmed. I hope it did Spiro justice - what a priceless character he was.

 

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Spiro

Yes they captured him in all his glory from the first scene where he picks them up in the car till the last scene at the dock when they are returning to the UK.

Gerald Durrell has written three books solely regarding his childhood: "My Family and Other Animals", "Birds, Beasts and Relatives" and "Fillets of Plaice". In several other books he also mentions his family and early days; both greatly affected his life.


Corfu

Durrell was born in India in 19. When he was three his family moved to Bournemouth, then to Corfu, Greece, where Durrell spent the most important five years of his childhood. His father, Lawrence Samuel Durrell, died while Gerald was a baby so his mother, Mrs. Louisa Florence Durrell was left to bring four children up.
The popular accounts of the Durrell family's life in Corfu were some of Durrell's best sellers with a television comedy series being made out of "My Family and Other Animals" in the 1970s.


Durrell had always loved animals, and as a young child in Corfu his goal was to run his own zoo. His family got so annoyed with this obsession, with animals Durrell had collected escaping from his room and running rampant through the house, that they converted the spare room of their house into an animal storage room in which a young Durrell was allowed to keep specimens, taxidermy projects and scientific equipment.


Education

Some of Durrell's education was carried out by a private tutors. Lessons were often arranged to appeal to Durrell's love of nature; Geography was carried out by arranging driftwood, shells and other seaside debris into continents and countries on the beaches where Durrell swam and played. English was never a strong subject for him, so writing was not a career option until much later. By the time he was ten he had managed to rear, keep and observe hundreds of different animals, with a few tragic losses such as in the case of a family of baby hedgehogs.


After moving around Corfu into three different houses, the family was forced to move back to England after five years because of the second World War.


Family

Durrell's family played a major part in both his early life and career as a writer. At first it was hoped that his love of animals was some sort of phase that he was going through and was going to grow out of, while scorpions destroyed dinner and a donkey kicked family members (his mother states that his first word was "Zoo" and one of his clearest memories of India was finding slugs in a ditch on one of his daily trips to the local equivalent of a zoo with his ayah). But it soon it became clear that this not theb case.


The following is a list of the members of the Durrell family whilst living in Corfu.


Louisa Florence (Dixie) Durrell - Gerald's Mother
Lawrence (Larry) Durrell - Grew up to become the famous author of the 'Alexandria' series.
Margot Durrell - Talented dress designer and interior decorator
Leslie Durrell - Skilled painter, older than Gerald.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EMG97W/imdb-adbox/

Gerald Durrell grew up to be a famous naturalist, animal-collector and conservationist. Over his lifetime he wrote thirty-seven books, went on dozens of animal-collecting trips and presented numerous television shows including The Amateur Naturalist and Ourselves and Other Animals. For those who have read Durrell's books or at least know of him, the latest Masterpiece Theater film (currently screening on PBS) of his memoir My Family and Other Animals, will be a real treat.

Quirky, silly and also lovely to watch, the film stars Imelda Staunton as Gerald's mother and the hunky Matthew Goode as Larry, his older brother, and most of the action takes place in the picaresque island of Corfu. The Durrell family is indeed eccentric. Imbued with a sense of adventure and totally fed up with the gloomy English weather, they pack themselves off Corfu where they're soon adopted by Spiro, the only English-speaking taxi driver on the island (Omid Djalili).

Unfortunately Mum doesn't have much faith as a parent and she tends to let her collection of eccentric kids rule the roost. She spoils and indulges them. Larry (Goode) spends as much time a he can with a glass of wine and conversation as he does at his transportable typewriter, constantly passing acidic judgments over everyone else. Second son Leslie (Russell Tovey) thinks of himself as a big-time hunter, firing shots around whenever and wherever he can and always getting on everyone's nerves.

The teenage daughter fresh faced and blond haired Margo (Tamzin Merchant) thinks of nothing but boys, while the youngest 12-year-old Gerald (Eugene Simon) constantly brings home live animals to observe in cages in his room, much to the chagrin of Larry and the rest of the family - the scene where a couple of magpies take over Larry's bedroom is absolutely precious. Gerald spends most of his time spurning his mother's attempts to educate him; he'd prefer to run around the countryside, often sleeping outdoors observing nature with a cool and calculated wonderment.

Although there isn't much of a plot - most of the narrative momentum comes from moving from one villa to another - the film is never slow because of the wonderful characters, the quick writing, and the wonderful island vistas. The Durrells must not only come to terms with a new and unfamiliar culture, but they must also put up with each other's foibles, and much of the film is made up of how each family member clashes often with unforeseen results.

Into their oddball lives come various island characters who orbit around them, sometimes briefly, sometimes longer, most notable is the enigmatic Rose Beetle Man, (Dimitkis Kaberidis). Larry's whiny eccentric friends appall everyone, and Leslie shoots his gun off just once to often. Of course, it's 1935 and paradise can't last forever. War with Germany is looming and although Mom doesn't want to hear it, and neither do her unconventional flock, she realizes that eventually she must get them back to England.

Director Sheree Folkson certainly makes the most of he stunning Greek vistas, and the 1930's period detail, and one really gets the sense that the Durrell's really were living an idyllic existence. Subtly is the name of the game in this production - Staunton effectively downplays her eccentricities as do the other actors, consequently the family's odd quirks are endearing and never become irritating or grating.

My Family and Other Animals is an intelligent and comical film about the importance of family and also about tolerating one's sibling eccentricities. The Durrell family seems just content to just let it all happen and though many will wish that more of the family's mishaps had made it into the film, what is incorporated is still an affectionate and humorous treasure.

This a some film from it http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/myfamily/preview_qt.html

 

[LadyStardust]

This was a good adaptation. And that, for me, is saying alot, considering Durrell is absolutely among my top 3 most cherished authors. It did a charming job with what it could, but any of Gerald's books would be so hard to transfer to film because the enchantment is in the details. His books are all about his observations of the world about him, about all facets of animal interaction, and human relationships, and sometime he co-relates those too. I think it must be very challenging to capture that on film without appearing tiresome, and this film avoids it for the most part, though it doesn't near capture the full spirit of the book. I thought all the actors also did as good a job as they could, especially the little boy who depicted Gerry. I actually don't think they made Spiro prepostorous enough, and that was his appeal. I also dearly, dearly wish they had spent more time on Dr. Stephanides, as there is doubtless a more influential or wonderful character in the book.
Oh, and not to be nitpicky, but the third book in the Corfu trilogy is not Fillets of Plaice, but rather Garden of the Gods. It used to be out of print and very rare, which was a shame, but I believe it's in circulation again. Durrell was a truly fascinating, charming, and outstanding personality, and I have infinite amounts of respect for him. I would recommend his books to anyone.