Information
- BFI identifier39682
- Date1961 (Copyright)
- Production countryUnited Kingdom
- Production company
- SynopsisChildren's film about three London children who acquire a giant egg which hatches out into a mild-mannered monster. (Synopsis)
- Genre
- Subject
- CreditsDirected by: Alberto Cavalcanti
©/Production Company: Children's Film Foundation
Production Company: Halas & Batchelor
view all - Cast
Title
The Monster of Highgate Ponds (Original)
EIDR identifier
10.5240/0078-303C-C7B3-6AFB-91B3-YCategory
FictionThis work is included in the BFI Filmography.
This work is available from BFI Archive Sales
This work is available to view in the Mediatheque at BFI Southbank.
- Collections
- Film / Video
35mm BW Positive - Safety - Combined - Viewing
16mm BW Positive - Safety - Combined - Viewing
VHS cassette - Video - Viewing
view all - Scripts / DocumentsScript - Original story: Based on the story by Joy Batchelor - SCR-12628
Script - Original story: Based on the story by Joy Batchelor - SCR-12629
Monster of Highgate Ponds - Live action co-production sponsored by the Children's Film Foundation. A strange egg is brought back from Africa as a present for a young boy by his uncle. The egg hatches into a dragon like monster, eventually growing so big it has to be let out onto Hampstead Heath where it seeks refuge in the ponds. The young monster [designed by Joy Batchelor] was modelled from plasticine. But the larger version was a rubber model operated by a stunt man inside. Joy Batchelor devised the story and there are several drafts of the script by her in the papers, but Mary Cathcart Borer is officially credited as screenwriter from an original story by Joy Batchelor. Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti; produced by John Halas; screenplay Mary Cathcart Borer; author of original work Joy Batchelor; director of photography: Frank North; animation [of the young monster] by Vic Hotchkiss; editor: Robert Hill; music by Francis Chagrin. Cast includes Rachel Clay, Michael Wade, Terry Raven and Ronald Howard Papers include early treatments, synopses, draft scripts, music cue sheet, legal papers, early designs for the monster, correspondence between Joy Batchelor and CFF regarding script and story development, stills, press cuttings - HAB-1-64
Script - Early treatment by Joy Batchelor with title 'Dear Nessy'. Set in Loch Ness, Scotland, it tells the story of a young boy's encounter with the Loch Ness Monster and with jewel thieves masquerading as scientists investigating the sightings, 5 pages, typescript, no annotation, 24 September 1956 [Although very different from the Highgate Ponds setting and plot line this may well have been the earliest genesis of the idea for Joy Batchelor. There a similar themes. The idea of a child having close proximity and a solid companionship with a young 'monster'. Also the intervention of the press and the child being befriended for the journalist's story] - HAB-1-64-1
Script - First draft dialogue treatment with working title 'The Monster', by Joy Batchelor, entirely handwritten in blue ink, 27 pages, no date [c.1956-1957] [This draft establishes the setting in Highgate and Hampstead Heath. The Miller family and characters Sophie and David] - HAB-1-64-2
view all - Posters / Designs
- StillsPhotograph: film still - Portrait - SPD-2861007
Photograph: film still - Portrait - SPD-2861008
Photograph: film still - Portrait - SPD-2861009
Photograph: film still - Portrait - SPD-2861010
Photograph: film still - Portrait - SPD-2861011
view all - Articles
- +The Monster of Highgate Ponds
Work - 39682 - 1961 (Copyright)
United Kingdom - Film - Fiction
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