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The Box of Delights

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The Box of Delights
File:Boxdelights.jpg
Mammoth paperback edition
AuthorJohn Masefield
Cover artistLiz Pyle
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy novel
PublisherHeinemann
Publication date
1935
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages309 pp
ISBNNA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character

The Box of Delights is a children's fantasy novel by John Masefield. It is a sequel to The Midnight Folk, and was first published in 1935.

Plot summary

The central character is Kay Harker who, on returning from boarding school, finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box, which allows the owner to go small (shrink) and go swift (fly), experience magical wonders contained within the box and go into the past.

The owner of the box is an old Punch and Judy man called Cole Hawlings, whom Kay meets on a railway station. They have an instant rapport, and this leads Cole to confide that he is being chased by a man called Abner Brown and his gang. For safety, Cole entrusts the box to Kay, who then goes onto have many adventures.

BBC adaptation

File:Boxofdelights.jpg
The Box of Delights UK DVD release

The Box of Delights was adapted for television by the BBC in 1984, featuring Patrick Troughton and Robert Stephens. It was broadcast November–December, in six parts, with the last episode transmitted on Christmas Eve. Starring Devin Stanfield as Kay and directed by Renny Rye, it used an innovative mixture of live action and animation, with Quantel Paintbox and chroma key effects to bring the adventure alive. Noted for its yuletide atmosphere (it is set during Christmas), the series has become something of a nostalgic treat for followers of cult TV. The seasonal theme music is Victor Hely-Hutchinson's orchestral arrangement of "The First Noël" from his Carol Symphony.

The episodes are:

  1. "When the Wolves Were Running"
  2. "Where Shall the 'Nighted Showman Go?"
  3. "In the Darkest Cellars Underneath"
  4. "The Spider in the Web"
  5. "Beware of Yesterday"
  6. "Leave Us Not Little, Nor Yet Dark"

The serial was repeated in 1986, edited into three 50 minute episodes. For this transmission the episodes were entitled -

  1. "When The Wolves Were Running.."
  2. "The Spider In The Web"
  3. "Fire and Flood"

There was an earlier adaptation for BBC radio, being staple Christmas fare on the programme Children's Hour in the early 1950s. The television version was shown by PBS in the USA for some three years in the late 1980s. BBC Worldwide released the serial on DVD in 2004. It is not available in the US on Region 1 DVD or NTSC VHS tape.


Differences between the novel and the BBC adaptation

The novel contains more magical adventures or events than appeared in the BBC version. This was presumably because of budgeting and special effect constraints; however, the BBC did not otherwise alter the plot significantly. The novel describes Kay as using the box on more occasions than those depicted in the television adaptation. The following incidents occur only in the novel:

  • After the Punch and Judy show the children are shown various magic tricks that include a miniature army of soldiers that walk out of the wainscott and drill.
  • Kay Harker and the Jones children take refuge from Abner's men in a tree by a river bank. They are also shown around the tree and the various animal and insect dwellings within it. There is also a scene where the children dance with fairies.
  • Kay is taken to witness a medieval jousting match.
  • More detail is provided as to how the Box of Delights found its way into the possession of Cole Hawlings. The Novel states that the Box came to England as an antiquity and found its way into the hands of a Countess. Cole Hawlings then discovered hiding place of the Box. Abner Brown also discovered the Box's location but only after Cole had taken it. The BBC adaptation suggests that Cole was given the box by its creator Arnold of Todi.
  • Arnold of Todi is convinced to come back out of the past. However, he has no interest in re-claiming the box. He attends the Midnight Service towards the end of the book.

Trivia

  • When Kay meets mouse behind the skirtingboard they encounter pirate rats. One of the rats in the tunnel was played by Nick Berry, later of EastEnders and Heartbeat.
  • As an adult, Devin Stanfield went on to do behind-the-scenes work in the theatre.
  • The outdoor snow scenes were filmed near Aberdeen, Scotland in January 1984.
  • The scene with Kay inside Arthur's Camp fighting the wolves was filmed in June 1984, near Reading, Berkshire. There was pressure on the production to get all the shots finished because they were filming on one of the shortest nights of the year.
  • The police inspector is played by James Grout who went on to play Chief Superintendent Strange in Inspector Morse
  • Sir Robert Stephens, who played Abner Brown, was later married to Patricia Quinn, who played Sylvia Daisy Pouncer. They were already a couple by the time the serial was made. They married in 1995, shortly before Stephens' accepted his knighthood at Buckingham Palace, in part so that as his wife Quinn would be accepted as 'Lady Stephens'.[citation needed]
  • The scenes representing the children's party at the house of the Bishop were filmed at Kinlet Hall in Shropshire.
  • The scenes showing the external appearance of Abner Brown's theological college are Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire.
  • The railway station scene was filmed at Arley railway station on the Severn Valley Railway in north Worcestershire
  • One of the Greek soldiers Kay meets on his trip back through time was played by the British actor Julian Sands in one of his earliest screen roles.
  • The Cathedral scenes were filmed in Hereford Cathedral and used Hereford Cathedral Choir

Opera

John Masefield adapted an opera libretto from his book, also incorporating elements of The Midnight Folk, which was eventually set to music in the late 1980s by British composer Robert Steadman.

Reissue

The New York Review of Books Children's Collection will be reissuing a hardcover edition of The Box of Delights in the autumn of 2007.

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