SHIPWRECK (THE SEA GYPSIES)

US, 1978, 102 minutes, Colour.
Robert Logan, Heather Rattray, Mikki Jamison- Olsen.
Directed by Stewart Raffil

A well made family film by Stewart Raffil, the maker of 'Across the Great Divide'. Colourful adventure, credible enough people, a minimum of sentiment, good adventure sequences. Fine American f ilm-making for the family.

1. The impact of a family film and its being directed towards all members of the family? Audience expectations from this kind of film? From the title?

2. The quality of location photography, the atmosphere of Alaska and the sea and its mountains and rivers, the animals and the variety of wild life?

3. The credibility of the plot: the start and the preparations for the voyage, T.V. interviews, Kelly and her going aboard? The achievement of the sailing and surviving the shipwreck? Audiences identifying with the characters?

4. The visual presentation of the ship, life on the ship? Travis and the bond with his daughters? His ability in manoeuvring the ship? Kelly and her learning? The black boy stowing away, falling over, being rescued? Their working well and enjoying the voyage? The tranquility and beauty of the sea?

5. Comment on the domestic sequences within the ship and the rapport between the persons on it.

6. The build-up to the storm, its violence, their plans to abandon ship, the wreck and their surviving, landing on the beach?

7. How well did the family cope? Alaska and the seasons, the rivers, mountains? The cliffs? How well did each of the members cope - the children, Travis, Kelly, the boy?

7. Preoccupations with hunting and the scenes with the door, the buffalo? Adventure? Sentiment with the deer mother? The cold, the rain, fishing? The building of the hut?

8. The presentation of the animals - the deer, the buffalo, the wolves, the bear and its various attacks and the danger of violence?

9. The evidence of the plane wreck and Travis hiding from the bear within it? Kelly and her discovery of the mauled man and the pathos of his diary? The possibilities for themselves?

10. The importance of building the boat, the diving for the material from the wreck, the sequence with the whale and its danger? The celebrations? The working together? The love between Kelly and Travis?