Nothing Venture (1948) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
3 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
4/10
The Artemus Boys' Own Adventures
boblipton8 March 2017
Patric Curwen is writing an adventure story for boys, when the Artemus Boys come into his garden and ask what they are to do this time. He sends them to a Norman tower, where some one takes a shot at some one, Terry Randal's horse bolts and Michael Aldredge rescues them. Then they all go off on an adventure which involves mysterious spies, a horse race and a ray which can knock planes out of the sky -- with occasional mild asides to the audience about the subject at hand.

Quite clearly, this was meant to be the sort of adventure story for boys that appeared in magazines for the period, in which adults put children into deadly danger with never a second thought, and the boys cleverly figure out things to thwart the baddie. Compared to movies like HUE AND CRY, which came out the same year, it is very silly, and not in a good sense. While it must have pleased its audience at the time, except for the cinematography of rural Sussex, it has not aged particularly well.

This was the second of three movies starring the Artemus Boys. Aside from these, they seem to have vanished from history. At least, there's nothing else about them on Google.
3 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
It Was a Lovely Day in June...
richardchatten13 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Framed by occasional Pirandellian asides featuring Patrick Curwen as 'The Author' at work on the plot as it progresses, this is the sort of nonsense that would soon be churned out on a regular basis by the Children's Film Foundation, filmed on location around Chichester by veteran documentary cameraman Jo Jago with obviously postsynched dialogue and to the accompaniment of a sometimes distractingly florid musical score by Kennedy Russell.

The three Artemus Boys are depicted seemingly emerging from the sea, to which they apparently return at the end having saved England from a ray capable of shooting down airplanes and which has attracted the interest of the usual gang of oafs led by a pompous Boss in two-tone shoes who affects a drawling English accent, but we are told comes from a sinister Foreign Power and ran a concentration camp during the war.

Leading lady Terry Randall (fetchingly attired for the most part in riding gear) died only two years at the ripe old age of a hundred in an old folks home in Hastings; while TV veteran Michael Aldridge gives an atrocious performance in his feature film debut as the Handsome Hero. The actor most likely to be familiar to connoisseurs of British cinema of yesteryear is Will Hay veteran Peter Gawthorne as the Scotland Yard official, who introduces a hitherto unsuspected element of science fiction into the proceedings when he informs the hero just what it is the gang are after.
3 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
2/10
Absolutely nothing gained
malcolmgsw6 November 2017
Whilst this film was obviously made for children it is surprising that this film was made so amateurishly,particularly when you bear in mind that the film was directed by the great John Baxter.For a start he could have found better actors than the Artemus Boys.Much of the film seems to have been dubbed in someone bathroom The story is very silly and I cannot believe that cinema-goers of the era would have bothered much with this.
0 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed