Children’s Film Foundation Bumper Box Vol. 4 (DVD)

Had enough of the hideous here and now? Take a moment of me-time, turn off your phone and whizz back to analogue days with this effervescent assortment of retro-cinema corkers from the Children’s Film Foundation – Britain’s best-loved makers of quality children’s cinema for kids young and old, from the boxy blazered 1950s to the synthetic-fibred 1980s.

This very British cinematic rabbit hole leads to a land of eccentric fun, silly scrapes and escapist thrills where you’ll encounter nine marvellous feature-length mini-masterpieces for kids, not to mention a sumptuous sideshow of unusually invigorating extras. So grab your outsize bag of sherbet lemons, crack open a Vimto and settle down for a terrific box-set binge to beat those modern-world blues!

The Films:

• The Dog and the Diamonds (1953)
• The Stolen Airliner (1955)
• Blow Your Own Trumpet (1958)
• The Missing Note (1961)
• The Big Catch (1968)
• Blinker's Spy-Spotter (1972)
• The Flying Sorcerer (1973)
• Mr Selkie (1978)
• Gabrielle and the Doodleman (1984)

• Five short films from the Children’s Film Foundation collection - Horsey hi-jinks and sneaky saddle-snappery in Stable Rivals (1952, 16 mins), saggy socked seaside shenanigans in Swift Water (1952, 16 mins), the Chiffy Kids meet Kenny ‘Dr Terror’s House of Horrors’ Lynch and Harry H ‘Steptoe and Son’ Corbett in Pot Luck and Chimp Mates – The Big Kick (1976, 36 mins total) and reminders of pre-internet pastimes in Our Magazine No 4 (1952, 11 mins)
• A brand spanking new documentary by filmmaker and CFF aficionado Jason Gurr as he revisits some of the greatest ever  locations used in the many productions
• Fully illustrated booklet featuring new writing by CFF expert Vic Pratt, recollections from Samantha Weysom (The Appointment) on her role in Mr Selkie and a CFF quiz by the BFI’s Trevona Thomson