The Moon-Spinners

The Moon-Spinners

The Moon-Spinners

The Moon-Spinners

This is a great film just to kick back and enjoy! Pretty straightforward and enjoyable! Haley ISN"T a child anymore but a grown up woman here! And guys I don't know about you but I could watch her walk around in that beautiful nightdress set all night! Why don't women wear such pretty gowns anymore? It's a real shame they stopped making such great things!! She is sexy just because she is so innocent but looking like she is wanting to lose that virginal state someone was talking about! Anyway this is long gone as is Crete of that day! But it shows it as it was before the tourists ruined EVERYthing EVERYwhere!! It's still a great place to visit but not in the summer, any of the Greek islands for that matter!

First thing. The Moon Spinners, despite the tag line on IMDb, is not set on a SMALL Greek island, but a rather large one, Crete. I watched this movie for the first time today, April 17th, 2006..43 years after it was released. I did so mainly because I first went to Crete in 1976, when it was quite undeveloped. So I was interested to see what it was like in 1964 - even more adorable. Sadly I've been back on business and it is now hideously over-developed. But the original beauty and primitiveness of Crete comes over in this film. The movie itself seems to lose its way - someone should have had a close look at the script. From the moment the alleged British consul played by John Le Mesurier makes an appearance the movie heads off into bizarre territory. Polo Negri as the much-married Greek millionaire looks like a man in drag, and the last 45 minutes leaves one both bewildered and yawning. But what are astonishing are the stunts. The young kid leaping onto the moving windmill sail, and spinning full circle on it; then actor McEnery, on the face of it, doing partially the same. (I'm assuming they used a stunt double for Hayley Mills). Even McEnery leaping from rock to dangerous rock. The motor-boat scenes look a bit hairy too, and I think there would be a lot more Health and Safety regulation now. (McEnery was already showing signs of what would become a considerable dramatic pedigree). But it was an enjoyable romp in parts, and early Sixties Crete looked marvellous and unspoilt. History buffs may recall that a savage battle was fought there in 1941 when German airborne forces wrested control of the island from British and New Zealand forces. (War cemeteries are present on the island to this day). Later Cretan partisans fought the German occupiers from the mountains. In 1976 one such partisan by then in his Seventies, proudly showed me a knife with Luftwaffe markings he'd taken after allegedly killing its Nazi owner. But small Crete is not. It's the largest of the many Greek islands. About 130 miles long at its longest point, I recall, and about 80 miles deep. Final note: As teenagers we were all in love with Hayley Mills - she seemed to epitomise the times, fresh-faced, innocent, naive. Reason enough to watch this and recapture the Zeitgeist of 1964. Stuart White

This is one of my absolute favorites. My sister and I rented this movie from Netflix and we just don't want to send it back! Its almost surprising that I liked this movie so much considering the fact that I have never enjoyed Hayley Mills' acting skills, but she was seriously great in this. I also REALLY liked the boy who played Mark. Irene Papas was a great supporting actress & like everything she does, she performed the small part perfectly. It was the first movie I'd ever seen with Eli Wallach and I thought he made a marvelous villain. All the characters were so enjoyable! Even little Alexis. The theme song is awesome! Its super family friendly and just tons of fun to watch! I love this movie.

Whether a film is, or is not, "like the book" that it is purportedly based on, is surely the most ridiculous reason for liking or disliking it. A film is a film and a book is a book. Two very different art forms. No one can "film a book." For one thing, they won't fit. A long movie has roughly the content of a short story. Trying too hard to pack in all the material of the book is a recipe for cinematic disaster. On the other hand, drawing inspiration from a great book can often produce a great movie. But the two remain separate works and must be judged separately. Never was this more true than in the case of Walt Disney. His movies, even the ones he produced at arm's length, like The Moon-Spinners, were always "Disney" movies first and foremost. Products of his unique vision. That was always a given... when you went to see a Disney movie, you knew what to expect. Not the "Mary Poppins" of the books, nor the Mowgli of Kipling. You knew it would be Disney's Mowgli... and you knew he'd be a wonderful creation in his own right. Though it fits well with Disney's other UK-produced works (Greyfriars Bobby, Emil and the Detectives, Darby O'Gill, etc.) The Moon-Spinners is still very much a Disney movie. It's warm and safe, even in its most dangerous moments. It transports us back to a time and place that never really existed, except in Walt's imagination. But which we always WANTED to exist. A place where we could romp up and down Cretan hills with the glowing (and by now disturbingly voluptuous) Haley Mills. ("Double chins" indeed! Only the most anorexia-fixated American viewer could fail to find her a vision of beauty in this film.) The story line is slim, to be sure, but actually quite robust by Disney standards. It's Disney's Midsummer Night's dream... a memory of a dream of a romp on a warm summer night on a romantic Mediterranean isle. That's more than enough for me... though like any dream, it's a very personal thing.

First off, I am a fan of Hayley Mills. That is why I saw this film in the first place. I like her work and this Disney film has a certain draw that I enjoy. The setting (actually filmed there) is great and the music a nice backdrop. McEnery adds a nice romantic flair. What can I say? I liked him. I'll admit that the film has its faults, and it is not on any of my top film lists. The film drags on in several chunks of the story. You can read more on the plot from others, this is just my opinion overall. But, if you like Hayley in late Disney style, off the coast of Greece somewhere helping McEnery against jewel criminals,... then this flick is for you. :) GRADE: Low B

While I was a great Hayley Mills fan during that era, I found this dumbed down Disney adaptation of Mary Stewart's engrossing novel disappointing. The story revolves around a young girl, Nikki Ferris, who travels with her aunt to the Greek island of Crete. While there, Nikki and a handsome young love interest named Mark become involved in unearthing a case of jewel theft and murder, all in connection with the hotel's surly, unwelcoming owner and her villainous brother, Stratos. My complaints are numerous. For starters, Stewart's heroine is supposed to be a young woman in her early 20's...smart, independent, and competent though ultimately vulnerable to the unfolding events. Hayley Mills, much as I like this actress, just seemed totally wrong for the role. Stewart's Nicola simply isn't intended to be the perky, whiny, fresh faced teenager, Nikki, that is portrayed here by Mills. Also, although there is a budding romance involved, the novel is essentially a mystery thriller. This movie seems more a teen romantic comedy with a few mystery / suspense elements thrown in. Some have aptly described Nikki's relationship with Mark as puppy love. In the novel Nicola is older and it's a genuine romance. I loved the book which I read as a teenager myself and really admired Nicola, who's such an intelligent heroine. It was so difficult for me to get past her age & character transformation and the different genre given to the tale that I failed to enjoy this movie. Really, the entire plot of this Disney flick deviates so much from the novel that most of the time, I would hardly have recognized it. However, there is lovely Greek scenery and it's undoubtedly an entertaining film for those who haven't read the book. I don't begrudge anyone their enjoyment of it. Hayley gets her first screen kiss here from Peter McEnery who portrays Mark. Also, I'd definitely recommend this movie for viewing by young people, as it's a whole lot more inspiring than most of what's out there these days. Just whatever you do, don't read the novel first! I repeat...DO NOT READ THE BOOK FIRST.

In some of her early films, such as 'Tiger Bay' or 'Whistle Down the Wind', Hayley Mills revealed herself to be one of Britain's most remarkable child actresses, but as an adult her films were generally unremarkable. The light family films she made in her teenage years for Disney and others can be seen as marking a stage in her decline to the ordinary from the extraordinary. Indeed, they were possibly a cause of that decline; had she been given more demanding roles during this period she might have matured into a bigger adult star. The studios' determination to fit her into the role of Teenage Virgin Queen occupied a few years earlier by Sandra Dee might also have made it more difficult for the public to accept her as an adult woman. 'The Moonspinners' is a typical offering from her Disney period. The teenage Nikky Ferris arrives for a holiday in Crete with her aunt, a musicologist who wants to make recordings of Cretan folk-music. The owner of their hotel, however, is unwelcoming and his behaviour soon arises Nikky's suspicions that he is involved in some criminal enterprise. Nikky meets and befriends a young Englishman, Mark, and the two soon find themselves involved in a search to recover some stolen jewels. Several other reviewers compare this film to the work of Alfred Hitchcock. The film is a mixture of romantic comedy and thriller, although I felt that the romance and comedy elements predominate over the suspense elements to a greater extent than they ever do in Hitchcock, even in his lighter films. The scene where Nikki and Mark are rescued from the windmill, however, did strike me as very Hitchcockian; I wondered if it was intended as deliberate homage to the similar scene involving Joel McCrae in 'Foreign Correspondent'. My general impression of the film was that it was, despite some attractive location photography, a fairly routine light thriller. Peter McEnery, as Mark, makes an uncharismatic leading man, and the principal baddies (Eli Wallach as suspicious, surly foreigner and John Le Mesurier as smooth but hypocritical English gentleman) are drawn straight from the Official Hollywood Scriptwriter's Guide to Stock Villainous Characters. There is an amusing cameo from Sheila Hancock as Le Mesurier's alcoholic wife, but the best thing about the film is the presence of Hayley herself. She reminded me of Audrey Hepburn whose charisma and presence frequently enabled her to make memorable what would otherwise have been very ordinary thrillers or romantic comedies. Hayley was, of course, considerably younger than Audrey and (in my view) less classically beautiful, but shared with her the ability to carry a film through charm and charisma. 'The Moonspinners' is not in the same league as Hayley's best films, but it is worth watching for a chance to see this fine young actress. 6/10