The premiere of Richard Pilbrow’s movie Swallows and Amazons was held 50 years ago at the ABC cinema in Shaftesbury Avenue, London, on 4th April 1974, as a Royal Gala charity matinee in aid of the charity KIDS.

This Saturday (6th April 2024) sees a 50th Anniversary Screening of the film followed by a Q&A session with cast and crew at the Cinema Museum in London. Hosted by writer and broadcaster Brian Sibley with the film’s screenwriter David Wood, the screening will reunite the crew of the Swallow: Simon West, Sophie Neville, Stephen Grendon and Suzanna Hamilton. 

• Further details, including ticket information, are here.

You can read more about Sophie Neville’s experience of the original 1974 film premiere here, and buy her book about The Making of Swallows and Amazons, based on the diaries that she kept on location during the filming, from the Nancy Blackett Shop. 

Additional 50th Anniversary Screenings are to be held in the Lake District at the Windermere Jetty Museum near Bowness-on-Windermere, as part of a Swallows and Amazons Festival, on Saturday 29^th& Sunday 30th June, and also in Woodbridge, Suffolk, on Saturday 13th July, at the Riverside Cinema.