Great Film overall

Blistering performances.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

One gets a fuller and more rounded picture of the times that the famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel Kidnapped is set in with this version of Kidnapped. Not only is the famous Stevenson novel taken to David Balfour's return and vindication, but we go a bit farther with the story based on Stevenson's successor novel Catriona and we get the Kidnapped story firmly entrenched in the times it happened.Those times being the days after the Battle Of Culloden where the Scottish people chose between the returning French speaking Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Hanover monarchy of George II in 1745. At Culloden the Stuart forces were destroyed and the Hanoverians firmly in control after that. Those were bad times to be a Highlander and a supporter of the Stuarts.Lawrence Douglas plays young David Balfour and Michael Caine is Alan Breck his friend and rescuer during the kidnapping of young Balfour by Captain Jack Hawkins at the behest of Balfour's uncle Donald Pleasance.I'll not say more as the story of Kidnapped is well known. As for the continuing material from Catriona, the differences between Alan Breck and David Balfour are brought out. Lawrence Douglas is a Hanoverian supporter and Breck a soldier in the army of Prince Charles. However Douglas is an honest young man and goes to bat for a Stuart accused of a crime he did not commit. That sets the rival Campbell clan against him and puts Advocate General Trevor Howard in a delicate position.Howard's character is not in the first novel and he's a decent man in an impossible political position. It's Alan Breck however who sets things right in the end for all concerned.Previous versions with Warner Baxter and Freddie Bartholomew and Peter Finch and James MacArthur only concentrated on the Kidnapped story. The Finch/MacArthur version was from Disney and marketed for kids. This film is more adult and firmly set in the politics of the time with a good ensemble cast. I'd check this out especially if I liked the work of Robert Louis Stevenson.

This rendition is exceptional and belongs in the movie Library of anyone who loves the classics. Michael Caine makes the movie. As Allen Breck he made the character everything I felt when I read the book. He looks and talks just as I pictured in my mind. Splendid indeed. David Balfou was drab and shy in the story and I found Lawrence Douglas to be just that. I love that this version follows the true chronicle, especially in the beginning and I felt like I was truly along with the characters in every scene. Donald Pleasence played Ebenezer Balfour brilliantly and his scenes with David are true to the original story. No other movie of Kidnapped was the same for me. Captivating as only Robert Louis Stevenson can be.

I enjoyed this movie very much. It is loosely based on two Robert Louis Stevenson novels, Kidnapped and its sequel Catriona. Those who would religiously stick to the contents of these novels will be disappointed in the adaptation. However, the film has, as it should IMHO, a world and plot of its own. Moreover, the plot is engaging and quite exciting.The film movingly portrays a culture and political cause on the verge of destruction and the politics behind it. To a certain extent, it has to modify the plot of the two novels to effectively do so. Now it might have been nice if we could have heard the Scottish language spoken amongst the Highlanders. This absence makes it harder to portray the cultural conflict which was important both in the period and in the novels. However, we can forgive the film's makers by remembering that such was rarely done in the early 1970s. The plot may not be entirely accurate in detail (the Appin murder, etc), but the portrayal of the Jacobite Rebellion is both very accurate and insightful, surprisingly so for a big-time film. The ending is a terrific and original attempt to convey the thoughts and psychology of a man through the medium of film. All that aside, it is a historical adventure. One either likes that genre or doesn't. If the former, then the chances are you will like this.

This is certainly not the worst film in history, but also far from great cinema. Despite dating from 1971, it has the look and feel of a film from the '40s."Kidnapped" follows the story of David Balfour, an orphaned Lowland Scots boy betrayed and cheated by his drunken oaf of an uncle on the cusp of his eighteenth birthday.The British uniforms and civilian attire are done well, but the "Highland" clothing is laughably inaccurate.Michael Caine is a very good actor, though horribly miscast in the role of "Allan Breck". The idea of having an Englishman play the role only adds weight to the fiction that anything here resembles genuine Highland history. The "i" is dotted with the garish swashbuckle mustachio sported by Caine. And that hair. Why?It is also interesting that most of the characters seem to have amazing skill in keeping their hair perfectly clean, straight and shiny and if they just left a hair salon when they are yomping around the Trossachs hiding from the English!The dialogue is wrought with semi-condescending, boring statements. I can not count how many times I heard words like "heather", "bonnie", or "lassie" from people who should not even be speaking English. It is overtly evident that none of the people involved with this movie, from the caterers to the director, had ANY historical background into Highland history and no knowledge of the culture apart from stereotype and myth.It was well-intentioned and not cynical, so it does have some strengths. See Rob Roy if you want a historically accurate film on the Highland experience.5/10