Kidnapped is my favourite book of all time.It says everything there is to say about true friendship and loyalty against all odds. I feel the same way about Walt Disney's glorious film version.Having always loved and admired Peter Finch,I dream about being David to his Alan; an adventure I live and re-live.Both book and film represent my ultimate fantasy. David Allen

Kidnapped is directed by Robert Stevenson, is based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and stars Peter Finch, James MacArthur, John Laurie, Bernard Lee and Peter O'Toole.David Balfour (James MacArthur)gets caught up in the adventure of a lifetime when he befriends the mysterious Alan Breck Stewart (Peter Finch). Stewart is a Jacobite and is wanted by the British. Stewart and Balfour find themselves pursued by soldiers and must be careful who they trust (including some fellow Scotsmen).This version really focuses on the growing friendship between Balfour and Stewart, they come to trust one another and Stewart is grateful for the younger mans help and loyalty. Finch is excellent portraying Stewart as a brave and fearless man who is easy to like and trust, he also shows that he is quick tempered, a drinker and is very impatient. We also see Balfour being taught how to survive in the world, Stewart teaches him how to trust, how to survive and even when necessary how to kill.There's strong support especially from John Laurie as Balfour's scheming uncle Ebenezer, he steals every scene he is in. Bernard Lee is excellent as a ships Captain who has a conscience despite doing some bad things and a young Peter O'Toole is memorable as Robin MacGregor, the scene where he and Finch have a contest to see who is better at bagpipe playing is a highlight.

If most people are asked what story by Robert Louis Stevenson they are acquainted with, more than likely they will say either TREASURE ISLAND or DR. JECKYLL AND MR. HYDE or KIDNAPPED. KIDNAPPED is a close second to TREASURE ISLAND as Stevenson's most popular complete novel (DR. JECKYLL is a novella). Like THE MASTER OF BALLENTRAE it deals with the great trauma of Scotland's 18th Century history - the failure of the 1745/1746 Jacobite Rebellion of Bonnie Prince Charlie which came so close to success. But it does not deal straight with the events of those years, but rather with the aftermath for Scotland, for England, and for Scottish society.David Balfour (James MacArthur) is a lowlander - he is from the urban centers of Scotland like Glasgow and Edinburgh and Dundee. These commercial centers play a serious role in his story, for David is returning to the home of his ancestors, which is also a business run by his uncle Ebenezer(John Laurie). He is met by a stingy miser who is hardly welcoming - actually he is quite hostile for awhile. But he gradually acts more quietly, if not more friendly to the nephew. At one point he asks him to retrieve some item in an upstairs section of the house they live in, and the stairs is in disrepair (nearly causing David to fall to his death). That settles it, and David just demands his inheritance and he'll be quit of this inhuman uncle. David goes to bed, and is awaken violently: he unknown men. They kidnap David (hence the title of the novel), and he is soon on board a ship commanded by the frequently drunken Captain Hoseason (Bernard Lee - "M" in the Sean Connery "James Bond" films) and his first mate Mr. Shaun (Niall MacGinnis). Soon David finds the ship (which is headed for America, where he may be sold as an indentured servant) has picked up a small boat, containing a single man, one Aleck Breck (Peter Finch). Breck is quite secretive of his being alone in such a desolate area, but Hoseason and Shaun suspect he is involved in some type of Jacobite treason.KIDNAPPED is set in the year 1752. Most people think that Jacobite activity ended with the defeat and destruction of Charlie's Highlander army at Culloden in 1746, and the "clearances" in the Highland of Charlie's supporters. It didn't. Jacobite activities would continue into the period of the Seven Years War. Stevenson shows that the tide has turned against the hard core of the Jacobites in Scotland - the strength were the Highland Clans, and they were purposely decimated . The lowland clans had hedged about their support (as in THE MASTER OF BALLENTRAE). But most, especially the Campbell family, went fully for the German Hanovarian Royal Family. The Campbells were rewarded, becoming the dominant noble family in Scotland (to this day). And that is the basis for the tragedy that is at the center of the story. A true tragedy and a murder mystery that has never been explained.Alec is actually Alec Breck Stewart, a relative of the Old Pretender and his son Bonnie Prince Charlie. He is in Scotland to contact surviving Jacobite leaders. This does not really sit well with David, a lowlander who had little use for the Highland clans or their leaders. But they become close friends and allies against Hoseason and his crew, and in surviving in Scotland's Highland area (where David is totally at sea). But David is also realistic enough to note his friend's two worse habits: he's a heavy gambler and he drinks too much.They have to make their way south, to get Alec through his mission and back to France, and for David to settle his accounts with Uncle Ebenezer. But they happen to meet with one of the most hated men in Scotland, Colin Campbell, known as "The Red Fox". He has been appointed by his cousin the Duke of Argyle to collect rents and help in the clearances. David has separated from Alec when he meets the arrogant Red Fox in the forest of Appin, and he is present when, from out of the forest, a shot is fired killing this man. David flees, and shortly is confronted by Alec. And David, despite his best endeavors, remains uncertain that Alec's secret mission was not tied to this assassination.The "Red Fox's" murder was never solved, although a major judicial murder, the hanging of James "of the Glen" Stewart, followed within a year (before a judge and jury entirely of Campbells). But it turns Alec and David into fugitives, increasing their dangers immensely. They might end up dangling from English ropes.I'll leave it at this point. Finch and MacArthur make a good pair of friends and adventurers, with Finch also showing Breck Stewart's failings (his temper, his loud mouth, his alcoholism, and his gambling). MacArthur (Helen Hayes' adopted son) also had a great scene regarding a dangerous confrontation with a greedy Highlander (Duncan Macrae) at a river in the highlands. The best recalled scene in this version is a bagpipe contest before one of their hosts (Finlay Currie) that was won by Currie's kinsman, a youngish man who movie goers would see more of later: Peter O'Toole. John Laurie is properly despicable (yet comical, in a pathetic way) as Ebenezer. Although there is a trace of more dignity in the Freddy Bartholemew - Warner Baxter KIDNAPPED from the 1930s, this one is actually the best movie version.

Equating Disney movies to "family entertainment" is a bit trite, but here it works. Young men looking for adventure in their lives will be as pleased with this film as parents looking for a quality movie to which they can take their kids. This is the brilliant Scottish raconteur Robert Louis Stevenson's tale of two Scotlands, Highland and Lowland, as personified by the dour young Mr. David Balfour and the spirited Highlander Alan Breck Stewart (who proudly "bears a King's name"). On the run for their lives in their own native country of Scotland, now occupied by English redcoats and their Hessian merceneries, the protagonists must overcome their mutual distrust of one another, which is based primarily on political differences (but also on cultural differences as well). In fighting to keep their health and lives, they come to respect and even appreciate one another, in part because (ironically) they are from different worlds. The acting is simply first-rate; the producers could not (and did not) rely on special effects to make this movie work. The scenery of the Scottish Highlands is breathtaking. But it's the plot and character development made so viable by the brilliant acting of Peter Finch and James MacArthur that make the movie a stand-out. Rent it, bring it home, and watch it with your girlfriend, your boyfriend, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, friends, parent, grandparents, or perfect strangers. By the end of the movie, you'll value the friendship that young Mr. Balfour and the spirited Highlander find for themselves.