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A High Wind in Jamaica (1965): Film vs Book

Film · 1965 · Directed by Alexander Mackendrick · Starring Anthony Quinn, James Coburn

About the film

A group of children is captured by pirates on the high seas and learns that the grown-up world is not as simple as it seems.

How close is it to the book?

Loosely based on the book

The film softens the book's strangeness and makes the story more of an adventure, while the novel's unsettling view of the children's minds is hard to put on screen.

Read or watch first?

The novel is odd, unsettling and unlike other children's stories.

What the book gives you

A High Wind in Jamaica cover

A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes

A vivid, unconventional adventure that surprises you.

Who will like it: Readers who like unusual, sharp stories about children.

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