Back in 1963 Disney aired The Scarecrow Of Romney Marsh on Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color. The 3 episodes were edited down to a 98 minute movie that played the theaters in the UK.
In 2008 both versions were issued as part of the Disney Treasures collection. For some reason I missed that one and it sold out immediately. You can find them for all sorts of prices on eBay, if you're lucky you can find one for about $100, beware of the dozens of bootlegs on eBay. They usually say DVD-r and the dvd case has no metal tin or other bits of paper that were included.
In 2019 Disney released a Blu-ray of the three episodes as part of the Disney Movie Club. The British movie and the documentary were not included. I didn't join the Disney MC, instead buying the Blu-ray from an eBay seller. I purchased it with a second Disney MC Blu-ray, In Search Of The Castaways and the two cost about $27 each delivered. If they had a few more things in the MC's offerings I might be tempted to join and quit after I fulfilled my purchase requirement.
The story is based on the books of Russell Thorndyke but toned down a good bit for Disney TV. They still provide a good entertaining story of smuggling and derring do. Patrick McGoohan plays Dr Syn, the vicar of a small coastal town, secretly he's The Scarecrow, a master smuggler and a thorn in the side of the King's Customs and Excise officers. The military is called out to catch him but he's too clever for that.
The locals are on the side of The Scarecrow, he provides cheap off shore goods without the heavy taxes that drive the prices up, and many of them work the smuggling. It takes a lot of men and horses to move a huge lot of trade goods. French Brandy is a popular good.
The English government in those days was pretty awful, if you were poor, you were fucked. A story thread that runs through the series is The Scarecrow helping people who have been pressed ganged. That's pretty much conscription into the Navy by smacking you down and kidnapping you. Perfectly legal, perfectly hideous. The Scarecrow is a hard master but fair. He helps a lot of people. In the books he's got a much more complicated and bloody history. Well worth the read. I got them all for free for my Kindle from Amazon. They are also available on Project Gutenberg.
The Blu-ray looks great, nice clear picture, great sound. I was perfectly happy watching it. I know I'll be watching these again someday.
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