Ring of Bright Water (film)
| Ring of Bright Water | |
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DVD cover (2004)
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| Directed by | Jack Couffer |
| Produced by | Joseph Strick |
| Written by | Jack Couffer Bill Travers |
| Based on |
Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell |
| Starring |
Bill Travers Virginia McKenna |
| Music by |
Frank Cordell Betty Botley Theme song performed by Val Doonican |
| Cinematography | Wolfgang Suschitzky |
| Edited by | Reginald Mills |
| Distributed by |
Cinerama Releasing Corp. Palomar Pictures International The Rank Organisation |
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Release date
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Running time
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107 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $915,000 |
| Box office | $2,400,000 |
Ring of Bright Water is a 1969 British-American feature film starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna. It is a story about a Londoner and his pet otter living on the Scottish coast. The story is fictional, but is adapted from the 1960 autobiographical book of the same name by Gavin Maxwell. It featured the stars of Born Free, another movie about a close relationship between humans and a wild animal. The film has been released to VHS (1981) and to DVD (2002).
Graham Merrill (Bill Travers) passes a pet shop on his daily walks about London and takes an interest in an otter (specifically, a male river otter) in the window, eventually buying and naming the animal Mij. The otter wreaks havoc in his small apartment and together they leave London for a rustic cottage overlooking the sea on the west coast of Scotland. There they live as beachcombers and make the acquaintance of Dr. Mary (Virginia McKenna) from the nearby village, and her dog Johnny. Mij and Johnny play in the water and bound across the fields together.
Mij's inquisitive and adventurous nature leads him some distance from the cottage to a female otter with whom he spends the day. Ignorant of danger, he is caught in a net and nearly killed. The humans find him and help him recover. Graham spends a significant amount of time drawing Mij but realises that to show the true agility of the otter he must draw it underwater. He builds a large tank out of old windows so that he can do this.
Not long after, Merrill goes to London to look after some affairs and leaves Mary in charge of Mij. While being exercised afield, Mij is killed by a ditchdigger, who did not realize he was a pet. Merrill returns and is crushed to discover the death of his beloved otter. Some time later, Merrill and Mary are surprised by a trio of otter youngsters, accompanied by their mother otter, approaching the cottage. He happily realizes they are Mij's mate and their children who have come to play in their father's swimming pool.
Graham had been trying to write a novel on the Marsh Arabs for years; however, after seeing the baby otters playing, he takes pen and paper and begins to write about Mij and what the otter has taught him about himself.
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