House on the Cliff.

Here is an anomaly for all you Hardy boys fans. Not including the 100 or so books that came out after Armada folded, what two books didn't they pick up and release from the original print run, here in the UK?

The answer is, the Hidden Harbour mystery and the House on the Cliff, which is today's topic.

I've recently read through a reprint from Applewood books, picked up cheap from Ebay, of the original story, and I've dug out the hard-back I got from a boot sale at Southwold years back.

Americans of a certain age will be familiar with the iconic blue covers. the reprints came in, but to me, it was only later stories like The Apeman's secret and Cave In came in hard-back. Also as I knew number 2 was the Arctic Patrol Mystery here, I knew I had to get this.

Reading it then from a British perspective, with the NHS and such, it made no sense to have a smuggling plot dealing in rare drugs and such from a hidden base deep in the cliff under an abandoned house.  Even if they came from India, which was unlikely, it still made no sense to me.

Then we did some research online on what it was, which led to us grabbing the original text. And wow it was originally Opium, from China, along with silk too. Which makes a heck of a lot more sense.

The actual text doesn't really change much between the two stories, the titular abandoned house changes name from Polucca to Politt, and a lot of the violence is toned down which makes for a weaker ending in my eyes.

I'm also pretty sure the original riffs on a Yellow Peril plot line with its Chinese based plot and smuggling contact pushing dope to middle America. Its lessened in the remake with its generic rare drugs spin. Also in the remake, Frank Hardy loses his N Word pass, as his Nigger in the woodpile remark is of course excised completely.

As a bonus there was a sort of remake by Benjamin Hoff called the House on the Point, which I've not read, but is from the same guy who did the Tao Of Pooh and other train wrecks which doesn't bode well. In fact it's reminded me of this which was one of my favourite sites back when I first got internet. A collection of bad NES games and that Spartacus cartoon from SKY TV where the end credits never seemed to end.

Any way in short if you can read the original text and I might pop it up here when I get round to it, do so, its a much better read.