The Loves of Joanna Godden

This is one of the finest films ever made in the UK. Everything is perfect about it from the direction, to the luminous cinematography and the tour de force performance by Googie Withers. She was one of the finest actors the UK had and she made a handful of films that will hopefully last the test of time. Vaughan Williams gives one of the best musical scores ever written, adding to the magic of the film. The film evokes Romney Marsh in all its beauty, and despite the fact that it deviates somewhat from the original Sheila Kaye-Smith novel the alternatives chosen did not offend me, not altering a bit my love for the book. The book is worth finding as well as seeing this wonderful film. A full ten for a film that is unique in its power to capture landscape and the people who lived on the land in farms at the turn of the 20th C. Essential Cinema.