The Sailor's Return

I saw and recorded this film many years ago off the French TV and would dearly like to have it on DVD so as to have the original English audio as I cordially detest films dubbed into foreign languages ! Unfortunately, the film seems to be unknown on all counts, indeed I have not till now found any other commentary in IMDB about it !! Set in beautiful Dorset ( England ), it is about a sailor in the 19th century who returns home to his village from travels accross the world accompanied by his beautiful African wife. The sight of a black person at that time in a Dorset village was obviously something of a novelty and engenders both love and hate according to which villager we are talking about. Beautifully filmed, a tearful and very emotional story. It deserves to be more publicized and re-born on DVD for the good of all !

I am surprised that this movie hasn't been seen for years. I first saw it on American PBS during the early 1980's, and I have not seen or heard of it since. It is a poignant love story and touches on several historical themes that were not greatly discussed in mainstream circles. They include interracial/inter-cultural marriage, the position of women of African descent in Western civilization, and the ties that bind people of dissimilar backgrounds within the context of a racist society, to name a few. It's hard to believe that there are so few comments about this film, for though it is fictional (I assume), it deals with an aspect of history known to few. I'd like to obtain a copy of it for my own collection.

this film was filmed in the village i was living in the cotswolds called upper slaughter i was a extra in it,and am looking for a copy of this film for myself without success for many years.my brother and i are clearly seen in this film many times although kids at the time so if anybody knows where a copy is available please let me know This village was used for another film earlier called Joseph Andrews it starred beryl Reid i was a extra in that too but never seen this as it was an over 18 and i was about 7 at the time.The village had all its electric cables put underground for the films.there was a lot of villagers in the film as they took over the school as a makeup room .

I cannot review or vote for this film as, like the other people, I cannot obtain a copy of the film!!

I knew the Sailors Return at Chaldon Herring well in the early 1960s and my mother knew it in the 1930s when members of the Chaldon Powis Literary group lived in the village. David Garrett, member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of The Sailor's Return, was a frequent visitor to Chaldon and wrote the book using the name of the local pub and wove in stories he heard when staying in the village.

I too would love to have a copy of the film.

Yoland Brown

The previous reviewers who are eager to obtain "The Sailor's Return" on DVD may be interested to know that it has in fact been available on DVD in the UK since 2009. It is one of ten titles which were originally made by Euston Films included in the five DVD collection "Armchair Cinema".

Released by Network, it is readily available at all online retailers or direct from Network. The other nine films in this set, mainly from the 1970s, are also well worth seeing and include everything from police drama (The Sweeney pilot "Regan") to romance to spy thriller. The only downside is that they were shot on 16mm film meaning the picture and sound quality leave something to be desired. So although not technically up to today's standards the collection certainly deserves viewing.