The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

I can remember watching this at least 25 years ago and just remembered the films name after racking my brains. I could only remember Stephanie Beacham in it. The snow scenes were superb real snow, wow, for a change. I thought the film was very good as a children's/family film. Would love to know where it was filmed. I watched it with my brother who was about 20 at the time and he also enjoyed it. The scenery locations were beautiful. The scenes that really sticks in my mind is the scene where Stephanie Beachan was riding through the snow on a large sleigh being pulled by a pack of black wolves. Wonder if you can still buy it, if someone could tell me.

I found myself pleasantly enjoying this, just as I did with the book. The costumes were top notch, the relatively small budget is used excellently on the sets and cinematography. The film has a very clever style, a mixture of Victorian England and a sort of steampunk feel.

The acting is fairly apt throughout, Miss Slycarp is definitely my favourite of the characters and I was slightly disappointed to see Pattern and Simon's roles reduced to only a couple of scenes. Further deviances from the book include Bonnie and Sylvia not immediately liking each other, which I suppose allows for the film to show the growth in their relationship and how they contrast but come closer together by the end, in the book despite their differences they got together very well so I don't know why they include the girls calling each other "coward" and "stupid" which I didn't feel necessary but again I suppose it shows growth. Mr Grimshaw was less funny at the start as in the book but that's only a small change.

Because it's an 80s film it has to be really dark as well, unlike in the book where nobody died there are some deaths here: a child drowns whilst working in a mill, a boy gets crushed to death and two women are devoured by wolves - not something you see in every kids film!

7/10: Stylish, dark and fairly well acted. It's easy to follow and quite entertaining

I saw this about eight years ago when I was eight. My sister and I used to watch it on Disney channel super late at night. For the past few years we've been looking for someone to convince us that we didn't make it up, and yesterday my sister found the book in her library. Good to know other people have seen this movie! All we could remember was that there was snow, wolves, carriages, and a factory where someone got rolled through a dryer/presser. I still haven't seen it in years so if someone knows of a presentation on television or somewhere I can buy it I would love to know!

Thanks

THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE is based on a story by the great and spooky children's author Joan Aiken. In it, a pair of children are holed up in a remote mansion in a snowy locale surrounded by the titular wolves. They're in the care of scheming governess Stephanie Beacham and unscrupulous lawyer Mel Smith, and the story becomes a battle of wits between child and adult as each attempts to dispose of the other.

The film's visual style is what makes this so distinctive and indeed I remember loving it as a children. Carriage rides through the snowy landscapes with wolf accompaniment bring to mind the delights of the BBC's THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, while the cast of seasoned performers add plenty to the entertainment value. Richard O'Brien is unrecognisable as the butler and Geraldine James is delightfully ghoulish as the owner of a laundry which utilises child labour.

Inevitably it's Beacham who dominates proceedings as the villain of the piece, although I found her pantomime acting to be far too over the top; she's much more believable when she plays it straight as in the likes of ...AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS! The child actors give efficient turns here and the screenplay has a delightfully macabre streak with some gruesome deaths for some of the characters. Certainly for fans of vintage children's drama who don't mind overlooking the shortcomings of the production (such as the dogs in costume), THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE is a good-natured and atmospheric story.

To begin with I have not read the book, and I can understand frustration when films aren't faithful to books, I hate that too.

I first saw this film when I was a kid and was enthralled by the atmosphere, characters and story and the memory stayed with me. I have seen it twice since then as an adult, and still love it.

I do understand worrying that it will scare children (and I certainly wouldn't show it to a 5 year old, it's not meant for small children) but I think that lots of children would love this film and parents should base it on their own knowledge of their children, most parents know roughly what their own kids will love and what they will find scary.

I've been trying to find a DVD of this but there isn't one :(