Cold Comfort Farm

I simply adore this movie! From beginning to end it shines with wit and hilarious depravity. Having read the book, I think it safe to say that this is one of the best transitions from page to screen. Everyone is perfectly cast in this - particularly Kate Beckinsale as Flora, Joanna Lumley as Mrs. Smiling, Eileen Atkins as Judith and Ian McKellen as Amos. Rufus Sewell makes for great eye-candy as Seth, and the virtually unknown Maria Miles is adorable as Elfine. Aunt Ada Doom, played by Sheila Burrell, constantly reminds us that "There have always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm," and although it's probably best to keep it that way, she's in for a few surprises. Flora's dealings with Mr. Mybug, hysterically portrayed by Stephen Fry, are alone worth the price of renting this movie.

Flora's decision to go to Cold Comfort Farm after her parents die sets the tone for the rest of the movie; it sounds "Interesting and appalling...the others just sound appalling!" If you want a good chuckle, or just love good British humor, by all means, see this movie!

This is one of those little gems you'll be lucky to find in a video store if you're on the lookout for such an item, or, like me, are likely to find on movie channels such as IFC or Sundance, which is where I saw it. Kate Beckinsale plays a young lady among a decidedly strange group of relatives on an obscure English country farm and, while ostensibly there to write her first novel, brings change to the lives of everyone involved. All the players are delightfully involved in their characters and all seem genuinely committed to this quirky little piece which is both lighthearted and eminently watchable. A young Kate Beckinsale is captivating in her loveliness and expressiveness which is totally controlled and shows her to be a born actress. Definitely one to capture on DVD!

Most movie versions of books are disappointing because a good book is always a far richer experience, but this one doesn't shame its source. In fact it's an amusing romp, largely because all the actors are letter perfect -- not easy with a broadly satiric story like this one. Flora Poste's romantic notions actually produce positive results with the loutish Starkadders, such as matching the etiolated Elfine with her true love and sending the smoldering Seth off to become an American film star, while Flora herself ends the movie linked to her own very suitable suitor. Dialogue and motion picture scenery cannot reproduce the exquisitely sly writing of Stella Gibbons, however, so if you liked this movie, by all means read the 1932 book. It's a classic parody of rustic melodrama.

This film was produced for BBC television but had a theatrical release the next year -- probably to take advantage of the popularity of all those Jane Austen movies (Emma, Persuasion, et. al.) It is not a Jane Austen story, but it is a sort of genial romance/comedy of manners (set in the early 1930's?) with a plucky, bright, but penniless heroine. The book it was based on was actually a parody of Gothic romance fiction. Even though this movie is played for laughs (and has many), it still manages to make you care for the characters. Everything works here and (editing, cinematography, performances) and you really appreciate what the director, John Schlesinger, managed to do on a probably skimpy budget.

This movie was the first I ever saw of Kate Beckinsale and I thought she was fantastic in it. I remained a fan for a long while, even though her subsequent movie performances (and choices) have been awful. She finally lost me with her recent laughable turn in Van Helsing. Nevertheless, she WAS good in Cold Comfort Farm, so if you're no fan of Beckinsale don't let that dissuade you from seeing this movie.

Other standouts in the cast are Eileen Atkins, Rufus Sewell, and Ian McKellen who is screamingly funny as a fire and brimstone preacher.

This film is definitely worth having on video or DVD in that it bears up very well to repeated viewings. I've seen it at least 5 times since its release, and my estimation of it rises with each viewing.

Absolutely terrific movie is an interesting take on the popular theme of people who come into a mess of unhappiness and create joy. Often these movies rely on a central character who is magical, or has great charm and a love for life, but Flora achieves her ends through pure English practicality, and it is very amusing to see someone approaching misery as a mess to be cleaned up. Flora, excellently portrayed by Beckinsale, is pretentious and rather smug but also well-meaning and likable. In a way she seems to be the personification of British imperialism, although that's probably a bit of a stretch.

Much of the fun of the movie is the ridiculous level of misery and squalor represented by Cold Comfort Farm, which is a parody of the sort of grim worlds one can find from writers like Dickens. Eileen Atkins does a great job, but then they all do. The only real weak point in the movie is Mybug, who seems completely unnecessary. Perhaps he was a significant character who served some purpose in the novel, but here he is just this annoying peripheral character, and had he been cut entirely out of the movie it would have been all the better for it (although I generally like Stephen Fry). In spite of that, an excellent film.