spratton

Until now in 2011 I had not seen this film, and I am pleased and surprised to learn that so many millions watched it when it was first released. I already knew the book, of course. This was in a way my father's life; he saw the ending of the worst years, 1933 onwards, working on Suffolk farms, and his own stories matched this film exactly. He, like "Tom", might have gone on to a good school, but there was no money for that, and he started at age 14 on a Suffolk farm, living-in, "all found" and no wages at all for the first year. Luckily he was offered part time training at Chadacre Agricultural Institute, and became a skilled farm worker, herdsman, shepherd, and eventually a farm manager. "Boy" was his normal term of address or description for anyone. "Old boy from Swaffham" could mean a 15-year old or a pensioner. "There was no fat on them old boys" was how he described the men he worked with 75 years ago.

The film stuck to what it was like. There was no acting then, or in this film, just people saying things through the day, and always trying to settle or resolve all troubles with proverbs and sayings and mottoes. A closed world, really. The leaving was so difficult and so simple, so treacherous --- how dare you? Not like other films, but the story deserved to be told, and told just like this is. I'd like to thjank Peter Hall for making this film.

What an ensemble cast, every one committed and enthusiastic, every one knowing their Dickens, too! Tom Wilkinson is superb --- an actor of many roles, but in this he is fantastic as Pecksniff. Young Martin is perfect (I once saw Ben Walden in Julius Caesar at the Globe)--- a rather spoiled and righteous young man whose tantrums reminded me of Daniel Day Lewis's tantrums in THE NAME OF THE FATHER! Hardest to accept right off are the two Pecksniff sisters, but that's because they are so Dickensian and we are simply no longer accustomed to women being portrayed this way. In the 'small roles', Joan Sims as Betsy Prigg, Elizabeth Spriggs as Mrs Gamp, and Graham Stark as Nadgett -- all hugely-experienced veterans of British broadcasting --- are pure gold. This production did the best it could with such a long book, in dealing with the American episodes -- mostly via letters being read. Nothing more could be done to resolve this difficulty. The late Pete Postlethwaite is a juicy Montague Tigg, as villainous as Keith Allen is terrifying in his Jonas role. There is not a bad casting in it, so let's finish by praising Philip Frank as Tom Pinch -- a role he does so well, so honestly, so unembarrassed, that his many other later appearances on TV are a shock (eg police inspector in "Heartbeat".

--- and the direction was, well, cheesy. Katherine Schlesinger overdid the Gothic naive --- her features are probably enough for that, without more animation. Robert Hardy, normally a swashbuckling fit for these roles, did not seem to be committed. Yes, it was an inexpensive television piece, and perhaps that also emphasizes the quality difference between this and "Movie" Austens. I have not yet seen the 2007 version, whose cast includes the excellent Sylvestraa le Touzel. Overall, sorry but disappointing; I felt no drama or suspense, and enjoyed no wit in this film. It's possible that over the last 20 years, British adaptations of Austen and Bronte have set a standard (direction, acting, production) and also a "style" that renders other versions unsympathetic.