Hard Times (1995)

This extraordinary production captures the soot and smoke that blot out the sun in dank industry-choked Coketown. Local MP and schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind (Bob Peck) raises his children Louisa and Tom in the utilitarian fashion stressing reason and fact and dismissing imagination and emotion. Under his influence Louisa grows cold while Tom turns to a secret life of drinking and gambling. To be nearer her brother Louisa accepts an offer of marriage from his boss the self-made self-important banker Josiah Bounderby (Alan Bates) though she does not love him. But soon she finds herself succumbing to the attentions of the Casanova James Harthouse (Richard E. Grant). As Louisa faces a life without love and Tom's fate begins to turn even darker will Gradgrind begin to realize the imperfections in his philosophy of rational self-interest?Running Time: 113 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC UPC: 794051233622 Product Description

strange but interesting

This adaptation of the novel was done by the BBC for schools. What you get is essentially something like a filmed version of a stage play. The cast is excellent. The production made incredibly creative use of a very mimimal budget. But if your expecting a first-class production with a huge budget, look elsewhere.

Given the length of the work, the writers had to be very creative as far as how to fit the story together. The work has an almost dreamlike quality to it. Traditionalists will hate it but on every watching after the first I came to appreciate more what the people behind the production were trying to do.

There are low budget productions were people don't try. And then there are low budget productions where those involved go all out and surpass what they should have been able to deliver. This is definately in the second catagory.

Its not for everyone, but some will appreciate it.


November 10, 2007

Very boring, and low budget film

My family and I are fans of BBC/ Masterpiece Theater series and after watching the BBC Our Mutual Friend, were looking forward to another wonderful adaptation of one of Dickens' novels. However, we were disappointed with this production. The acting is good but there are two major problems: 1)it dragged tremendously; it seemed like it went on forever and nothing ever happened in it; and 2)it was a very low-budget production. It looked as if it had been filmed on two stages and the quality of the film was extremely poor. February 23, 2006

Some time spent in Cheapside

This disc came with the BBC Dickens set. It is probably the weakest entry. Alan Bates is good as always, but some of the other actors are rather weak. But they don't have much of a script to work with, as the adaptation is poor. It is difficult to make Dickens work with such a short length; the characters and situations never seem to get fleshed out. The production values were poor as well. It makes you realize how much money and effort has gone into other Dickens adaptations.

This story is prime for a remake -- much more than the version of Bleak House that came in the same set (which was quite good). February 10, 2006

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