CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
MoPoshy
Absolutely brilliant
Lollivan
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
TheLittleSongbird
The 1994 adaptation was quite good but felt too short and rushed. This adaptation was wonderful and you'd be hard pressed to find a better adaptation or do one better. The costumes and sets are very true to the period and done really convincingly, both opulent, without being too beautiful, and atmospheric, without being too overly-bleak. As an adaptation it really works. The dialogue flows very well and written with sophistication. The social and personal issues of the times are incorporated without being ignored or skimmed over in the writing, as is the fun, tragedy and foreboding of Dickens' style. The story is always compelling and is faithful to Dickens without being too faithful or cold. Excellent performances too, especially from Edward Fox(wonderfully oily), Timothy West(human and villainous) and Patrick Allen(convincing at being gruff and repentant). Though Rosalie Crutchley is a scene-stealer too, Jacqueline Tong is lovely and feisty, Alan Dobie is very moving and Barbara Ewing does nicely playing the only "perfect saint" character). So all the performances work, and does does this adaptation, which is a great adaptation and wonderful on its own. 10/10 Bethany Cox
PWNYCNY
The bleak, depressing atmosphere of a factory town in mid-nineteenth century England is caught and conveyed in this excellent adaptation of the Charles Dickens' novel. Episodes one and two capture the drabness of the town and the how the factory owner combines with the politicians to maintain control of the situation. Far from doing anything to try to ameliorate and improve the lot of the workers, the program shows how those who do not tow the line and demonstrate any independence of thought are ridiculed, ostracized and rejected. The most dramatic and sympathetic character is Stephen Blackpool, who struggles to maintain his integrity in a corrupt environment. Having lived in a poorhouse himself, Charles Dickens was uniquely qualified to write about the abuses inherent in an economic system that systematically sought to keep people in their place and stifle anything that even remotely resembled independence of thought. What is surprising is not that the factory town was inherently a nasty place, but that anyone would go out of their way to defend it.
michael-1012
This is the best film adaptation of Dickens' best novel. You can't go wrong with this one.The production is low budget, but that actually works in its favor. The film has a grittiness that is entirely appropriate.The script is first-rate and the actors are virtuosos across the board. There is not a note in it anywhere that rings false.If you're tired of the sentimentalism and cartoonish characters usually associated with Dickens, you will be pleasantly surprised. There is none of that here. This is a story about real people. There are no saints, except for Rachel and she's a minor character, and no devils. Even the ostensible villain, Bounderby, is humanized.Dickens on film doesn't get better than this.
valleycats
Unlike Charles Dickens's better known works like David Copperfield, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist which mainly deal with social ills such as poverty and / or the hardships faced by orphans or children displaced from their parents, Hard Times deals with the effects of upper middle class affluence, force-fed "Facts" based education and authoritarian - almost dictatorial- parenting on the development of children. Mr. Gradgrind's misplaced but well meaning and relentless "education" of his children ultimately yield tragic consequences. Repeated readings of this book have convinced me that this is Dickens's indictment of the loss of human values and the growing emphasis on material interests and accumulation of scientific knowledge (the "Facts" that Mr. Gradgrind places so much emphasis on) which were ushered in by the Industrial Revolution. Gone is the bloom, the blush and the romance of 'The Arts' as the cold, grey, grimy new self-conscious affluence is ushered in. This aspect of the book is extremely well captured by the screenplay and cinematography. Great moving performances by everyone involved in this production - especially from Edward Fox (a long time favourite actor of mine) who plays the slick, opportunistic Mr. Harthouse, a symbol of the times. Rosalie Crutchley turns in another stellar performance. It is a shame that neither the book nor this production have received the attention so richly deserved.
