I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

British to its backbone this mini is entertaining even if the goings on are a bit cliché. The settings are the beautiful especially the main house of Nancherrow. Chock full of extraordinary actors, Peter O'Toole, Joanna Lumley and Susan Hampshire just for starters, in support where this suffers is in the main roles. The actress playing Loveday is unmemorable but that can be ignored. The real problem is Emily Mortimer, it isn't even all her fault for she is a decent actress but having someone with as much charisma as Keira Knightley play the character as a young girl and than switching to someone who doesn't hold the screen in the same way for the bulk of the story is bound to cause a something of a letdown.

Despite her small role Penelope Keith steals the show in this adaptation of a period drama that tells the story of the upheavals of war on the home front. She is the ultimate educated and feminist aunt whose character is only spoilt by an idiotic ignorance of David McCallum's advances on Keira Knightly.Unfortunately, Keith's character dies early on in this 199 minute drama and the key concept of the changes of war barely touch the social realities of this story's very privileged characters.Emily Mortimer is an excellent actor but is badly miscast as an elder version of Knightly whose talents could easily have allowed her to continue in the role to at least the age of 18. Lumley's heartache is barely given a glance in the story and there is virtually no opportunity for O'Toole to demonstrate his acting talents. The adult Loveday Carey-Lewis, played by Katie Ryder Richardson changes little from her childhood counterpart with the result that her character has mo more maturity than that of a ten year old! Moreover, the aftermath of the sex scene between Paul Bettany and Mortimer does not create the desired effect of rendering Bettany's character as an uncaring rogue. Instead Mortimer's inflated romantic notions only fuel a dislike for a character that is utterly inept and badly in need of a lesson on life!Bettany, while brilliant, commits an unconvincing suicide but at the very least we catch a glimpse of the brutality of war on a generation of young men.I found myself wishing that the story had been told from the point of view of Mortimer's sister and the young artist, Gus, played by Heikko Deutschmann, but this is on account of my personal preference for a dark story lines.Overall the drama is entertaining but if you are looking for a more profound experience, look elsewhere.

Like so many things this was not as good as the book. It was simply unrealistic to hope to fit a thousand page book into a three hour drama, and the story that they tell here in this TV drama suffers as a result. The cutting of large chunks of the story and other small alterations make for an average script.On the acting front there is a mishmash of performances. Peter O'Toole and Joanna Lumley are well casted, even if the latter does at points over do it a bit. There are also early promising performances for Kiera Knightley and Paul Bettany, but the pivotal roles of the Judith and Loveday characters just don't work.In the spirit of fairness it is worth mentioning some of the lovely scenery shown, and the good attempt on the period costume and props. However what annoyed me the most was that they partially changed the ending from the book to allow for the sequel.If you haven't read the book this will appear as slightly dated average world war two drama with some familiar faces in it. But if you are a fan of the Pilcher novel then I'm afraid this slightly tacky adaptation does not live up to the book, and paints a more simpler and cruder picture of what is a truly lovely story.

Okay, you have:Penelope Keith as Miss Herringbone-Tweed, B.B.E. (Backbone of England.) She's killed off in the first scene - that's right, folks; this show has no backbone!Peter O'Toole as Ol' Colonel Cricket from The First War and now the emblazered Lord of the Manor.Joanna Lumley as the ensweatered Lady of the Manor, 20 years younger than the colonel and 20 years past her own prime but still glamourous (Brit spelling, not mine) enough to have a toy-boy on the side. It's alright, they have Col. Cricket's full knowledge and consent (they guy even comes 'round for Christmas!) Still, she's considerate of the colonel enough to have said toy-boy her own age (what a gal!)David McCallum as said toy-boy, equally as pointlessly glamourous as his squeeze. Pilcher couldn't come up with any cover for him within the story, so she gave him a hush-hush job at the Circus.and finally:Susan Hampshire as Miss Polonia Teacups, Venerable Headmistress of the Venerable Girls' Boarding-School, serving tea in her office with a dash of deep, poignant advice for life in the outside world just before graduation. Her best bit of advice: "I've only been to Nancherrow (the local Stately Home of England) once. I thought it was very beautiful but, somehow, not part of the real world." Well, we can't say they didn't warn us.Ah, Susan - time was, your character would have been running the whole show. They don't write 'em like that any more. Our loss, not yours.So - with a cast and setting like this, you have the re-makings of "Brideshead Revisited," right?Wrong! They took these 1-dimensional supporting roles because they paid so well. After all, acting is one of the oldest temp-jobs there is (YOU name another!)First warning sign: lots and lots of backlighting. They get around it by shooting outdoors - "hey, it's just the sunlight!"Second warning sign: Leading Lady cries a lot. When not crying, her eyes are moist. That's the law of romance novels: Leading Lady is "dewy-eyed."Henceforth, Leading Lady shall be known as L.L.Third warning sign: L.L. actually has stars in her eyes when she's in love. Still, I'll give Emily Mortimer an award just for having to act with that spotlight in her eyes (I wonder . did they use contacts?)And lastly, fourth warning sign: no on-screen female character is "Mrs." She's either "Miss" or "Lady."When all was said and done, I still couldn't tell you who was pursuing whom and why. I couldn't even tell you what was said and done.To sum up: they all live through World War II without anything happening to them at all.OK, at the end, L.L. finds she's lost her parents to the Japanese prison camps and baby sis comes home catatonic. Meanwhile (there's always a "meanwhile,") some young guy L.L. had a crush on (when, I don't know) comes home from some wartime tough spot and is found living on the street by Lady of the Manor (must be some street if SHE's going to find him there.) Both war casualties are whisked away to recover at Nancherrow (SOMEBODY has to be "whisked away" SOMEWHERE in these romance stories!)Great drama.