Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I did a search on romance/drama movies and this was on the Hallmark channel. I've always liked Jason Gedrick (since Heavenly Kid :), so I figured I'd curl up Saturday night and watch (without much thought of getting enthralled in the story). I didn't realize I would enjoy it so much!!!! I remember Sydney Penny as the new Gidget and have always liked her, too. This is not a movie to critique writing styles, direction, etc. I usually enjoy movies that people criticize because movies are meant to be enjoyed - if you don't like it, deal with it and realize that just because you don't like it, doesn't mean everyone agrees with you. My suggestion about "Hidden Places" - Just watch the movie and get lost in the pain and joy that Eliza and her family go through and smile at the ending (you'll be able to even if you're crying tears of happiness :)

Hidden Places is a nice film about a young mother of two whose husband has died, she moves her family back to her father in laws orchard in the 1930s. The father in law dies leaving the family with a mortgage payment and other hardships. A young handsome world war one veteran drifter comes to town and helps the family out, this is a quaint and heartwarming story about hard times and how the salt of the earth survived the depression. Good cinematography and scenery. The dialog struggled some in places, but the experienced cast did a wonderful job making the characters as believable as possible in a film whose era has few living members left. A good movie about overcoming tragedy and hardship for the entire family.

I saw this movie and fell asleep at the very end of it. How did it end? And now I have deleted it and can't get it back from my DVR!! It was such a great movie and I don't like missing the end of movies. I hope that it comes on again since it was this years movie. Maybe this is why Sydney Penny wasn't on All my Children for so long??? I like her character in AMC now. I have been looking for it on Hallmark Channel and can't seem to find that it is being repeated anytime soon. I doubt that it's on DVD since I believe Hallmark told me that they don't release their movies to DVD. I will also write to them and see if they are going to play it again and then e-mail me to remind me of when it will be on again.

This movie has several great story lines going on at the same time. One shows the "favorite son" politics portrayed by by the school board, another of the lone black principle in a southern white school district, and the free thinking new teacher. I especially like the irony of the black principle who at first seems to have forgotten she is the same color as her students, but as the movie progresses we find she is only able to keep her position if she remains under the thumb of the Deputy Superintendent which in itself is a figurehead position with no authority. It was easy to dislike Frank Langella's role as the superintendent after seeing him in "Dave". All the story lines were tied together very well and contributed to a little suspense in trying to guess where the individuals were heading. The interaction of Conroy with the students and the portly of the island residents was excellent. The added touch of the Stones only deepened the sense of the residents being forgotten as the world passes them by. I can't remember a movie by Hallmark that I didn't like. This one ranks right up at the top.