Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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

'Hard Times' is one of Dickens' lesser known novels, but is extremely worthy for all that.It is short and set in the north of England at a time when the industrial revolution has brought sudden wealth to the nouveu-riche of common but fortunate entrepreneurs. These people have no family precedent or history and must make a reputation for themselves. Which they often do with a contemptuous ruthlessness for those of equal birth but far less good fortune.Aptly named Mr Bounderby is just such a man. 'The bully of humility', you can't tell him anything. He got where he is today by sheer exertion and determination. There has never been a hardship to which he was never a stranger. He's rich, a humbug, and a consummate liar.Stephen Blackpool is his alter-ego. Working-class like him, but going nowhere. He's an employee who falls foul of his alcoholic wife, his nascent trade-union, and eventually Bounderby himself. 'It aw' a muddle', is his summation of life.Thomas Gradgrind is very much of Bounderby's way of thinking. They are friends insofar as two people devoid of any human sympathy can be. He's a man of facts. FACTS - and nothing else.It's a simpler and more severe indictment of social-climbing than his much more popular Great Expectations. Comical individuals are few and far between. Heroes are non-existent.Patrick Allen and Timothy West have the leads to perfection. At the same time, every other role is played to a tee by a sprinkling of worthy character actors.This drama is wonderfully realised with an excellent mix of studio and location shooting. The original script is a perfect adaptation. All of the relevant social and personal issues raised by Dickens are included. This is as good as it gets.Modern dramatisations of Dickens are more lavish, expensive and utterly devoid of that essential magic of the Master. This 4-piece work dates from a time when realizing Dickens' ideas was just as important as creating a detailed drama.

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.

At nearly four hours, this version of 'Hard Times', made by Granada TV, scores highly, moving along at a much slower pace than, say, the 1980s version made for children's television.The novel by Charles Dickens is not one of his best known; however, in the tale of the mills of Coketown, the pompous self-made mill-owner Bounderby, and the miserable Gradgrind children, worn down by their father's insistence that facts are the only things one needs in life, he portrays an interesting set of characters that lend themselves well to film adaptation.As Gradgrind and Bounderby, Patrick Allen and Timothy West are both excellent. Jacqueline Tong is a feisty Louisa, who handles most of her scenes well, while Edward Fox is an oily Harthouse. Alan Dobie completes the main players as mill-hand Stephen Blackpool, a man confined and crushed by fate.Long unavailable on home video, this adaptation deserves to be seen by a new generation and it is a pity that Dickens' collections on DVD have generally included the later version which is much shorter and has much less depth.