Excellent but underrated film

Better Late Then Never

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Tenko is a series I first watched at the tender age of 13 years back in 1981. From the word go it gripped. The acting is supreme: Ann Bell, Stephanie Cole, Stephanie Beacham are tremendous. The viewer lives and breaths the ordeal of the characters in a way that no other TV series has ever managed. It is head and shoulders clear of the rest. Having purchased the full DVD set, including reunion, a handful of years ago I am shortly to embark on my tenth viewing of the run.I was sorry to have missed Paul O'Grady's 25 year celebration in October 2007. I can't believe that the cast are now approaching 70. It makes me feel old and long for the days before reality TV ruled when good drama and sitcoms proliferated.

Have just started watching AGAIN the well worn VHS tapes of Tenko. We first watched it in early 1980s on TV and became capitvated by the strength of these women.........you become wrapped up in the lives of each one of them. Unlike that concentration movie with the women's orchestra, think a Redgrave was in it..........that was "fluff" compared to this. Do so wish it would be copied on DVD that is compatible with USA TVs. We enjoy movies of WWI and WWII giving us some feeling for what people "over there" went thru. This series will draw you into it, believe me. Even friends who we have loaned the tapes to, that had no interest in the time frame.......returned the tapes with gratitude for the loan and highest praise for the series. And many of the wonderful actors are still at it today.....nice to follow their careers. If you never watch another concentration camp film, watch this one! yes, the British accent takes a bit of listening to catch on to, worth the effort!

Tenko is the single most memorable series I have ever watched on television. Layered, engaging, challenging, compelling, it has stayed with me for years and I often think about the characters as real people...wondering how their lives continued, wondering what I would do in their company. In these times of war and prison camps, again, and as history is rewritten, forgotten, or ignored, I wish that Tenko would be replayed for a new generation to experience. The characters are unique and nuanced, the story lines complex and resolutions often unexpected yet always genuine. The actors seem to embody their roles. It is gripping and addicting. The followup documentary reuniting some of the survivors is an exquisitely touching finale, though wouldn't it be lovely to continue the series, chronicling the gap between then and now.

I saw this many years ago and I was riveted to the television. Historically accurate, interesting, entertaining, just plain great! The acting is stunning and no one actress outshines the other. I felt their pain, hopelessness, and I felt the sweat and dirt. I would love to read the book(s) it is based on. Paradise Road simply does not measure up to this. To see a Hollywood version of this watch "Three Came Home" with Claudette Colbert. Based on a true story by Agnes Newton Keith, the movie conveys the great pain of the incarcerated woman, but the setting is backlot Hollywood. Also, see Empire of The Sun, another great true POW story, this time focusing on a child.I, too, wish I could see Tenko again. I hope someday it will be available in the US.