The movie of the series of the book! All three are great.
The movie runs about 90 minutes and has an awful lot of ground to cover... this is good and bad. The pace is brisk... but it needn't have been. The 5 part series, 30 years prior, was more laid back and did more justice to the book.
That said, it's an excellent TV movie and much of that credit should be given to the young cast - especially Keeley Fawcett. She looks and sounds like a young Jenny Agutter (The Railway Children) and gives an extremely nuanced and mature performance. (She was an adult when she played the 12-year old-girl.) I wonder what happened to her. Did she even do anything else after that?
There are some memorable moments along the way as two children, Carrie and Nick, are sent from London to Wales to avoid the bombing blitz of the second world war. One of those moments is when Carrie's mother sends her a dress and gushing with joy she tries it on, only to find that it's too small for her.
Geraldine McEwan is a treat to watch and when she dances with young Carrie you would swear they are related.
Alun Armstrong's Mr. Samuel Evans is perhaps the most complicated of the characters. he's bossy, religious, strict and uncompromising... but not mean or vindictive. He's the sort of man it's easy to despise till you walk a step or two in his shoes. His son is drifting away from him, his sister actually ends up running off with an American soldier to avoid him and he is lonely and confused about his standing with the other members of his family.
There's actually a lot of comedy to be found in this telling as well as a couple of heartbreaking moments. They are all played out with dignity and the film is very rewarding to the viewer.
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