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This is a modern retelling of Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde, with property transactions standing in for Schnitzler's sexual ones. Rosenthal also effectively plugs in the seven deadly sins.

Whilst it may seem like a TV drama, this was made for cinema release so it's a bit depressing that the only version seemingly available at the moment is in 4:3.

I'd forgotten just how good a script it is. It has dated a little since its release, but the cleverness of it, and some of the performances make it deserving of preservation. Mitchell and Hill are spot on as usual and Nigel Hawthorne and Anna Massey are particularly hilarious.

It's not perfect though. The awful source music (i.e. What people are listening to on the radio/ghetto blaster) that's meant to be "what the kids are listening to" but has clearly been composed by Stanley Myers to save money, really dates it, and there are one or two truly shockingly bad performances from some of the younger actors. Billie Whitelaw is totally miscast, and a number of the lines (mainly from the character Paul) don't land, which is the fault of the director. For these reasons it loses a star from me.

Overall though, they don't write em like this any more.

'The Chain' is an excellent film from the pen of Jack Rosenthal (who later reworked it into the TV series 'Moving Story'), starring Warren Mitchell as Bamber, a student of philosophy and pronouncer of wisdom to those about to move home. On his shift are a rag bag of working types including the ever reliable Bernard Hill.

The premise of the film is simple - we watch several people moving up in the world and follow the chain of progress through the eyes of the removal men (Last Removals, as good a name as any). So as we watch the moves from Hackney to Tufnell Park to Wilesden to Hammersmith to Hampstead to Holland Park to Knightsbridge, seeing how the different families inside the flats and houses deal with life, we see both a range of people and ways of life, and a travelogue of 80s London.

Bamber of course is the wisest of all - encountering a pompous couple doing everything on the cheap (Nigel Hawthorne and Anna Massey), a young couple just starting their future (Denis Lawson and Rita Wolf), and a widowed lady longing for her Mediterranean home (Billie Whitelaw), amongst others. Not one seems as settled as he is.

Great writing and razor sharp characters give 'The Chain' the edge over similar dramas, and although it may now feel a bit of a period piece, it is still an excellent film - and a good companion to Rosenthal's feature length drama for TV about taxi drivers, 'The Knowledge'.

No negative comments by your other quite perceptive reviewers and rightly so. I agree with all of them as to this wonderful film's outstanding qualities and especially as to its being highly underrated. It's a kind of vignette movie like "Quartette" or "Tales of Manhattan" yet all the vignettes are thematically connected in time and process, each throwing light on the others and on the film as a whole. It's simply a classic in conception and brilliant execution. Bravo to all concerned.

This film was written by one of the greatest TV writers of the 20th century,Jack Rosenthal.However it seems to be almost completely forgotten,the last review being dated 2009.I had forgotten about it till I saw it recently on London Live.Difficult to understand why.It is a numerous look at the stresses and strains of moving house.It has a first rate cast with lots of well known faces.The best known being Warren Mitchell in charge of the removers.Though why he had to wear that dreadful wig is a mystery.Probably the funniest character is that played by Nigel Hawthorne as a link in the chain who pays for his desire to do things on the cheap.Maybe the fact that this film has been forgotten is due to the fact that this film came out in the year when cinema attendances hit rock bottom.

You may be mistaken for thinking this film has a religious heart. OK, it is a story of the seven deadly sins, but that's where the religion ends. In fact it is the story of humanity, expressed by describing a day in the life of a removals team. The chain of house-movers encompass all of the virtues and sins of the world. Not only do we see the upward transitions from affordable house to newly affordable homes, we see the fundamental impact a house-move has on the movers. We also see how similar the different classes, cultures and sexes are when faced with one of the most significant upheavals a human can endure: moving home.

Brilliant actors, brilliant screenplay, brilliant concept.

A superb movie that will have you belly-laughing.