Dulcima

This film is particularly dear to me as they knocked down our wall while they were making it! As compensation we got an invitation to go and see them filming nearby! The film is such quintessentially English that it really should be in everyone's film library for its scenes and great acting. It reminds you very much of Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee which also hails from the Cotswolds. Both John and Hayley Mills give a great performance, and the innocence of this post war era really comes over. I noticed a couple of comments about obtaining copies of the film and wonder if anyone could let me know where they have been able to get it?

This film was shown on T.v. when I was a young girl early 70's I think.Although i was young I could tell this film was a real classic. I raved about it to my friends none of whom had seen it on T.V.I think they thought I was obsessed, I was.At the time I lived in the country in a beautiful village, Hartington in Derbyshire. I think the film had such a profound effect on me because I could imagine the film's story really happening.This film has always been my favourite, when discussing movies I have said how wonderful I think it is and have been amazed that no one had heard of it. John Mills is one of my favourite actors and it was probably this film that drew my attention to any film he was in. I have recently acquired a lap top so the first thing I did was to search for Dulcima. How pleased I was to find it through Google and will be purchasing a DVD as soon as possible, like now. Its been a long time coming, but as they say things come to those who wait, so looking forward to putting it in the DVD to watch a truly amazing film and to being transformed back in time to those wonderful days of my youth. Thankyou so much to all involved.

Where to start only to say that I have tracked a copy of this film down and i was convinced it was filmed in Devon or somerset where I work & live only to see it is in fact made in Gloucestershire. Brings back Happy memories of the 70's for me and what an Idyllic place England was then. This movie i believe was only shown Once on TV in the Mid seventies and surly deserves to be shown again. It is just such a simple story but it encompasses all the simple things in life that make us smile. I would love to hear from anyone who knows when exactly it was shown on TV ie; 1975 or 76. I hope all of you fans get a copy soon. Anyway finally a lovely Movie and big thanks to Carol White and John Mills and the Director not forgetting the producer.

This wonderful film captures a time gone by when county life in rural England had hardly changed since the Second World War. John Mills, plays Mr Parker, a drunken farmer, living on his own in total squalor. His farm though, is stuffed full of his money. It's hidden in every conceivable place, under the floorboards, inside the toilet cistern and even in the lining of his Trilby hat. Dulcima, a twenty something year old, played by Carol White, lives on an adjacent farm and is down trodden by her brute of a father, played by Bernard Lee. She is expected to do everything in the house while he sits happily on his backside complaining about her all the time. Longing to escape this drudgery, she dreams of meeting and falling in love with a handsome stranger, who will sweep her of her feet and take her away from it all.

By chance one day, Mr Parker is returning home in his beat up old Land Rover from a trip to the pub. Drunk as a lord, he clips the baby's pram that Dulcima had just been pushing. Intent on giving him a good piece of her mind she strides up to the farm to confront him. Unfortunately she finds he's crashed out in a drunken stupor on the floor. Seeing the state he's in and the farm, she decides to straighten both out and immediately begins by cleaning the kitchen, much to the bewilderment of Mr Parker when he finally sobers up. The relationship between them, then begins to grow, with very amusing consequences as she tries to get him to part with some of his money while he tries to get her to bed.

John Mills made, at roughly the same time 'The Family Way' which was a huge success. It also stared his daughter Hayley Mills along with Hywel Bennett. Another very fine film of John's in indeed.

Carol White made two excellent hard hitting social films for TV in the late 60's, 'Poor Cow' and 'Cathy Come Home', both available on DVD, showing what a superb young actress she was at the time. Sadly she died in 1991 from a liver disease.

Dulcima is a very delightful film that to my knowledge has only been screened once on British TV. I have a fading copy on Betamax, but would love to have a crisp clean copy of it on DVD. I live in hope!

I'd just like to add here that since I posted this review Frank Nesbitt the Director contacted me thanking me for my comments regarding his film and also kindly sent me a DVD copy of 'Dulcima' for which I will be forever grateful.

Dulcima," based on a story by H. E. Bates, is a new English film about pastoral passions of the sort that I associate with D. H. Lawrence, perhaps because the story's catalytic agent is a dopey gamekeeper who doesn't look as if he'd spent much time outside.

A stingy old farmer named Mr. Parker (John Mills), a widower with an attic-full of crumpled banknotes, falls in love with his young housekeeper Dulcima (Carol White), who comes to work for him because she feels sorry for him, and then stays on because she fancies both him and his money. Dulcima is earthy, a bit avaricious and essentially good. She doesn't mind a roll in the hayloft with Mr. Parker, but when she falls in love with the gamekeeper (Stuart Wilson), she decides to move out. It is a really great film, not to be missed.

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