A Place to Call Home

I have also been looking for this movie all these years. I loaned it to a friend and she lost it. I would very much like to know where I can get a copy. I do not care if it is used either. Please respond ASAP. I enjoyed this movie so much and would love for my son to see it. Any help would be appreciated. Linda Lavin was wonderful in this movie. She had a daunting experience ahead of her. She must have felt very lonely and forgotten, yet she and her children overcame and endured. It was funny, heartwarming, sad, scary and very intense. It had all the emotions and drama anyone could hope for. If anyone has a copy I would love to get this movie. Thanks, Vickie

I have seen this movie at least 200 times over the years. I just bought a copy of it to watch again. As far as I'm concerned, it's a great movie about a great woman. It's about a family with a father that can't adjust to his life. Right from the beginning, you can see where this is going and I give Liz Gavin all the credit in the world for raising their kids.If my husband, after many years of marriage, announces that the best time of his life was when we weren't married, would be wearing my foot in an uncomfortable place. She is incredibly naive and complacent in her life. But she has an inner strength she never knew she had. Her and her husband plan to move to Australia with the kids, who are all against it. When the time comes to leave, Sam finds every excuse not to go. From here on, it's a battle to succeed. As for the previous comment about her singing a baby lamb to sleep, you lost the point of the movie. That is an extremely poignant part of the movie and shows what Liz Gavin is about. This is based on a true story and I admire the courage of Liz Gavin. I highly recommend this movie to everyone and I hope you'll try to locate it to watch.

This film seems to be missing the main motivation for its heroine. It is made clear throughout the film, particularly in the epilogue, that Linda Lavin's character is an extremely devout Catholic. She is raising her 11 children by herself in the Australian Outback while her husband is away-- money is short-- the children hate their new life on the ranch-- she has a surly ranch hand to contend with-- but you never see her praying, let alone gathering everyone 'round for the family rosary. Sure, she mentions she loves being pregnant, a veiled reference to her adherence to the Catholic Church's ban on artificial contraception, and a Catholic priest shows up occasionally as a family friend, but surely in real life this woman's spiritual life was so much richer. The only intense spiritual practice in this film is the aboriginal belief, immediately adopted by the children, that magical stones can make it rain.

Points for plucky Linda Lavin, especially at the end when she gives her eunuch of a husband the heave ho--she should have thrown HIM into the rushing water and gone back to the sheep station with her kids!!! How ironic that he wanted to move there because he thought the kids were going' soft, yet he didn't have the *Beep* to divorce his wife before he forced her to move to the other side of the globe. What a catch he was, eh? Meanwhile, ya gotta admire Lavin's character in this role, though I found her acting a bit understated--like she was holding back. And the kids, though equally plucky (and the little ones were cute) had their annoying moments. Still, it was a good "fish out of water" story.

As noted below, this was somewhat familiar territory for Linda Lavin. She is an actress with very distinct mannerisms, and due to that I forgot she wasn't playing Alice yet again. Yet, she is also an actress of emotion and intensity, and she does her best with the material.

The movie veers between cornpone and genuine feeling. The children seem too good to be true; the Christmas sequence is particularly sugary. Only Matt and Michael are interesting in terms of individual personalities.

The only truly bad moment is when Linda has to fling an oxygen-deprived lamb around, and Michael magically catches it just as Linda accidentally lets it go. Very funny for all the wrong reasons.

The best reasons to watch are the first-rate supporting performances of Paul Cronin and Maggie Fitzgibbins as misogynistic ranch hand Bob Jakes and tough-but-fair shopkeeper Alva. They provide true color and flavor for the strange new land which locations alone could not. The movie sensibly avoids any type of romance for Bob and Linda's character, which gives their grudging friendship a greater depth.