Hard Times

The book of Hard Times can be very good at times and much of its description is captured on screen. However, I personally find these types of film occasionally dull but if you are keen to see the film-adaptation of the novel then enjoy. The film, in my view, is OK.

Brilliantly directed this film I found by accident and I have watched it three times since I have seen it, and it is a combination of theatre and cinema. The interiors of the wealthy are covered in red curtains and wallpaper, signifying I thought of how much blood there is on their hands. Set in the 19th C it is one of the least read of Charles Dicken's novels and that is a pity as it is very appropriate for our times. The poor have feelings while the rich have reasoned out thoughts especially on the use of money. No spoilers but a young man played well by Christien Anholt fluctuates between reason and the heart. The wealthy and the rulers reason that the heart is simply an organ of the body, and the blood red of their decors again shows how the blood that pumps it are on their walls. An industrial worker is fired from his work and becomes literally another person to survive. The images of him at the last part of the film are gut wrenching. But to return to the actual filming. Fixed scenes often follow fixed scenes as in a theatre and this focuses the mind and heart of the viewer in my opinion. I urge anyone who values the dignity of every person to track down this BBC masterpiece. I call it a film because of the way it is experimentally constructed and in no way is it comparable to the formula of a serial. Peter Barnes directed and he is one of the greatest of the UK playwrights; the like of which we rarely see now on our stages.

Richard E Grant really made this adaptation. It's a shame I have to write 5 lines on this because there's not a lot to say. Umm. Yes. Some of the glances between the characters were inspired expecially, between Harthouse and Louisa. REG played the dashing cad to a tee. Oh yes. One more line.................!

A basic adaptation of 'Hard Times' is lifted above the ordinary by the impressive cast - Bob Peck as Gradgrind, Alan Bates as Bounderby, Dilys Laye as Mrs Sparsit, Richard E Grant as Harthouse, Bill Paterson as Stephen Blackpool, and Harriet Walter as Rachel.

Of course the story is somewhat compacted in a running time not much over an hour and a half, but the omissions are not that puzzling and the story is left easy to follow. The quality of the acting and the script mean that this adaptation isn't taking its young audience for granted.

Now available as part of a DVD set of Dickens' works, and well worth buying.

This little known version of Hard Times is a magnificent adaptation of Dickens' novel about the life of a Victorian Family, set in a grim, dark place in the north of England called Coketown. The stellar cast, in particular Alan Bates and Bob Peck, get to the heart of Dickens intentions. There is none of the sanitisation you usually get with Dickens adaptations, this is a full blooded, and sometimes angry, production. The whole point of Dickens writing was to show people the plight of the poor working classes, the underclass, the people forced to live in grinding poverty and suffer starvation, disease and unimaginable squalor. People who had no choice but to work in factories and mills for incredibly long hours, while the mill and factory owners grew rich at their expense. People who died in terrible accidents at work because they were considered expendable and the machines were never allowed to stop. This production captures some of these intended messages perfectly. But in nearly all Dickens' works there are moments of great humour to lighten the darkness and in Hard Times the Slearys of the circus bring a smile or two. This film was originally made for the English syllabus in UK schools by the BBC so it may not be easy to find, but if you like your Dickens raw and honest, you should track it down.