A Summer Story

This film, though little noticed by the general moviegoing public, is a beautifully photographed and acted masterpiece. It is a bittersweet tale of lost love, based on a short story ("The Apple Tree") by John Galsworthy. Most of the film, in writer Penelope Mortimer's skillful adaptation, is presented as a flashback -- sandwiched by an introduction and coda that are devastatingly poignant. Piers Haggard directs with a lighthanded touch that makes the characters seem utterly real. I cannot recommend this film too highly. Every time I view it, I am overwhelmed anew by its intense vision of human nature. A gem!

I am happy to know that I am not the only person this movie had a profound effect on. How can it be so good and yet so many people have no clue about it.

I saw it around the year it came out. I was living in Toronto and I can't remember whether or not it came to the theatres but late one night I looked at it on the movie Channel. I was bored and had nothing else to do. Fantastic movie, the ending was so sad.

For years I would recommend this film to friends and nobody would really know what I was talking about. For months after I had seen the film I would think about it and the way it ended.

I have never forgotten the name Imogen Stubbs. I looked out for her for years. I saw her in one film with Robert Duvall but nothing after that. I was always on the look out for her in the nineties. A few years ago I looked her up on the net and found out she had more or less married and settled down.

This movie and Imogen Stubbs had a profound effect on me. A great romantic tragedy that far too few people know about.

Veersen

What a great story. Excellent acting. I watch my old VHS copy about once a year. So very sad, so realistic, so human. I stumbled on this one day while watching a partially recorded copy of the movie. The tape ended about 20 minutes before the end of the movie. I could not believe it. I closed my shop and immediately went to the video store and rented it to see how it ended. Probably not to extreme except for the fact that I'm an "action","sci-fi", "fantasy" kind of movie lover.............I can't recommend it highly enough, and easy 10+.

I don't think you will be disappointed.

I remember watching this film way back when I was in high school as a TV special (since it was never released in movie theaters in my country).

My sister and I, as young as we were then and perhaps still idealistic and what have you, were moved to tears watching this great film. I can still remember my sister and I trying to find out the name of the actress when the credit was being shown because we were so touched by the truthfulness of her performance.

For one strange reason or another Imogen Stubbs' name really got stuck in my mind from then on, although I have never ever seen any other movie of hers after that. This movie made an impression on my young mind and has stayed with me ever since. For a couple of years now, I have been desperately trying to find a VCD or DVD copy of this movie so that I could watch it again and experience the same emotions I had back then when I was watching it with innocent eyes. But alas, I still have not found any copy.

I really would love to watch this movie again... something to help me revisit the child in me.

I first saw this great little movie a few years ago while overseas in the Middle East on a late night movie channel that carried older "B" movies. I was so mesmerized with this tale, when it was over I spent 30 minutes long distance on the phone with my wife explaining the plot. When I got back to the States I some how found an old DVD of the movie on the internet and bought it immediately. My wife and I watched this wonderful movie again recently (Jan 2017) and ended up crying together all over again! A Summer Story is so well cast (Imogen Stubbs in the lead female role and James Wilby as the lead male) and with a story that is so beautifully written. The production values are extremely well done that you feel transported to the 1904 Dartmoor countryside and the lovely coastal town of Torquay. Beware to be supplied with a box of tissues for the plot climax at the end!

Technical Note: The DVD this viewer watched had high contrast, with narrow dynamic range, resulting in poor image detail in the shadows and highlights, and loss of screen resolution. Film chain transfer is of low quality and accomplished on a non-CCD device, with no digital post-transfer correction, and displayed reverse screen vignetting.