The Tale of Beatrix Potter

First let me say that the IMDb page for this title is a mess. It is not animated, and the profile image is of some animated version of the Tales of Beatrix Potter. Then Amazon link takes to to a list of animated videos of Beatrix Potter stories. Nope - Not it!

The BBC miniseries that ran on Masterpiece Theater is a well made and acted biography of Beatrix Potter. Like so many of these BBC productions it is simple, well made, well written, well acted, and an enjoyable way to spend an evening or two relaxing and watching a wonderful story unfold.

The BBC has been pretty good about releasing there television series but there are a few they have totally LOST! "The Tale of Beatrix Potter" and "The Voyage of Charles Darwin" are two that come to mind. So if you are a fan of sophisticated dramatic television with a sense of history, write to the BBC and help get these titles released.

Sorry about there not being a lot of detail in this review, but what's the point if you can't have the joyous experience of watching this show.

This lovely film, about the life of Beatrix Potter, portrayed England at the time of her life. No frills or fancy bits. It showed how hard it was for her as a youngster, growing up in a strict Victorian household, with only a Nannie as a companion. It was she who helped Beatrix smuggle into the house the animals she subsequently drew. She was also a fine botanical artist but her parents would not all her to follow this career. I originally had this recorded on an old VHS tape, but as this wouldn't work on today's machines I discarded it. I have been looking for another tape or DVD ever since. I would love to know where I could obtain one. The modern version was good, to a point, but not a patch on the original. Penelope Wilton is such an under-rated actress.

It is to the BBC's shame that they have buried or lost this excellent film, and have NEVER released it to home video. It is a masterful treatment of the life of an extraordinary woman, anchored by a great performance from Penelope Wilton.

This film is far superior to the quaint (that is the nicest word I can use) work which stars Renee Zellweger. I am too big a fan of Beatrix Potter to completely trash that film, but I take umbrage with the ridiculous way they made her look, and how they glossed over her parents behavior, which was in fact strict even by Victorian standards.

Beatrix Potter was not a flibbertigibbet who baby-talked to her drawings, she was a SCIENTIST, for God's sake, a mycologist who developed a theory regarding lichen that was decades ahead of its time!

THIS film, with the wonderful and under-appreciated Penelope Wilton, makes clear Potter's sufferings and restrictions, and her great talents and achievements: a great watercolorist, artist, scientist, naturalist, writer, creator of a secret code that was unbroken until the 1950s, land developer and preservationist, environmentalist...I can't even go on writing this list because I get all weepy-peepy thinking of what a great, generous spirit she was. Not only did she help save the Lake District from becoming a car park or a strip mall, but her "little books" have touched the hearts and minds of millions, perhaps billions of children and adults ALL OVER THE WORLD, for generations. She changed the world, quite literally, with her actions. You understand that from seeing this film; you do not from seeing the lackluster presentation starring Ms. Zellweger.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, BBC?! DIG THIS OUT AND PUT IT ON DVD! YOU'LL MAKE MONEY!

THE TALE OF BEATRIX POTTER is based on the book by Margaret Lane, a very good, straightforward biography, which has here been well dramatized by John Hawkesworth, who brought us UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS, and THE DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET (shows he was familiar with the era!). He became infatuated with Potter because of her marvelous watercolor technique, being himself a watercolorist and student of Picasso. He knows the details here, for set dressing and costume, language and manners; when young Beatrix mentions that her father takes photos for Mr. Millais, it is John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite painter; Canon Rawnsley, the enthusiastic Victorian country preservationist is fleshed out in limited screen time.

Next to Wilton, perhaps the most important actor in the film is the narrator, the late, great, Sir Michael Hordern, whose voice is the perfect framing device for this "Tale." He is well known to fans of British film, from such works as A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, SCROOGE (A Christmas CAROL), Zeffirelli's TAMING OF THE SHREW, LOVEJOY, and as the narrator in Stanley Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON. After watching THE TALE OF BEATRIX POTTER, I sometimes like to watch my copy of Hordern as King Lear, from the the BBC Shakespeare Plays produced in the 80s, to see Penelope Wilton as Regan opposite his Lear. They are so good!

In conclusion, if you know anyone who owns a copy of this film beg them to watch it with you or loan it to you, or if you're ambitious try writing the BBC and DEMANDING that they release a pack of lawyers to hunt down and issue this lost treasure on DVD, so that more people can see this wonderful rendering of the life of a great modern artist and benefactress of the people of Britain and lovers of the natural world.

This 1982 film generated a lot of interest in Beatrix Potter, the person, for me. While I enjoyed the latest film with no cash spared and beautiful cinematography, it still didn't measure up to this version. Penelope Wilton was magnificent and it covered a wider area of her life on a limited budget. When I visited England some years ago, I made a point of going to her cousin's place in Long Melford, Suffolk, not mentioned in 'Miss Potter'. Also, that film neglected her naturalist work and her later life. I am glad to have found that I am not going crazy and that the film did exist. Of course I knew that but now know that the BBC has done nothing about it since. Like others, I am hoping that one day it will be released on DVD. Let us pray that the BBC has preserved it! I should add that I am not the only one in my family who would love to see it again. My daughter still quotes from it, such as - 'little books for little hands'.

Is this version the same as the one which was aired on Masterpiece Theatre in 1989? This version says "1982" and only runs 60 minutes. The 1989 version was a miniseries and was not animated. The actors were the same--Holly Aird and Penelope Wilton, but there seems to be a difference. Can anyone explain the discrepancy? I thought I heard that the BBC did put out an earlier version. I have been searching for the miniseries practically since it first aired--nearly twenty years ago. Is that version on DVD or even VHS? It showed more of Beatrix's life than the Zelwegger version. I especially enjoyed them showing her interest in botany and the "Powere that be" not taking her seriously because she was a woman.