Hannah

I don't know whether I have awesome taste or just really unusual taste, but almost without exception, when I go to look for a movie I love, I find that it was never transferred to VHS or DVD. Luckily, I was able to transfer my VHS home recorded version onto a digital recording, so at least I have this film. It's not a very good copy, but I love it so much that it almost doesn't matter. This is one of those films in which you so strongly identify with the main character that her hopes and joys are your own... except I don't really think I could ever be as efficient as Miss Mole was. Also, it was a long time before I found out that this was based on a novel by E.H. Young called "Miss Mole." So now I have the happy ability to read the book once a year and watch the movie once a year. Oh, bliss.

BBC did an immaculate job of transferring this novel to film... the casting, sets, everything are perfect! This note, the cute youngest blond daughter is Patsy Kensit, who grew up to be in one of the Lethal Weapon movies.

Independent, intelligent, witty Hannah Mole is a farmer's daughter educated above her station. All her life she has been a companion/housekeeper coming into other people's lives and forced out when no longer needed. At age forty, Hannah once again is dismissed and returns to her cottage only to be forced out by a man she once loved, a slimy World War I veteran who has the power to ruin her reputation and therefore her livelihood.

Downtrodden, she returns to her beloved city of Radstowe.. Here she is employed by the pompous Reverend Corder to look after his motherless children. Hannah's zest for life in spite of all its hardships, her capacity to call a spade a spade and her compassionate nature transform the people whose lives she encounters.

I also had taped this when it was originally on A&E. I watched it so often that I think I wore the tape out. Sterling performances by the cast. I think that this is a magnificent example of how a movie can absolutely totally romantic without being cloying and very sexually charged without anyone taking a stitch off. Tim Pigot-Smith has been in many movies but his performance here was so sympathetic... the total opposite of his Jewel in the Crown role. Jane Freeman is seen as Ivy in Last of the Summer Wine which we watch nightly on PBS. It's fun to catch earlier performances by familiar faces.I wish that this were available on DVD today. I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Does anyone know if a DVD of it will be produced?