O Otimista

The old VHS tape had dismal picture quality, but the sound was quite good enough to understand the dialog. The DVD is the reverse: the picture quality is relatively excellent, but the dialog is nearly unintelligible. The idiot who re-recorded the sound for the DVD must be the same one that destroyed the sound for The Importance of Being Earnest and Waltz of the Toreadors. I wish I could synchronize the DVD with the VHS to get the best of each.

This is such a wonderful film, a favorite. How sad that friends and family can't share my enthusiasm because of the struggle to understand what's being said. Nevertheless, I recommend it and insist it's worth the trouble. The film transports me to the time and place, and gives my emotions some healthy exercise. Try taking the journey from sadness and frustration to hopefulness and joy, with a fascinating view of the London of 40 years ago and a sensitive portrayal by Peter Sellers, one of his best.

This is a very sad and sensitive film, beautifully filmed in a very poor area of London just behind Battersea Power Station. If you enjoy Merchant Ivory films, the 'Kidnappers', or 'Whistle Down the Wind' then you will appreciate the delicate undertones of this story.

It is very true to life in the late 60's in London and shows the resilience of the children and the sadness of a once great Music Hall star.

I have seen this film a couple of times over the years and even though it is a little maudlin (most films with dogs and kids are) and, possibly, naive, it is very entertaining. Sellers does what I consider to be one of his best performances - up there with his rogue friend Terry Thomas in Tom Thumb. But being a Keaton fan it would have been wonderful to see him in the role with all his years of vaudeville and film experience. Can you believe young kids wandering the streets and befriending an old man? I wonder if PC would allow this kind of thing to be produced today... It has no pretensions, just good story telling. Well worth a watch without deep analysis.

"Sometimes it wasn't half as bad as all that, sometimes" Excellent Lionel Bart score adds to new style Peter Sellers, that of serious actor as in Being There. Superb London locations add to moral tale. Ex Vaudevillian Peter Sellers befriends two kids and begins to believe in life again and encourages the two kids from broken home to be more optimistic about life. A truly compassionate film that says despite your circumstances that there will always be someone who cares.

It's been several years since I saw The Optimists and then only the once. But the movie stands out in my memory as one of the very best I've seen and remembered. I like Peter Sellers in any movie and this is one of his best works. The story is so typical of the era and it presents the gritty real life of the time, much like my own childhood. The tale is very much in the vein of Kes, another real life drama of equal merit, which was made around the same time and reflects the same childhood era. I'd like to see it again and own a copy of the film myself. If there is anyone with a copy or knows where I may obtain a copy, it would be very much appreciated.