Hard Times

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.................!

I was very disappointed when I purchased this DVD of "Hard Times" by Dickens. I cannot recommend it as a Dickens fan and as someone who is often blessed to see mostly Andrew Davies Adaptations of classic literature for the BBC. The music is creepy like a B movie horror flick, the acting is stiff, the lighting is horrible , and it is all too obvious that the scenes were mostly filmed in badly propped studio spaces. I was especially upset that I disliked the movie since it was filled with so many of my favorite actors such as Alan Bates and Richard E Grant. The actor who played Gradgrind gave the only acceptable performance in my eyes. The only consolation was that the short story TV classic "The Signalman" (adapted by Davies!) was added to fill the end of the Disk.

Bob Peck, Alan Bates, Richard E. Grant and Bill Paterson are all actors I admire a great deal. However their best work is elsewhere, and this video is in no way competitive with the 1977 Granada version which is finally out on DVD, and very much worth seeking out.

This 1994 version is truncated to the point of incoherence, sort of like reading Classics Illustrated comic books by flashes of lightning. None of the actors can survive the frenetic pace, with many scenes limited to just two lines of dialog. Characters can't be created in this kind of a rush, just sketched in, with Peck and Grant valiantly approximating real performances, Bates relying on tics and tricks, and Paterson actively bad. But I don't think it's really their fault.

The less-well known but far superior Granada version was adapted by Arthur Hopcraft and directed by John Irvin. Patrick Allen and Timothy West are iconic in their stovepipe hats as Gradgrind and Bounderby, Edward Fox gives a career-defining performance as Harthouse, and Alan Dobie is dry and restrained as Blackpool. Even Rosalie Crutchley as Mrs. Sparsit wins on points over the later version's scene-stealing Dilys Laye.

Skip this one and find the earlier Irvin-Granada version - you won't be disappointed.

Made for British schools in 1994, this BBC version of HARD TIMES eschews the usual fancy costumes and elaborate sets of most BBC 'classics' and gets down to the story, focussing on the characters and their sometimes tragic lives and decisions. Don't let its origins put you off: this version boasts a cast most big budget films would kill for: Alan Bates, Richard E. Grant, Harriet Walter, Bill Paterson, and the late, great Bob Peck, magnificent as Gradgrind. Anyone tired of the respectful, white-glove treatment classic novels are usually given on TV will find this a refreshing change of pace: angry and passionate and bleak, with flashes of humour and humanity.

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.