Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?

This is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. The direction is excellent, the acting is great, although really weird, and the script is perfect.

This film is a real masterpiece but I think many people just can't get past the accents. It's NOT a "accurate depiction of the 70s" - or at least, it's not trying to be. It's a movie in which really normal people deal with really WEIRD situations. I love it because everyone stays normal despite this strange phenomena of Howard Smith's.

I've never seen a romantic comedy with such normal, and realistic people who, despite being idiots, were sweet, and honest.

I saw this movie 'by accident' last night - a friend of a friend had an old video copy - and thought it was absolutely brilliant. And I had a lousy hangover! I hadn't even heard about it before - I don't know if it ever had a proper cinema release but it clearly wasn't the huge hit it deserved to be. I can't believe some of the negative comments I've read about it. Were they watching the same film? I thought the story, the characters and the whole 70's feel of it was amazing - even if the 70's I recall wasn't quite as colourful as that. Tom Courtenay was superb as the enigmatic Harold, likewise Steven Fry and David Thewliss. Harold's speech about the tortoise was a classic. I noticed you can't even buy this film on DVD or video now but my advice is if it's ever on TV check it out!

This is one of the best movies I've ever seen! The acting is amazing, and the story is laugh-out-loud funny! What a great sense of humor, especially if you're British and into punk! Fantastic music too! I loved it. Someone had a truly hilarious time writing this movie!

The best parts? Well the last scene, definitely!Punk meets John Travolta...a marriage made in...???!! I loved the professors home life, been there, done that...thanks dad!! And what a treat to see all those blasts from the past...High Karate aftershave, the Queens speech and Urei Geller. What more could a person ask for apart from the 'Vision On' music! And does anybody know how they got Angela Rippon, Alan Whicker and John Craven in this movie! Then there was Keith Chegwin. Go Cheggers Go!! But I think you had to be there! For those who were born too late to live the punk/new wave dream....sorry guys! It was the best of times, it was the ...well you get the picture.

So In summary, punk rules, but disco dancing is cool too...but punk still rules! I'm not sure about the tortoise vote but the last glimpse of Harold was just perfect!Oh! And how is it that Lulu never seems to age?

I also had the opportunity of seeing this film at the London Film Festival, but not having grown up in the 70s approached it with few expectations and even less knowledge of what the period was like. The actors all turned in good performances, with Tom Courtenay especially memorable. The direction was slick and the film consequently flowed smoothly. Some jokes were hilarious and reflected the overall strength of the screenplay, which was packed with novel ideas and witticisms. All in all a very friendly and fun film that I would highly recommend.

This film is absolutey delightful, a combination of a well-written and hilarious script, and some amazing art direction. Every scene in this movie presents its audience with an eyeful of imaginative staging. If you liked the movie The Royal Tennenbaums, see this... its more funny and even more visually rich.