Les temps difficiles

At nearly four hours, this version of 'Hard Times', made by Granada TV, scores highly, moving along at a much slower pace than, say, the 1980s version made for children's television.

The novel by Charles Dickens is not one of his best known; however, in the tale of the mills of Coketown, the pompous self-made mill-owner Bounderby, and the miserable Gradgrind children, worn down by their father's insistence that facts are the only things one needs in life, he portrays an interesting set of characters that lend themselves well to film adaptation.

As Gradgrind and Bounderby, Patrick Allen and Timothy West are both excellent. Jacqueline Tong is a feisty Louisa, who handles most of her scenes well, while Edward Fox is an oily Harthouse. Alan Dobie completes the main players as mill-hand Stephen Blackpool, a man confined and crushed by fate.

Long unavailable on home video, this adaptation deserves to be seen by a new generation and it is a pity that Dickens' collections on DVD have generally included the later version which is much shorter and has much less depth.

The best Dickens I've seen, bar none. Better than Copperfield or Bleak House or Nicholas Nickleby or the others I've seen over forty years. It seems, in this four part adaptation, more modern than the others in it's conciseness and lack of coincidences so common in his other works. The whole cast is superb. Timothy West hilarious as the pompous Bounderby (they'll be wantin' turtle soup with venison and a golden spoon) matched for comic relief by Rosale Crutchley as the inscrutable Mrs Sparsit. Patrick Allen is great as Gradgrind and Jacqueline Tong is most moving as the unfortunate Louisa. The whole cast is memorable and Arthur Hopcraft's adaptation could not have been improved upon. On Amazon Prime, it's a must see!

The 1994 adaptation was quite good but felt too short and rushed. This adaptation was wonderful and you'd be hard pressed to find a better adaptation or do one better. The costumes and sets are very true to the period and done really convincingly, both opulent, without being too beautiful, and atmospheric, without being too overly-bleak. As an adaptation it really works. The dialogue flows very well and written with sophistication. The social and personal issues of the times are incorporated without being ignored or skimmed over in the writing, as is the fun, tragedy and foreboding of Dickens' style. The story is always compelling and is faithful to Dickens without being too faithful or cold. Excellent performances too, especially from Edward Fox(wonderfully oily), Timothy West(human and villainous) and Patrick Allen(convincing at being gruff and repentant). Though Rosalie Crutchley is a scene-stealer too, Jacqueline Tong is lovely and feisty, Alan Dobie is very moving and Barbara Ewing does nicely playing the only "perfect saint" character). So all the performances work, and does does this adaptation, which is a great adaptation and wonderful on its own. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Unlike Charles Dickens's better known works like David Copperfield, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist which mainly deal with social ills such as poverty and / or the hardships faced by orphans or children displaced from their parents, Hard Times deals with the effects of upper middle class affluence, force-fed "Facts" based education and authoritarian - almost dictatorial- parenting on the development of children. Mr. Gradgrind's misplaced but well meaning and relentless "education" of his children ultimately yield tragic consequences. Repeated readings of this book have convinced me that this is Dickens's indictment of the loss of human values and the growing emphasis on material interests and accumulation of scientific knowledge (the "Facts" that Mr. Gradgrind places so much emphasis on) which were ushered in by the Industrial Revolution. Gone is the bloom, the blush and the romance of 'The Arts' as the cold, grey, grimy new self-conscious affluence is ushered in. This aspect of the book is extremely well captured by the screenplay and cinematography. Great moving performances by everyone involved in this production - especially from Edward Fox (a long time favourite actor of mine) who plays the slick, opportunistic Mr. Harthouse, a symbol of the times. Rosalie Crutchley turns in another stellar performance. It is a shame that neither the book nor this production have received the attention so richly deserved.

Hard Times is a novel I had not previously known and I bought the 2-DVD set primarily because of its low price. I liked it and then read the book, which I liked even more--not the ideal way to approach a piece of literature, but that's how it worked out in my case. It contains all the essential elements of the book, and is a superb dramatization of Dickens's grimy tale of industrialization, class struggle, labor unions, arranged marriage, educational philosophy, and other aspects of life in mid-nineteenth-century England (and elsewhere, even today!). The actors are all superb and entirely convincing in every aspect of their roles, and I cannot recommend it too highly. I was so absorbed by the strength and conviction of the principals and had such a visceral reaction to their characters' views that I ended up watching the entire film (really four well-defined episodes) in one sitting. Some of the scenes, especially the more intimate ones, resemble stage work more than a feature film, but this actually appealed to me. Other reviewers have pointed out the excellent work of the principals; I would add only that I found Harry Markham's portrayal of Sleary, the circus manager, one of the most moving and profound and that the understated score by composer Malcolm Arnold (adapted from a movement of his Little Suite No. 2 for Brass) added immensely to the mood. Absolutely first-rate.