User Reviews

And I wont go into the fullest detail regarding the title I used, but with regards to the movi in question, I can easily appreciate the work people have done just to survive, never making money and working almost a whole year before seeing any money. BAck breaking, sweat browed, itchy, smelly, good clean work. These period pieces are very quaint especially as they are slowly becoming scarcer in the modern era. Most cannot even conceive of what its like to live out in the sticks or so far removed from others that people fear getting " lonely". HAH! Suck it up sheeple. HEre was a complex story of the daily lives of a single family compared to the secrets and goings about of a little village as it emerged from the first world war a few sons and husbands and brothers lesser, but still had to press on as humans have always done. It had its ups and dones, and htough not a bad movie, was not a masterpiece. Still, it reminds me of when I was a lad up through my teens, working, and trying to fight against the chaff of the system, and being the apple of the ladies eyes, and vice versa. For that, I would give it a near 7, but have to settle for a measly 6 cause of the scoring system here. But it was enjoyable. Check it out.

This film is faithful to the book, perhaps too keen to get all the book into the film. Lee like Hardy evokes an England that hadn't changed for a 1000 years and was about to change for ever. They lived in a small village, where the rest of the world might not existed. He doesn't show this life as idyllic.

Don't forget to read the book!

In 1975, the BBC made a film version of Cider with Rosie, also approved by Laurie Lee, and featuring Rosemary Leach as the mother. The earlier production is a triumph compared to this one, with a wonderful semi-impressionistic view of this dramatisation of English village life after the first world war.

In the 1975 version, look for example at the final shot where we see the young Laurie passing the real life elderly Laurie. What a glorious touch! Fortunately I have the first version on tape (and now preserved on a DVD!).

This later version, sadly, is strictly run of the mill made-for-TV drama compared to the 1975 one, which was produced by Eileen Diss and scripted by Hugh Whitemore, 2 of the BBC's greatest!.

Set 100 years ago (it's 2018 now) it tells the story of a young lad who has moved to the Cotswolds during the era of the 'great war'. While the Triple Entente and the Central Powers were slaughtering each other by the millions, the villagers of Slad have their own problems to attend to.

The BBC have seen fit to trot out all the familiar ubiquitous faces to take part in this unnecessary nonsense and the result is dire. The book is both brutal and comedic in equal measures, but this TV film is neither.

There are now THREE TV movies of this book and they are all bad, but this is the worst. In 2015, Timothy Spall starred in one that was marginally better than this and way back in 1971 there was a half decent version made watchable because of the magnificent casting, attention to set detail and the collaboration of the author of the book.

This, however borders on being offensive.

Gave it 3 stars for scenery .

Never read the book but this was utter nonsense!

A lot of it didn't make sense and never got explained.

Some just crazy.

Like how did they make money ?

Did the dad sent money?

Was he having an affair?

Why would he just abandon his whole family?

Half the kids were only his and not the mothers.

She was a little crazy also.

They didn't seem to work for the landlord, except for the last scene,years later.

Lots of Strange characters that never got explained.

Very few scenes made any sense at all.

I was very disappointed in this movie Will not read the book ,which hopefully was better?!

Waste of time !