Made by Carlton Television for ITV (UK) , this adaptation of Laurie Lee's autobiographical novel follows a young man's maturation in the country town of Gloucestershire near the end of World War I. As young Laurie (Dashiell Reece) comes of age under the protective eye of his mother (Juliet Stevenson), he learns to live with an eccentric collection of friends, neighbours, and relatives. As he enters his teenage years, Laurie (now played by Joe Roberts) discovers women, specifically Rosie Burdock (Lia Barrow). Veteran screenwriter John Mortimer adapted Lee's book, with Lee narrating.
Reviews
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
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.
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!.
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!
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