Coming Home

Coming Home
by Giles Foster

List Price: ~~$29.99~~
Category: DVD
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DVD details

Actor: Anneliese Uhlig, David McCallum, Joanna Lumley, Penelope Keith, Peter O'Toole
Director: Giles Foster
Brand: Acorn
Producer: David Cunliffe
Producer: Rikolt von Gagern
Producer: Thomas Mattinson
Producer: Tim Buxton
Producer: Victor Glynn
Writer: John Goldsmith
Writer: Rosamunde Pilcher
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 199 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-03-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Acorn Media

DVD Reviews of Coming Home

DVD Review: A Wonderful Story!
Summary: 5 Stars

Rosamunde Pilcher's book comes alive as seen through the eyes of a young girl growing up on the Cornish coast in the days leading up to World War II.
I highly recommend it.

DVD Review: Good adaptation of the book
Summary: 5 Stars

Translating a lengthy book to the movie screen is never easy, but this adaptation captures the essence of the story and the times. The scenery chosen and the costumes are great, while the cast is filled with familiar faces you love to see (Peter O'Toole, Joanna Lumley, Susan Hampshire, David McCallum, Penelope Keith). The indepth details/characterizations of the book may be missing - time alone would dictate that - nevertheless, the cast draws you into the story. Like a good book, you don't want to put it down....but watch to the very end and want more. Whether you've read the book or not, you'll enjoy the movie.

DVD Review: Excellent production of a good story
Summary: 4 Stars

I haven't read the novel, Coming Home, nor any of Pilcher's work, so I can't compare the film to the book. Having read the other viewers' reviews, I gather that true Pilcher novel fans might be disappointed in the film. For others, who just want an entertaining few hours, this might do well. I picked it up because Peter O'Toole's face was on the cover and I figured he wouldn't be a part of anything that was too bad.

The story covers a period in the life of a young girl, Judith Dunbar, as she enters boarding school in England when her mother and sister go to Singapore to join her father. It is in the years leading up to WWII. (In the early scenes she is played by the radiantly gorgeous young Keira Knightly.) At school she becomes best friends with Loveday Carey-Lewis, a spirited girl from a fabulously wealthy family in Cornwall. She spends most of her holidays with this family and they take her in as one of their own. We are treated to magnificent views of the area and the pleasures of the lifestyle of the privileged. Peter O'Toole plays a small role as the father of Loveday but he steals every scene he appears in. It's almost worth sitting through the very long video to see him.
Joanna Lumley is almost his equal as his glamourous, amazing wife.

The story progresses as Judith matures, and faces the problems that beset a young woman. (The transition from Keira Knightly to the much less beautiful Emily Mortimer is a shock, but we soon grow used to her and come to admire her excellent moral qualities, which sort of make up for the lack of luster.) When the war breaks out life changes for everyone and the difficulties become enormous. At one point I wondered how poor Judith could take one more blow, but she shows, as they all do, the amazing quality of staunch fortitude for which the British have become famous. One of the main things I took away from the video was the experience of everyday people during that war. As an American who has not had any first hand experience with war, I am truly humbled to think of what others have endured.

There are some moments which, for me, were overly melodramatic, most notably the suicide. And it seemed that Judith's choice of eventual mate was telegraphed early on in the film so there was no surprise there. (I understand that it was different in the book.)

This is not Shakespeare and if you don't expect King Lear you might be pleasantly surprised by an earnest presentation of a story that contains some interesting characterizations of what could have been real people in an era not that far removed from our time. I enjoyed it.

DVD Review: Whatever happened to the story line?
Summary: 2 Stars

I thought the first DVD out of the set was pretty much to the plot of the book. But, whatever happened to Judith's old friend, Heather Warren, from Porthkerris?

On the second DVD from the set I was totally disappointed with how the story went. Why did they keep Edward alive? Why did they portray Walter as a nice guy? And why didn't they ship the Somervilles' out to southwest Asia and so goes for Judith? Also, it was Judith who found Gus in London. Why oh why was it Diana Carey-Lewis? Did the broadcasting company run short on budget? Were they in a terrible rush to finish the series like a botched-up plastic surgery horribly gone wrong?

Overall I sort of enjoyed it, but it could have been a lot better!!!!!!

DVD Review: Coming Home - A Trip back in time
Summary: 5 Stars

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie of Coming Home. Having read the book a number of times and enjoyed it each time, I was pleased that the movie kept to the story line for the most part.
The actors and actresses who performed were all excellent and filled their roles perfectly.
It is the kind of movie I could and will watch again a number of times.

Description of Coming Home

An enchanting coming-of-age story set in the tumultuous world of wartime england. Based on rosamunde pilchers bestselling novel. Studio: Acorn Media Release Date: 01/08/2002 Starring: Peter Otoole Emily Mortimer Run time: 205 minutes

"I've only been to Nancherrow once. I thought it was very beautiful, but somehow not part of the real world," says the headmistress of St. Ursula's to young Judith. Judith Dunbar, the heroine of Rosamunde Pilcher's Coming Home, starts her journey at this boarding school when her mother and sister leave to join her father in Singapore. It is here that she first gets to know her soon-to-be lifelong friend, Loveday Carey-Lewis. Through Loveday, Judith is welcomed into the Carey-Lewis family and invited to the majestic estate of Nancherrow.

Coming Home truly shows a fairy-tale England. The beautiful coastal scenery and the flawless posh accents of all the characters make this almost unbelievable. Everyone is so kind, so repentant at the first hint of any mistake, and so happy--even the tragedies have their silver lining. Joanna Lumley and Peter O'Toole's roles as the happy Carey-Lewises hardly tax their acting ability, although they portray this frightfully British upper-class couple exactingly.

As the story progresses through World War II, the saga of Judith Dunbar twists and turns. Not without its tragedy, her life is still enchanted by Nancherrow and its charmed residents, as familiar to her as her own family. Coming Home is not part of the real world, but rather an escape that somehow becomes the one place that feels like home. --Amanda Powter

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