- Actors: Peter O'Toole, Joanna Lumley, Penelope Keith, Anneliese Uhlig, David McCallum
- Directors: Giles Foster
- Writers: John Goldsmith, Rosamunde Pilcher
- Producers: David Cunliffe, Rikolt von Gagern, Thomas Mattinson, Tim Buxton, Victor Glynn
- Language English
- Classification: 12
- Studio: Acorn
- VHS Release Date: 11 July 2005
- Run Time: 199 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004CW3E
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 6,113 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
This was a fabulous TV series. The characters are warm and appealing - you can't help but like them, and the casting is superb! Until the last 10 minutes, you're left guessing as to what will happen. Funny & sad - Coming Home is a truly heart-warming film. I'd recommend it to anyone.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Quite what the producers of this appalling adaptation were trying to do is impossible to fathom.
A group of top quality actors, in the main well cast (with a couple of notable exceptions), who give pretty good performances. Penelope Keith is perfect as Aunt Louise and equally good is Joanna Lumley as Diana. All do well with the scripts they were given.
So much for the good. The average would include the sets. Nancherrow is nothing like the house described in the book, although bizarrely the house they use for the Dower House looks remarkably like it. It is clear then that the Dower House is far too big. In the later parts, the writers decided to bring the entire story back to the UK, presumably to save money, although with a little imagination I have no doubt they could have recreated Ceylon.
Now to the bad. The screenplay. This is such an appallingly bad adaptation is hard to find words to condemn it. Edward does not die in the battle of Britain but survives, blinded. He makes a brief appearance then commits suicide - why?? Loveday has changed from the young woman totally in love with Gus to a sensible farmer's wife who can give up the love of her life with barely a tear (less emotional than Brief Encounter). Gus, a man besotted and passionately in love, is prepared to give up his love without complaint. Walter (Mudge in the book) turns from a shallow unfaithful husband to a devoted family man. Jess is made into a psychologically disturbed young woman who won't speak. Aunt Biddy still has a drink problem but now without any justification. The Dower House is occupied by the army for no obvious reason other than a very short scene with Jess who has a fear of armed soldiers. Whilst Miss Mortimer's breasts are utterly delightful, I could not see how their display on several occasions moved the plot forward. The delightfully named Nettlebed becomes the mundane Dobson. The list is seemingly endless.
There is a sequel (which I lost all interest in watching after this nonsense) and I wonder if the changes were made to create the follow on story. It is difficult to image that Rosamunde Pilcher would have approved this grotesque perversion of her book; presumably she lost her control when the rights were purchased.
Don't waste your money on the DVD - read the book.
A group of top quality actors, in the main well cast (with a couple of notable exceptions), who give pretty good performances. Penelope Keith is perfect as Aunt Louise and equally good is Joanna Lumley as Diana. All do well with the scripts they were given.
So much for the good. The average would include the sets. Nancherrow is nothing like the house described in the book, although bizarrely the house they use for the Dower House looks remarkably like it. It is clear then that the Dower House is far too big. In the later parts, the writers decided to bring the entire story back to the UK, presumably to save money, although with a little imagination I have no doubt they could have recreated Ceylon.
Now to the bad. The screenplay. This is such an appallingly bad adaptation is hard to find words to condemn it. Edward does not die in the battle of Britain but survives, blinded. He makes a brief appearance then commits suicide - why?? Loveday has changed from the young woman totally in love with Gus to a sensible farmer's wife who can give up the love of her life with barely a tear (less emotional than Brief Encounter). Gus, a man besotted and passionately in love, is prepared to give up his love without complaint. Walter (Mudge in the book) turns from a shallow unfaithful husband to a devoted family man. Jess is made into a psychologically disturbed young woman who won't speak. Aunt Biddy still has a drink problem but now without any justification. The Dower House is occupied by the army for no obvious reason other than a very short scene with Jess who has a fear of armed soldiers. Whilst Miss Mortimer's breasts are utterly delightful, I could not see how their display on several occasions moved the plot forward. The delightfully named Nettlebed becomes the mundane Dobson. The list is seemingly endless.
There is a sequel (which I lost all interest in watching after this nonsense) and I wonder if the changes were made to create the follow on story. It is difficult to image that Rosamunde Pilcher would have approved this grotesque perversion of her book; presumably she lost her control when the rights were purchased.
Don't waste your money on the DVD - read the book.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A very british war period story. Beginning from the beginning of one young girls life, when she is sent to boarding school.[ her parents and sister are ex-pats living in Singapore]. Through the war years, when she serves as a wren, to her eventual happiness, after emotional turmoil, when the war ends. At boarding school she meets another boarder who becomes her friend for life. Her new friend takes her to meet her family and from that moment her life changes. She is accepted and becomes a member of the family.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Why destroy the characters we hold dear in our hearts?
I am loathed to say I absolutely agree with Johnb! This adaptation tarnishes your affinity to the book and its characters. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Amz
wundershoen
I recently watched this film, translated in German which I don't know so well. But the characterisation and acting were so superb, that hardly mattered. Read more
Published on 19 April 2009 by J. C. Birchley
Unmissable!!!!
This is the first television drama that is completely original. Coming Home is a heart warming story of the trials and tribulations of love and war! Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2001
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