Cold Comfort Farm (1995) (TV)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

John Schlesinger

Writers:

Stella Gibbons (novel) and
Malcolm Bradbury (writer)

Release Date:

10 May 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

She discovered a new branch of her family tree... the one with all the nuts.

Plot:

In England in the early 1930's, 20 year old Flora Poste, recently orphaned and left with only 100 pounds a year...

Plot Keywords:

Farm | Birth Control | Marriage Proposal | Rural | Train

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Eileen Atkins	...	Judith Starkadder
Kate Beckinsale	...	Flora Poste
Sheila Burrell	...	Ada Doom
Stephen Fry	...	Mybug
Freddie Jones	...	Adam Lambsbreath
Joanna Lumley	...	Mrs. Mary Smiling
Ian McKellen	...	Amos Starkadder
Miriam Margolyes	...	Mrs. Beetle
Rufus Sewell	...	Seth Starkadder
Ivan Kaye	...	Reuben Starkadder
Jeremy Peters	...	Urk
Maria Miles	...	Elfine Starkadder
Christopher Bowen	...	Charles Fairford
Louise Rea	...	Meriam Beetle
Sophie Revell	...	Rennet

MPAA:

Rated PG for brief sensuality and language.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Germany:6 (bw) | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG (cable rating)

Filming Locations:

Brightling, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

BBC Films

Trivia:

Last film of Frederick Jaeger.

Quotes:

Mrs. Smiling: In fact, when poetry is combined with ill-groomed hair and eccentric dress, it's generally fatal. You're very lucky, Elfine. He must have seen your finer points.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Gone with the Wind (1939)

Austen meets Shakespeare

This film has to be one of the most enjoyable films I have ever seen. The sincerity and wittiness of Jane Austen combined with the ridicule of a Shakespearean play, Cold Comfort Farm tells a clever, little story about a young, determined London-girl who is set on lifting the curse of the Starkadder family. Kate Beckinsale's Flora Poste is as unshaken and well-spoken as Austen's Emma (who Beckinsale has also starred as) but in a more cheerful and less hypocritical manner.

The names in the film do their best to describe the utter depravity of the Starkadder's: The horse Viper, the cows Aimless, Senseless, Heedless and Desireless and aunt Ada Doom. The acting in the film is flawless and Stephen Fry is just the icing on the cake.