Cast overview: | |||
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Caroline Milmoe | ... | Melanie |
Tom Bell | ... | Philip / Melanie's Uncle | |
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Kilian McKenna | ... | Finn / Margaret's brother |
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Patricia Kerrigan | ... | Aunt Margaret |
Lorcan Cranitch | ... | Francie / Margaret's brother | |
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Gareth Bushill | ... | Jonathan / Melanie's brother |
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Georgina Hulme | ... | Victoria / Melanie's sister |
Marlene Sidaway | ... | Mrs. Rundle | |
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Marguerite Porter | ... | Coppelia / Nymph |
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Lloyd Newson | ... | Artist |
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Jeremy Kerridge | ... | Chinaman / dancer |
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Jayne Regan | ... | Blank Puppet / dancer |
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Marina Stevenson | ... | Cleopatra |
After her parents are killed in a plane crash over the Grand Canyon, Melanie, a teenager girl and her younger brother and sister are sent to London to live with their uncle, Philip. There, she meets his mute wife Margaret, who is mistreated by and terrified of her husband and only converses through notes. She also meets Margaret's younger brothers Francie, a fiddler, and the rakish Finn. Her uncle is a toy maker, secretly has the power to make his toys come to life, but he also maintains dictatorial control over his family and intends to exercise the same control over the new arrival.
I saw this film on the A&E Channel in 1991 and have bitterly regretted not taping it then. The late Angela Carter herself wrote the screenplay and included elements of magical realism not present in her novel, which made it even more intriguing and absorbing. The cast includes the great Tom Bell as Uncle Philip and the terrific Irish actors Kilian McKenna and Lorcan Cranitch (of "Cracker" fame) as Finn and Francie. It is a fantastic adaptation of a difficult, strange and wonderful book, and I wish SOMEONE at Granada or the BBC or wherever would release it on all regions DVD already!