Hard Times (1994) User Reviews

Star Power Isn't Enough

[tonstant viewer · 5/10 · 25 October 2007]

Bob Peck, Alan Bates, Richard E. Grant and Bill Paterson are all actors I admire a great deal. However their best work is elsewhere, and this video is in no way competitive with the 1977 Granada version which is finally out on DVD, and very much worth seeking out.

This 1994 version is truncated to the point of incoherence, sort of like reading Classics Illustrated comic books by flashes of lightning. None of the actors can survive the frenetic pace, with many scenes limited to just two lines of dialog. Characters can't be created in this kind of a rush, just sketched in, with Peck and Grant valiantly approximating real performances, Bates relying on tics and tricks, and Paterson actively bad. But I don't think it's really their fault.

The less-well known but far superior Granada version was adapted by Arthur Hopcraft and directed by John Irvin. Patrick Allen and Timothy West are iconic in their stovepipe hats as Gradgrind and Bounderby, Edward Fox gives a career-defining performance as Harthouse, and Alan Dobie is dry and restrained as Blackpool. Even Rosalie Crutchley as Mrs. Sparsit wins on points over the later version's scene-stealing Dilys Laye.

Skip this one and find the earlier Irvin-Granada version - you won't be disappointed.

Quite good though there are better Dickens adaptations around

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 24 September 2013]

This 1994 adaptation of Hard Times does nobly with adapting Dickens in a relatively short length and to make it accessible to younger audiences. It doesn't quite come off, it does feel 20-30 minutes too short, too many scenes did feel rushed through and skimmed over and Beatie Edney even for someone deliberately cold acts too samey throughout and the constant frowning is overkill. However the costumes and sets are very evocative, not opulent by all means in fact it is a somewhat sparse approach, it succeeds in matching the emphasis on the darker aspects of the book and Dickens without feeling too much. The music has a good deal of atmosphere, while the script is funny, heartfelt and foreboding with some of the Dickenesian spirit present- though some scenes could have had more- and the story while truncated is still compelling and easy to understand. The adaptation is well-directed and also very well-acted. Bob Peck, gruff yet repentant towards the end) was the standout with the (I feel) most interesting and most developed character. Alan Bates acts with realism and professionalism, while Richard E. Grant is dashing and Dilys Laye is a real scene-stealer. In fact all the acting is good, with the only real source of reservation being Edney. Overall, not ideal for "purists" but while far from perfect on its own this adaptation is quite good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Excellent adaptation for schools

[didi-5 · 7/10 · 13 January 2006]

A basic adaptation of 'Hard Times' is lifted above the ordinary by the impressive cast - Bob Peck as Gradgrind, Alan Bates as Bounderby, Dilys Laye as Mrs Sparsit, Richard E Grant as Harthouse, Bill Paterson as Stephen Blackpool, and Harriet Walter as Rachel.

Of course the story is somewhat compacted in a running time not much over an hour and a half, but the omissions are not that puzzling and the story is left easy to follow. The quality of the acting and the script mean that this adaptation isn't taking its young audience for granted.

Now available as part of a DVD set of Dickens' works, and well worth buying.

Excellent adaptation of a classic novel

[ashtree · 2 July 2001]

Made for British schools in 1994, this BBC version of HARD TIMES eschews the usual fancy costumes and elaborate sets of most BBC 'classics' and gets down to the story, focussing on the characters and their sometimes tragic lives and decisions. Don't let its origins put you off: this version boasts a cast most big budget films would kill for: Alan Bates, Richard E. Grant, Harriet Walter, Bill Paterson, and the late, great Bob Peck, magnificent as Gradgrind. Anyone tired of the respectful, white-glove treatment classic novels are usually given on TV will find this a refreshing change of pace: angry and passionate and bleak, with flashes of humour and humanity.

Just weird and flat

[durkinportraits · 2/10 · 21 December 2006]

I was very disappointed when I purchased this DVD of "Hard Times" by Dickens. I cannot recommend it as a Dickens fan and as someone who is often blessed to see mostly Andrew Davies Adaptations of classic literature for the BBC. The music is creepy like a B movie horror flick, the acting is stiff, the lighting is horrible , and it is all too obvious that the scenes were mostly filmed in badly propped studio spaces. I was especially upset that I disliked the movie since it was filled with so many of my favorite actors such as Alan Bates and Richard E Grant. The actor who played Gradgrind gave the only acceptable performance in my eyes. The only consolation was that the short story TV classic "The Signalman" (adapted by Davies!) was added to fill the end of the Disk.

Stripped down Dickens

[gray4 · 8/10 · 2 May 2004]

When announced as made by 'BBC Schools', a low cost production is expected. And the sparse sets and Coketown streets are indeed very basic. But this is more than compensated for by the quality of the cast. Bob Peck and Alan Bates lead a team of superb actors, who drive the story along, and provide the character so essential to Dickens through a glance or a gesture, in what is a very stripped down and shortened version of Dickens' classic novel.

Inevitably a lot of Dickens' complexity is lost, and the effect of its abridgement leads to a rather jerky approach, with abrupt shifts of time and scene. But overall this is a great success, substituting character development for fast-moving action. It is a tribute to the BBC's commitment (ten years ago) to quality educational films.

Very little merit...

[whits_inn · 1/10 · 28 June 2007]

This film was terribly drab. The setting was that of great oppressive surroundings, and it was hard not to feel great pity for the young children portrayed in this film. The lighting, the camera work, the directing was mediocre at best. The acting was decent, as some actors/actresses portrayed their character well, but a few scenes were melodramatic. I know the book is a reflection of the darker side of life, but this was just too much in the shadows. I watched this mostly because I had seen "Our Mutual Friend" and thought I would enjoy this work as well. I was greatly mistaken. I would never view this again, and I hope that I can forget the time that I did!

One of the best Dickens adaptations ever.

[terraplane · 9/10 · 28 April 2004]

This little known version of Hard Times is a magnificent adaptation of Dickens' novel about the life of a Victorian Family, set in a grim, dark place in the north of England called Coketown. The stellar cast, in particular Alan Bates and Bob Peck, get to the heart of Dickens intentions. There is none of the sanitisation you usually get with Dickens adaptations, this is a full blooded, and sometimes angry, production. The whole point of Dickens writing was to show people the plight of the poor working classes, the underclass, the people forced to live in grinding poverty and suffer starvation, disease and unimaginable squalor. People who had no choice but to work in factories and mills for incredibly long hours, while the mill and factory owners grew rich at their expense. People who died in terrible accidents at work because they were considered expendable and the machines were never allowed to stop. This production captures some of these intended messages perfectly. But in nearly all Dickens' works there are moments of great humour to lighten the darkness and in Hard Times the Slearys of the circus bring a smile or two. This film was originally made for the English syllabus in UK schools by the BBC so it may not be easy to find, but if you like your Dickens raw and honest, you should track it down.

OK

[Andrew-199 · 5/10 · 9 January 1999]

The book of Hard Times can be very good at times and much of its description is captured on screen. However, I personally find these types of film occasionally dull but if you are keen to see the film-adaptation of the novel then enjoy. The film, in my view, is OK.

Trouble at t'mill, squire.

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 9/10 · 25 October 2006]

I have mixed feelings about screen adaptations of classic novels and plays. On the one hand, they serve as a 'crib sheet' for students (and George Costanza types) who are too lazy to read the original books. Also, they cheat viewers out of the experience of the prose by the original author, in this case Dickens. On the other hand, at least these film and TV adaptations make great literary works accessible to couch-spuds who otherwise would never experience them at all.

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT. This BBC Schools production of Dickens's 'Hard Times' necessarily abridges the text, even though this was by far the shortest of Dickens's novels. As usual for Auntie Beeb, the period detail here is (mostly) perfect, although it would have been more realistically Victorian if some of the actors had bad teeth. and if the factory hands were not so well-fed. Mister Sleary's circus is only briefly seen, yet the shots of the circus fixtures look more like a 20th-century American circus than anything of Dickens's place and time. Considering the theme of this novel, it would have been nice to see a few shots of mills and smokestacks.

I was intrigued by the changes made here. In Dickens's novel, two of the major characters had unfortunate speech patterns that made their dialogue distressing to read on the page: the circus owner Mr Sleary had an erratic lisp, and the falsely-accused millhand Stephen Blackpool spoke with an 'eeh, bah gum' accent reminiscent of George Formby. Fortunately, in this adaptation, the lisp is lost, and Blackpool's 'oop North' dialect is greatly toned down.

In Dickens's original novel, after young Tom Gradgrind embezzles £150 from Bounderby's bank, he hides in Sleary's circus ... where the circus folk conceal him by disguising him in blackface. I found this detail upsetting, partly because of its racism but also because blackface make-up (even without the racial implications) is physically disgusting to look at. For this television adaptation of Dickens's novel, it would have made sense to disguise Tom in the white Auguste make-up that most clowns in Victorian England wore. Instead, he is kitted out with a big red nose and a Weary Willie make-up which are decidedly anachronistic -- he looks like Emmett Kelly -- but definitely preferable to blackface. Another nitpick: in an earlier sequence, the actor who plays Tom Gradgrind is seen writing left-handed ... but surely Tom's Victorian schoolmaster father would have 'cured' him of that tendency!

One other change in this adaptation annoyed me very much, the more so because it was gratuitous. Although Tom's father, the schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind, is often regarded as the villain of 'Hard Times', that perception is incorrect: Josiah Bounderby (well-played here by Alan Bates) is the principal villain; Gradgrind is more like Ebenezer Scrooge in that he sees the error of his ways, repents and reforms. In Dickens's novel, Gradgrind stands for Parliament and is elected, but Dickens pointedly never identifies Gradgrind's political affiliation. In this BBC production, Gradgrind is explicitly identified as a Tory. Further, in the climactic scene, when Gradgrind tries to save his son from gaol by appealing to Bitzer's compassion, Bitzer taunts Gradgrind for his 'conservative philosophy'. That adjective 'conservative' was not there when Dickens wrote this scene! It's clear that some liberal at the BBC has decided to score a few points against the Conservative party with some cheap shots that really don't belong in this otherwise splendid production. As a rates-payer, I deeply resent that my licence fee goes to support propaganda which do not reflect my own political beliefs ... nor those of Dickens, I might add. It's because of that gratuitous politicking that I'll rate this production one point short of a perfect score: 9 out of 10.

Appropriate Times

[jromanbaker · 10/10 · 13 December 2023]

Brilliantly directed this film I found by accident and I have watched it three times since I have seen it, and it is a combination of theatre and cinema. The interiors of the wealthy are covered in red curtains and wallpaper, signifying I thought of how much blood there is on their hands. Set in the 19th C it is one of the least read of Charles Dicken's novels and that is a pity as it is very appropriate for our times. The poor have feelings while the rich have reasoned out thoughts especially on the use of money. No spoilers but a young man played well by Christien Anholt fluctuates between reason and the heart. The wealthy and the rulers reason that the heart is simply an organ of the body, and the blood red of their decors again shows how the blood that pumps it are on their walls. An industrial worker is fired from his work and becomes literally another person to survive. The images of him at the last part of the film are gut wrenching. But to return to the actual filming. Fixed scenes often follow fixed scenes as in a theatre and this focuses the mind and heart of the viewer in my opinion. I urge anyone who values the dignity of every person to track down this BBC masterpiece. I call it a film because of the way it is experimentally constructed and in no way is it comparable to the formula of a serial. Peter Barnes directed and he is one of the greatest of the UK playwrights; the like of which we rarely see now on our stages.

Genius, pure genius!

[ralphster · 10/10 · 2 April 2002]

Richard E Grant really made this adaptation. It's a shame I have to write 5 lines on this because there's not a lot to say. Umm. Yes. Some of the glances between the characters were inspired expecially, between Harthouse and Louisa. REG played the dashing cad to a tee. Oh yes. One more line.................!

'A noodle is a noodle. And you're A NOODLE'

[radical_imo · 10/10 · 13 January 2007]

I love this adaptation. Perfectly portrayed. The dutch subtitles really set it apart for me.

Favorite subtitle; 'Heer, u kunt...'

Favourite spoken words; 'Louisa', 'but you're so young Louisa', 'Louisa', 'Louisa', 'I'm just a girl from the circus'/ 'just a girl from the circus eh?' {Mr Harthouse cups thithy's fathe to her shock and dismay. In response to this she scurries out of the room leaving Harthouse (a)musing to himself}, 'Please don't bite my nose off' / 'I cannot madam! It is too big'

Favourite Character; Mrs Bounderby (not 'loo' of course but Mr Bounderby's mama)

Nominations for best death scene; Steven Blackpool and Mr Bounderby- yet I will award this to Bounders for his shocking portrayal of biting the nugget (or should i say nose).

FACT; best film ever! My sides, (bit)sir, are officially SPLIT!

xoxoxoxoxo

p.s- What are your opinions on this rare Jem (Harthouse)?

Charles Dickens as imagined by Bertold Brecht.

[superchaser-32786 · 10/10 · 12 February 2022]

Charles Dickens as imagined by Bertold Brecht: dark and gloomy. This absolutely brilliant adaptation has successfully striped Dickens from his Christian sentimentalism and showed the Victorian England as it actually was: a horrendous place for the working class.