An Angel for May (2002)

Tom travels fifty years to the past after discovering a time machine. He meets May, a little orphan who needs help. Now that he knows his friends' fate and his own, he will try to reorder the events and change their history.

Director:

Harley Cokeliss

Writers:

Melvin Burgess (novel), Peter Milligan

Stars:

Tom Wilkinson, Charlotte Wakefield, Matthew Beard

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Wilkinson	...	Sam Wheeler
Charlotte Wakefield	...	May (Aged 10)
Matthew Beard	...	Tom Collins
Hugo Speer	...	Bob Harris
Matthew McNulty	...	Sniffer (as Michael McNulty)
Anna Massey	...	Rosie
Angeline Ball	...	Barbara Collins (Mom)
Julie Cox	...	Alison Wheeler
Richard Fleeshman	...	School Team Captain
Dora Bryan	...	Evelyn
James Joyce	...	Big Kid
Daniel Mason	...	Short Hair
Jonathan Bradd	...	Sir
Andrew Foxcroft	...	Number 2
Ashley Rhodes	...	Small Boy

Storyline

Tom travels fifty years to the past after discovering a time machine. He meets May, a little orphan who needs help. Now that he knows his friends' fate and his own, he will try to reorder the events and change their history.

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Plot Keywords:

1940s | based on novel | character name in title | 12 year old | time travel | 

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Genres:

Drama | Family | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 December 2002 (UK)

Also Known As:

Un ángel para May

Filming Locations:

South Yorkshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Barzo Productions,Children's Film and Television Foundation (CFTVF),Gentian Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

During much of the movie, Tom Collins is wearing a dark hoodie sweatshirt bearing the name SlipKnot an American heavy metal band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1995.

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Alternate Versions

Determining an original length of the British film 'An Angel for May' is complicated by its playing on the film festival circuit during the second half of 2002 and having an ITV TV release 23-Dec-2002 in England without having a theatrical release. The British Board of Film Classification approved the film, in the form of a PAL format DVD from Guerilla Films, for a PG rating on 14-May-2006 with no cuts to its 102 minutes and 47 seconds total PAL run-time for all video on the DVD including a PAL video of the movie with a PAL run-time of 96 minutes and 2 seconds. PAL video runs at 50 frames per second while film projectors run at 24 film frames per second (48 PAL frames per second). Thus a film version of the movie's PAL frames would have a run-time of (96 + 2/60) * 25/24 = 100 minutes and 2 seconds, which would also be the NTSC run-time were the film converted to NTSC DVD. In 2007 distributor Feature Films for Families released 'An Angel for May' on full-frame NTSC format DVD with a 97 minute 16 second run-time including a 30 second FFFF video clip at the beginning and a 13 second FFFF video clip at the end. Subtracting the 43 seconds of FFFF video leaves 96 minutes and 33 seconds of original film run-time compared with 99 minutes and 55 seconds of original film run-time in the Guerilla Films PAL format version after the 7 second Guerilla Films video clip is subtracted. This means at least 3 minutes and 22 seconds of original film run-time in the Guerilla version was deleted from the FFFF version. Feature Films for Families has a reputation for buying distribution rights to family movies and distributing an edited version with segments of any scene or dialogue cut that might cause young children to ask awkward questions of their parents. One example of FFFF cuts in 'An Angel for May' is an early scene in the police station where 12-year old Tom has been taken by officers who pick him up on the freeway trying to hitchhike to London. The first cut starts just before it would become clear that Tom is talking with someone, an 18-year-old (credited as Sniffer) who is telling him how to break into homes through open bathroom windows. This cut runs for 17 seconds until Rosie appears and stares at Tom -- she actually recognizes him as a boy she met in 1941, 50 years earlier, but first-time viewers won't know this. When Sniffer sees she is staring at Tom he says "Oi, Rossie! Piss off, alright?" A second cut starts just after Sniffer says "Rosie" and runs for 6 seconds (while Tom echoes the sentiment) stopping just before Sniffer says "People like that should be locked up." Sniffer's subsequent dialogue is cut from the soundtrack as Tom's mother approaches so FFFF viewers won't realize Sniffer is talking to Tom -- reformatting from widescreen to full frame also helps Sniffer to be cut out of the frame.

User Reviews

A film to remember...

I saw this film in a movie festival in Brittany, France. Somebody here said it was for children, but I'm 27, I saw it with my mother and my boyfriend when it came out, and the three of us just loved it. The story of a young boy accidentally traveling into the past, and then going back there on purpose and saving a little girl's life is absolutely brilliant, and the actors are all perfect : Charlotte Wakefield and Matthew Beard show an outstanding maturity, and Tom Wilkinson, Julie Cox and Anna Massey are also incredibly moving. After seeing this film we were all in tears, and I was thrilled tonight when it got on TV at long last... I just found out it had come out on DVD in America, so I will be able to get it and recommend it to everyone I know.