I have watched this movie twice in the last year, after the BBC unearthed it from some long forgotten vault. There's no question that it seems an oddity, archaic in style, tone and subject matter. But if the viewer can overcome these barriers, and in my case the poor sound quality of the version the BBC showed, it's an involving tale with engaging central performances from the principles (and pretty reasonable Scottish accents too) and fine support from stalwarts such as Alan Hale and Donald Crisp who became well known faces over the next 40 years. What also interests, is that the period the movie was made is now over 3/4 of a century ago, and we see the earlier period of the story (1840's) through the prism of the sensibilities of that era (1930's) a similar distance from our own times. The view of the relationships, between men and women, between people of faith and the church, between individuals and the community identity they are a part of, at first they seemed to be so alien, and then I saw that these are still areas of tension in society, perhaps for ever, and in seeing that, I felt lucky to get a glimpse into history, to two pasts. This is something the 20th century and the invention of cinema are giving us for the first time in human history.
Review of The Little Minister
