Undescribable Perfection

Truly Dreadful Film

Overrated and overhyped

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

This made-for-TV movie (or 'feature-length drama' as we call them in England) has a seemingly special place in the hearts of the nation and I fully appreciate why this might be. As a sweetly sentimental piece of family entertainment starring the undoubtedly popular John Thaw, it could hardly fail. Yet, curiously, fail it does on a number of levels.Partly there is a problem with the cast, but I really don't think the fault is Thaw's. He was an actor of considerable merit and ability whose death elevated him to unofficial sainthood - making criticism of any work featuring him rather a tricky task as one might appear churlish. However, I rather enjoyed his gentle and satisfyingly nuanced performance in the curmudgeonly-yet-softhearted titular role. He certainly did well with the material to hand, and the story offers some potentially weighty issues which ought to be grist to any competent actor's mill.Other characters, as has been correctly observed by various reviewers, are less satisfyingly fleshed out. This may be due in large part to their being allocated such little screen time & dialogue as to prevent the actors developing them to any degree. Even then, this might not greatly undermine the drama and it's worth noting that two supporting roles (the village woman who gently ribs Tom and the ARP warden in London) are well matched against Thaw.The greatest fault lies with the scenes involving young William. There is a total lack of characterisation from the young actor and it's just the death-knell for the whole enterprise. As an example, when Will's best friend Zach has to leave (because his dad's been critically injured), Will just stands still with a blank expression on his face as though he can't remember if he's supposed to feel anything or respond or whatever. Who knows, maybe that was the best shot they could get out of him? Yes, the boy's meant to be emotionally damaged, but he barely displays any hint of genuine fondness for Tom. He smirks when he ought not to, he appears distant when he should be warm and human, and that's just me generalising. The intimate effect is very jarring and takes one out of the drama.Thaw's acting might still have carried the day, if it weren't for the toe-curling shattering of mood in two scenes. I refer, of course, to the nightmare scene and to the cycling scene at the end. In the former, bad direction and poor acting combine when the boy sits bolt upright and yells wide-eyed to the camera as it zooms in; meant to be shocking but so unintentionally embarrassing that it becomes pure 'narm'. That I no longer believed in William as a character was merely reinforced right at the end in a final moment of narm when his cries of "Yaaay" as he cycles down the hill toward the great emotional climax come spilling out his mouth as though recited in a first year Latin class; it's certainly not from the heart.In the end, the boy just couldn't act and it torpedoed the whole damn thing for me. It's pity; I might have really enjoyed it too.

Quite a heartwarming little film and not just for the kids. John Thaw is brilliant as always (without any hint of Inspector Morse about him). The boy playing William did a good job as well though I didn't find him convincing in every scene. I loved the whole feel of the small village and the slower pace of life in those times. I also felt the scenes in London where historically accurate, as far as I could tell.It strongly reminded me of a Scandinavian film I saw a couple of years ago called Mother of Mine. That film featured a boy being evacuated from Finland to Sweden during WW II. The wife of the family taking him in asked for a girl because (as it turns out)she lost her daughter. Getting a boy instead she completely ignores him. The fact that the boy speaks Finnish complicates matters even further. I highly recommend that film to anyone who enjoyed Goodnight Mr. Tom, it has the same feel to it.

This movie resonated with me on two levels. As a kid I was evacuated from London and planted on unwilling hosts in a country village. While I escaped the bombing and had experiences which produced treasured memories (for example hearing a nightingale sing one dark night for the very first time) and enjoying a life I never could have had in London, I missed my family and worried about them. Tom is an old man whose wife and child have both died and who lives alone in a small country village.As an old man who is now without a wife whose kids have gotten married and live far away in another province, I am again sometime lonely. The boy's mother is a religious fanatic with very odd ideas of raising a child. Since a deep affection has grown between old Tom Oakley and this young lad, Tom goes in search of him and finally rescues him from very odd and dangerous circumstances. At the end of the story there is great tension since due to some bureaucratic ruling it seems that the child is going to lose someone who has developed a loving relationship with him.

A heartwarming film. The usual superb acting by John Thaw, who passed over recently. A man who was always so unassuming. He was one of Englands top 10 actors certainly of my time.He can be remembered for his famous role of Inspector Morse. As Jack Regan in the 1970's hit TV series 'the Sweeney and as a barrister in Kavanah QC. A must see for all the family and a great DVD for my collection. The filming will bring back a few memories for people who remember wartime Britain and certainly those who were evacuated out of London to escape the German bombings. The interaction between the two main characters.Tom and the boy William was really well acted and true to the book by Michelle Magorian.