Cold Comfort Farm

Rufus Sewell. 'nuff said. I'll say it again: Rufus Sewell.

Great 90’s classic!

" I saw something nasty in the woodshed"......."There have ALWAYS been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm".....these two lines are repeated as a sort of litany throughout the film.Very subtle British comedy. You will quickly realize in the opening seen that you are in for a very quirky brand of comedy as the delicious, lovely Joanna Lumley playing the character, Mary Smiling, piddles over her hobby with her butler. Her hobby is a collection of lady's corsets, bras, undergarments on partial mannikins. Mary Smiling, her character, of course, is always smiling. The names are very much tongue in cheek as well."Highly sexed young men living on farms are always named Seth or Ruben"..... [Flora Poste referring to cousins she has not yet met on Cold Comfort Farm.]The film opens with about 50 seconds of black and white footage setting the history of the little girl who saw something nasty in the woodshed. That little girl is now elderly and uses whatever she saw in the woodshed as a lever and club over everyone's lives who lives with her on Cold Comfort Farm. Great Aunt Ada's (who saw something nasty in the woodshed when she was a little girl) worst fear is that her children and grandchildren will leave her alone on the farm.Kate Beckinsale plays the role of Flora Poste, known throughout the film as "Robert Poste's child". Flora is recently orphaned in 1930's London when both her mother and father die at the same time. No relatives in London care to take her in as the estate only left her 100 pounds per year for her allowance. So, she stays with a friend in London while she writes letters to all of her relatives throughout Great Britain seeking the appropriate fit for the next stage of her life. Flora sorts through the responses from the relatives and chooses to go to Cold Comfort Farm with her cousins, the Starkadders. Fecundity rules as Flora leaves behind the societal refinement she enjoyed in the upper crust in London. Flora has ambitions to be a writer and believes she must experience "real life" (on a farm) in order to write about it. However, she has an ulterior motive. She possesses enough self awareness at a relatively young age to know something about herself. She likes to "tidy things up" that are messy. Thus, the untidy Cold Comfort Farm and the people who inhabit it seem an apropos challenge for her.DO YOU KNOW OR HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH ANY DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES? Then, you will love this film.What I liked about the film is the trans-formative nature of Flora Poste, Beckinsale's character. Without being too much of a busybody she inserts herself into her unknown relatives' lives on Cold Comfort Farm and literally transforms the farm and all the people on it. It is a sheer joy to watch it unfold.

Do yourself a favor and watch this- a FEW times!This is a quirky movie. I started reading the book and could not understand the lingo! so I decided to rent this first. When I went back to read I had the conversations down and understood the premise. I have to say first and foremost that this movie is from a book by the same name. Stella Gibbons was the Author and she wrote this in 1932. Her humor is BEYOND funny, if possible- dry and off beat. The intro to the book is hysterical and gives you a hint of the woman behind the story.The movie is almost word for word according to the book... Flora, about 23 years of age is from London. Without a job and only 100 pounds a year to live on, she decides to 'visit' and 'live off of' some relatives for a short while. Her criteria for picking these relatives require that they be in desperate need of change in their lives. Flora was good at helping people with change and felt she was doing a good deed by accomplishing this task, for Flora did not like anything out of sorts. She knew JUST how to fix and direct others in the way they should live and behave. When Flora accomplished this good deed she was satisfied and all was well!Flora finds herself in Sussex at her relatives farm... Cold Comfort Farm- but this is no ordinary farm for the Starkadders live here, and there has ALWAYS been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm...As you can imagine this film is filled with oddball characters with oddball names and ALL of them are terrified of their Aunt Ada who rules the roost!Flora tends to all the characters in her loving sensible way in which mayhem and bizarre and silly humor abounds. This is a fast and fun movie with a feel good ending. I could easily see this becoming a cult film because of repeated lines, silly names and colorful characters. Made for television, but released in the theaters, Cold Comfort Farm surpassed the projected outcome for this film. You might be surprised by the well known actors in this movie and some actors who have bit parts. They all do a superb job.I would definitely have English subtitles when watching for the first time because Cold Comfort Farm language can be hard to decipher.Definitely a movie I will watch again and again and those movies are hard to find- humor, decent language, fun characters, great actors... a good story!

An absolute gem. Based on the book by Stella Gibbons, witty, dry dialogue. Terrific cast with top drawer performances.We have found ourselves quoting snatches of dialogue at each other quite randomly.In other words, all the ingredients that make something into a "cult classic", beloved of the cognesci.

I tried to get the sub titles on this dvd but non appeared although i bought it understanding that it had sub titles. i did not try this dvd earlier as my son always waits a few weeks before using anything at risk of the coronovirus. i feel very disappointed not being able to watch this film and feel i should be compensated for the fact that this dvd is useless to me. dorothy tindall

If you want to watch a quintessentially English film on a wet Sunday afternoon, this feelgood film is perfect. I bought it immediately after finishing the book which I adored. So why only 3 stars? Well, what made the book so special was Stella Gibbons' gentle biting wit and I am afraid that this is absent from the film. Enjoy the film and all of the actors' performances for what they are and you will have a lovely time, but regrettably there is missing a magic ingredient.

OK, it's an old film and therefore quite dated in style and execution, but we enjoyed watching it. We bin many dvds - several never made it past 10 minutes viewing - but this will go into our collection to be watched again. It will never be a favourite, but is worth keeping.

Recently read the book and enjoyed the movie afterwards. Of course, it necessarily shortens and simplifies the story but the cast were superlative and the production excellent. The dvd arrived promptly and in mint condition. My only wish was that it was Blu-ray!