Graham Seed Movies

After from escaping the clutches of his cruel master and making his way to a remote country railway station, a performing dog in Victorian England becomes a mascot for the local orphanage in this family friendly tale starring George Cole and Thomas Sangster. When the lonely but lovable pooch wanders on to a railway station on day, station porter Bob takes an immediate shine to the dog and names him Jim. Henry (Sangster) is a sad young boy from the local orphanage who longs for the train that will spirit him back to the long lost comforts of home. Though he never had anything to fight for in the past, Henry suddenly finds cause to stand up for himself and his fellow orphans when a malevolent businessman threatens to close the orphanage and steal their dog. To make matters worse, it seems that there's an assassin who's hatched a deadly plot to do away with the Queen. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Little Dorrit was intended as the cinematic equivalent to the mammoth, eight hour Royal Shakespeare Company's staging of Dickens' Nicholas Nickelby. The film was released to theatres in two parts, each running approximately three hours. The first part, subtitled "Nobody's Fault," introduced us to the seamstress title character (Sarah Pickering), who chooses to live in debtor's prison with her father (Alec Guinness). Good samaritan Derek Jacobi endeavors to help both father and daughter. The second part, also known as "Little Dorrit's Story," details Dorrit's escape from penury to lasting happiness. Eschewing the usual 19th century-style British music often heard in Dickensian adaptations, director Christine Edzard creatively-and effectively--opts for the strains of Giuseppe Verdi. Edzard's eye for period detail is also deserving of unbounded praise. Unfortunately, Part Two of Little Dorrit spends nearly half of its running time recapping Part One, utilizing much of the same footage. For those familiar with "Nobody's Fault," "Little Dorrit's Story" is more a redundancy than a continuation. Still, taken together, parts one and two all fully deserving of the enthusiastic critical commentary that greeted them upon their original release-not to mention the multiple Academy Award nominations bestowed upon the project and its participants. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The misbehavior of a group of young men away at school seems to be indicative of what is waiting for them when they "grow up," in this slightly far-fetched account of then and now in the British upper classes. In 1973, the young men barely associate with Quentin (Martyn Stanbridge) because his family lives in Singapore, and they bully their lower classmate Cox (Anton Lesser) just because they feel like it. Alistair Mount (Dominic Jephcott), the ringleader of this group of nondescript wealthy men is particularly obnoxious. One decade later, Quentin is bored, still plays cricket with the old buddies, and in an ironic twist, Alistair's wife starts a liaison with Quentin that would flatten her husband if he ever found out - but he is in Northern Ireland, up to absolutely no good at all. Meanwhile, Cox - apparently an admirer of Che Guevara, approaches Quentin with plans of vengeance for those earlier years of persecution. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide