All Creatures Great and Small

Plot

This feature-length dramatization of James Herriot's best-seller was issued by EMI as a big-screen theatrical release in England, but debuted on NBC as a telemovie in the United States, February 4, 1975. It stars Simon Ward as Herriot in his early days as a veterinarian. The story picks up in 1937, with Herriot's first assignment as assistant to eccentric Yorkshire vet Siegfried Farnon (Anthony Hopkins). The film's highlight is the strenuous delivery of a newborn colt; its most poignant moment is the mercy killing of a seriously ill dog. In between "cases," Herriot courts pretty farmer's daughter Helen (Lisa Farrow). The film eventually spawned a television series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Review

A lovely, gentle and totally captivating film, All Creatures Great and Small is a joy. While those who are exposed to the film only after having seen the long running British TV series that followed it may have to adjust to different actors in the roles, they will be well rewarded for doing so. Creatures succeeds at something that many pictures attempt but rarely do so well -- capturing a specific place and a specific period on film. The strength of Creatures isn't in its plot, although the one it has is certainly sturdy enough. Rather, its strength lies in the way in which it uses details and small moments to tell the viewer great amounts of information, where the way in which one character looks at another conveys not just that character's opinion but the opinion of the entire town. Credit for this goes not just to the excellent cast but to the beautifully sensitive and telling direction of Claude Whatham and the intelligent and incisive screenplay by Hugh Whitemore.Simon Ward is aces as James Herriot, and Lisa Harrow is his match as his eventual love interest, but its Anthony Hopkins -- of course -- who ends up stealing scene after scene. Hopkins mines his character's eccentricity in that unique manner of his, creating an indelible portrait of a fascinating, if often irritating, country doctor. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Cast

• Anthony Hopkins - Siegfried Farnon
• Simon Ward - James Herriot
• Lisa Harrow - Helen Alderson
• Brian Stirner - Tristan Farnon

Brenda Bruce - Miss Harbottle; Christine Buckley - Mrs. Hall; John Collin - Alderson; Jane Collins - Connie; Peter Davison; Glynne Geldart - Joyce; Harold Goodwin - Uncle; Freddie Jones - Cranford; Doreen Mantle; T.P. McKenna - Soames; John Nettleton; Daphne Oxenford; Bert Palmer - Mr. Dean; John Rees; Jenny Runacre - Pamela

Credit

Yvonne Blake - Costume Designer, Claude Whatham - Director, Ralph Sheldon - Editor, Wilfred Josephs - Composer (Music Score), Geoffrey Drake - Production Designer, Peter Suschitzky - Cinematographer, Duane Bogle - Producer, David Susskind - Producer, Hugh Whitemore - Screenwriter, James Herriot - Book Author

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