A .telling an intricate story set during World War II and over two days in 1984.A group of cousins have a holiday every year with their aunt and uncle, by some cliffs in Cornwall. The book opens on their last such holiday before the war starts; we quickly learn about their hopes and fears. They mostly move to London, and their lives remain entangled as they discover the realities of war and adult relationships. The book is cleverly interspersed with 'flash-forwards' of various groups on their way to a funeral; we don't learn until late in the book whose funeral it is, however. The book ends in a satisfying way with all the ends tied together.
A film made for Channel Four in the UK, based on the book by Mary Wesley*. The time is 1939, the scene Cornwall, where Helena Cuthbertson and her husband Richard ( who lost a leg in World War 1) are entertaining several of his young nieces and nephews. Unknown to the adults, the children plan to make the "Terror Run" - a midnight dash along the narrow and dangerous path running along the local cliffs. The Cuthbertsons invite neighbours - a violinist and his wife - over for dinner and learn that they have lost track of their only son, but believe him to be in a concentration camp. Then there's a phone call from another member of the family, a surgeon working abroad. The hospital he belongs to is about to be evacuated. War is imminent ... the stuff of saga.
Presents the lives and loves of a family of cousins starting in 1939. Begins with a funeral and uses the reminiscences of those gathered to fill in details in the lives of Richard and Helena and their nieces and nephews. The convoluted and surprisingly explicit love lives of a group of cousins just before and during World War II.
Presents the lives and loves of a family of
cousins from 1939 to the present. Follows very closely
the Mary Wesley novel. Begins with a funeral and uses the
reminiscences of those gathered to fill in details in the
lives of Richard and Helena and their nieces and nephews.
.
Toby Stephens......... Young Oliver
Claire Bloom.......... Sophy
Paul Eddington........ Richard
Jennifer Ehle......... Young Calypso
Tara Fitzgerald....... Young Polly
Rebecca Hall.......... Young Sophy
Nicholas Le Prevost... Hector/Hamish
Rosemary Harris....... Calypso
Richard Johnson....... Oliver
Felicity Kendal....... Helena
Virginia McKenna...... Polly
Vivienne Ritchie...... Iris
Trudy Weiss........... Monika
Oliver Cotton......... Max
Produced by: Sophie Balhetchet, Glen Wilhide
Directed by: Peter Hall
Written by: Kenneth Taylor (from the book by Mary Wesley)
Pictures (click to enlarge)
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First transmitted in the UK on Channel 4, 5th-26th March 1991