Customer Reviews

Love on a Branch Line [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the gentle but great British comedies. Great casting of theater trained actors who make this a really enjoyable & hilarious romp. Extremely watchable time & time again.

You don't need stage sets when you have a real castle with a moat, gardens, tapestries, paneling, etc.. not to mention the real steam engine train. Our hero gets to play footplateman in one scene, and the eldest daughter is engine driver. The train is one of the best features of the film. It's a period-piece set in the year 1957.

I was told that it was a miniseries on British TV. There are 4 episodes and some text-format special features. But don't let that put you off, the text is very informative.

SPOILERS!...

There are hillarious scenes of tomfoolery where a nice old man with no legs insists that our hero dance a Charleston for him (nothing looks sillier than a man dancing a Charleston by himself), of course, at the worst possible time. Also whenever our dashing young scout is kissing one of the daughters, mother just happens to stumble upon the pair.

MORE SPOILERS! Do not read if you don't want to know too much!

The difficulty arises when our hero is pressured to shut down the statistical ministry operation at Arcady Castle, and despite all efforts to the contrary, he finds no reason to spare them the dark fate of asking them to shut down. Things do work out for the best, however, and he does "make the right decision" in the end.

END of SPOILERS...

This zany and delightful comedy is chock full of scheming females, respectable gentlemen with stoically managed agendas, and dearly held traditions that deserve preservation. As Jasper (the main character) says at one point, he has stumbled onto a world where the laws of cause and effect are temporarily suspended. He rides it out and we watch with ear-to-ear grins on our clocks.

I love this production. I recall seeing it in 1995 on TV during my final year of high school, but I only saw the final episode. Years later (about 1998), a relative of mine told me about it, and she reminded me of its name. That same year it was on TV again and I got to see it all. I was so very happy to find this on DVD - all my friends love this production as well, and I also have the novel. Brilliant stuff

It is quintessentially English - The borders of Norfolk and Suffolk in a sleepy village called Arcady, a civil servant with the wonderful name of Jasper Pye comes from London to Arcady Hall, a Tudor style Estate (Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk) and learns to enjoy his 'boring' life a little more by flirting with the 3 daughters of Lord Flamborough (Leslie Philips). Watch as Jasper attempts to be tactful when he is forced to close down the Government statistical unit at the Hall, while trying not to hurt his new friends. Romance and lust is not lacking in this fantastic English story set in the late 1950s.

Love On A Branch Line is perfect for those who enjoy stories about English eccentrics like P.G Wodehouse wrote about. The cast is very good, and the locations include an incredible garden and
manor house. A great gift for the Masterpiece Theater fan.

This is supposed to be a hilarious comedy. Where are the laughs, let alone smiles? Sure, there are many eccentrics bounding about the countryside. But none of them is being funny. I'm a great fan of British comedies, but I can only recommended this to insomniacs.