Product Details

• Actors: Emilia Fox, Denis Lawson, Isabelle Amyes, Keith Barron, Robert Cole
• Directors: Alan Grint
• Producers: The Round Tower ( Catherine Cookson's The Round Tower ), The Round Tower, Catherine Cookson's The Round Tower
• Format: Import, PAL
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Dutch
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Granada Ventures
• Run Time: 153 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000V2R5E6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #469,704 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Netherlands released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Set in mid-1950's England, this story tells of the wealthy, socially upwardly-progressive Ratcliffe family. Their youngest daughter, seventeen year old Vanessa, feels alienated from her selfish parents, who are more interested in their eldest daughter's upcoming marriage into one of their town's old families. An old friend of the family, who is himself trapped in a loveless marriage, makes love to Vanessa one night, and she becomes pregnant, but won't reveal who the father is. Her parents are sure it is an employee of the Ratcliffe's, Angus Cotton, who hotly denies this and quits his job to go and start his own business. Vanessa ends up leaving home, and when Angus hears of the poor conditions she's living in in a Newcastle skid-row neighbourhood, he offers to marry her and she excepts. ...The Round Tower ( Catherine Cookson's The Round Tower )

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Catherine Cookson's best! Highly recommended!, January 28, 2000

By 

Marcy Gomez (Kansas City, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Catherine Cookson's the Round Tower [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"The Round Tower" is one of the best Catherine Cookson adaptations ever! It is lush, well-acted, romantic and a must for any Cookson or British drama fan. The story centers around young, strong-willed, wealthy Vanessa Ratcliffe (Emilia Fox - "Pride & Prejudice," "Rebecca") and ambitious, handsome, poor Angus Cotton (Ben Miles). Both are good friends, despite objections from her snobbish parents. When Angus is wrongly accused in Vanessa's pregnancy, the turn of events brings them closer together but later threaten to break them apart. This addresses such themes as ambition, class conflict and prejudices, personal vs. familial responsibility, and love. A touching, sweet love story! I loved every minute of it!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very true to the book, May 16, 2001

By 

K. Morrison "arizwldcat" (Ogden, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Catherine Cookson's the Round Tower [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I have always loved Catherine Cookson, and The Round Tower is my all time favorite of her books. I was so happy to discover that it had been made into a movie. Emilia Fox is wonderful in the role of Vanessa. Although Ben Miles doesn't physically resemble the character of the book, he still made a wonderful Angus. Also good were Jill Halfpenny as Rosie, Keith Barron as Jonathan Ratcliffe, and Jan Harvey as Jane Ratcliffe. Isabelle Amyes makes a wonderfully bitchy Irene Brett (just as I pictured her), and Catherine Terris was also perfect as Emily Cotton. If you are a fan of Catherine Cookson, you'll probably like this movie. My neighbor has borrowed it 3 times already :)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Catherine Cookson's Best, May 26, 2007

By 

Donegal Dan (Southwest United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Round Tower [Region 2] (DVD)

I am a fan of Cookson's stories, which involve character-driven plots and generally uplifting sagas, something hard to come by in movies today. The Round Tower is probably my favorite of all of hers (and I own them all). Its story of the unhappy little rich girl and the hardscrabble but able hero who ultimately rescues her (and vice versa)is nothing we haven't encountered before in one form or another but it is well written and well acted and presents a reasonably accurate picture of the British class system and the contrast between the lives of the haves and have-nots. Emelia Fox and Ben Miles are particularly good as the central couple and have gone on to greater fame in such things as "Coupling"(Miles) and "Rebecca"(Fox). The supporting cast are also excellent and the setting gives the story a feeling of reality. In all, if you like the old novels of struggle, romance and surmounting the odds, you will like this. If you need violence, car chases and mayhem, forget it.