Customer Reviews

The Young Visiters

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

 

 

This is the second time Daisy Ashford's famous book has been filmed for UK television. Sadly, this is the less succesful version. The whole appeal of the original book was seeing and hearing about the world through the words of a nine year old Victorian girl. Her unique spelling, opinions and ideas - mostly romantic notions about how adults in love behave - make for hilarious reading.

This BBC TV production changes much of the original material to suit it's own purposes, which completely obliterates the artless innocence of the book. Worse still, they have actually made up new lines, supposedly in the style of the original book, and yet actually left out many of Daisy's original and memorable lines of dialogue along the way! They have also added new characters and even devised new mis-spellings that Daisy Ashford never included...what a mistake! It's impossible to embellish a piece of work as original as "The Young Visiters" just for the purposes of padding it out into a full length movie...it's a unique piece of work that sprung from the mind of a nine year old girl, and written circa 1890 - what script writer today could possible emulate that with sufficient accuracy?! So, the overall result is a mildly amusing but perplexing comedy of manners with the characters delivering odd speeches and unfathomable mannerisms, and seemingly unable to spell when they write letters to each other. As a TV programme, it just doesn't make the charm of the book come to life.

The previous version was made way back in 1984 and seems to have disappeared completely now, but it was in fact better than this effort, plus it starred Tracey Ullman, who was hilariously well cast as the pompous Ethel. And the cast got to concentrate much more on the original immortal dialogue, unlike those roped into this mess. None of the humour stands out in the new version, even though it has a stirling cast and a big budget. If you watch this and enjoy it, that's great, but in my opinion the spirit of Daisy Ashford's book has been all but wrung out of it.

It is incredible yet true that "The Young Visiters" was based on a book written by a nine year old in 1890 in twelve days. To be so young and have such sophisticated ability, both as a writer and as a social observer, is remarkable.

This is a charming, family oriented movie that is not a Disney production. It is a "feel good" heart-warming story about a lonely "old" man, Alfred "Alf" Salteena, (age 42) and an ambitious social climber, Ethel Montacue. Alf and Ethel meet on a train, and he deliberately entices her by implying that he hob-nobs with royalty and nobility. Nothing could be farther from the truth as he is in fact a butcher's son, lacking proper manners, etiquette and at a loss what to do or say in almost any social situation. However, he is willing to do whatever it takes to attract and marry Ethel.

Ethel decides to visit him for the purpose of meeting eligible nobility, and in turn he keeps his promise by contacting an earl and arranging for them to visit his palatial estate. Through this connection, everyone's life is changed in unexpected and enchanting ways.

This movie is a wonderful experience and should be enjoyed by all ages. Bill Nighy and Hugh Laurie's performances add sparkle to the story. Whether it is true to the book or as good as a previous version, is irrelevant. On its own it is a marvelous way to spend a few hours.

I was delightfully surprised at how funny and touching this movie is. The movie seems as though it is straight out of Tim Burton's mind. Very entertaining and such a fantasy. You need to show your family this movie.

When I first heard of this story through watching the US version of BBC I knew I had to watch carefully so I wouldn't miss the show! I'm so glad to be able to get this on DVD. The story is absolutely charming. I love the scene where Ethel is dancing with the three young men. I also enjoyed watching actors who aren't all Hollywood plastic. Ethel has got to be four and a half feet tall or maybe she's exactly 5 ft. I love one of the last lines. "Ethel grew quite a buldgy figure but her husband loved her anyway." Charming!

What a delightful movie. To think the book was penned by a 9 year old English girl in 12days and has never been out of print.I bought the movie because I love Jim Broadbent,he plays the old gentleman of 42. It was very amusing and is a safe bet for young and old audiences alike.

The young visiters is based on a book by a nine year old victorian girl. I have not read the book so I cannot say if the movie lived up to it or not, but I loved this little movie. I bought it because it stars Hugh Laurie, my favorite fellow of the day, and he is wonderful in it. The other actors are fine too, terrifically peculiar... especially the wealthy alcoholic friend of the Prince. This is not a movie with a giant storyline but more of a collection of weird and wonderful characters and strange scenes. It really gives the feeling of being seen thru the eyes of a child.

The Young Visiters (sic), or Mr. Salteena's Plan has a great cast of talented BBC actors that includes Hugh Laurie (from HOUSE), Jim Broadbent, Lyndsey Marshal (of HBO's Rome) and Bill Nighy - who needs no introduction. Filmed in 2003, this story comes to us via a true novella written by a nine year old girl, Daisy Ashford, who wrote the story in just twelve days in 1890. Though the plot is indeed slightly naive, what is so engaging about this film is the complexity of a very adult-like love-triangle. I was astounded to think that a child would be capable of building such an interesting protagonist who, thwarted by his circumstances and class, manages to find love - albeit in a fatalistic way. To think that at nine, Daisy Ashford understood the realities of class in a way that lesser works by many professional writers do, quite frankly, shocked me. I was really impressed by this story...all in all, definitely worth watching. I highly recommend it.

it doesn't have sex or violence or car chases, or even sexy love scenes, but it is hilarious. See my review of the book for more details, but, if you are a fan of the unexpectedly hilarious, this is the movie to see.