The Wolves of Willoughby Chase *** (1989, Stephanie Beacham, Mel Smith, Geraldine James, Richard O’Brien, Emily Hudson, Aleks Darowska) – Classic Movie Review 12,171

Director Stuart Orme’s 1989 British children’s dark fantasy film The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is based on the novel by Joan Aiken, with a screenplay by William M Akers, and stars Stephanie Beacham, Mel Smith, Geraldine James, Richard O’Brien, Emily Hudson, Aleks Darowska, Eleanor David, Jonathan Coy, and Jane Horrocks.

Two of TV’s most popular over-actors, Stephanie Beacham and Mel Smith, turn in smashing, full-blooded performances in this enjoyable Dickensian romp about two plucky girls, Bonnie and Sylvia (Emily Hudson, Aleks Darowska), determined to triumph over their venomous guardian, the marvellously named Miss Letitia Slighcarp (Stephanie Beacham), and her oafish sidekick Mr Grimshaw (Mel Smith) who want to snatch the Willoughby fortune.

The Czech location filming magically conjures up the dark, satanic rural England of the alternative-history early 19th-century reign of the imaginary King James III, where packs of wolves roam the countryside. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is attractive, painstaking, imaginative and good fun but not for very young children. Also essential in the cast are Geraldine James as Mrs Brisket, Richard O’Brien as James, and Jane Horrocks as Pattern.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is a children’s novel by Joan Aiken, first published in 1962, the first in the Wolves Chronicles.

The film adaptation is fairly faithful to the novel, but some characters are omitted and others are altered, with the ending much changed.

Joan Aiken wrote the book, her second novel, over some years, with a seven-year gap because of her full-time work. Its success of this novel allowed her to quit her job and write full time.

Colin Towns’s score was released in 1995 by Digital TER Records.

The cast are Stephanie Beacham as Letitia Slighcarp, Mel Smith as Mr Grimshaw, Emily Hudson as Bonnie Willoughby, Aleks Darowska as Sylvia, Geraldine James as Gertrude Brisket, Richard O’Brien as James, Jane Horrocks as Pattern, Lynton Dearden as Simon, Jonathan Coy as Lord Willoughby, Eleanor David as Lady Willoughby, Gillian Hanna as Mrs Shubunkin, Dilys Hamlett as Aunt Jane, Abbie Dabner as Rupert Brisket, Jirí Lábus as Dr Morne, Rebecca Callard as Emma, William Martin as Joey, Trevor Byfield as Train Driver, and Robert Hamilton as Coal Man.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,171

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