Comrades -2discs (1986, Ntsc, All Region, Import)

Great movie by the late, great Bill Douglas!

I was really looking forward to this film as I am a fan of The Bill Douglas Trilogy, which I gave five stars, but I am unfortunately only giving the film 3 stars. Douglas's film is about the 'Tolpuddle Martyrs', six Dorset farm labourers who in 1834 were arrested and tried for forming a trade union and subsequently transported to Australia. Comrades (1986) was to be Bill Douglas's last film, as he died of cancer in 1991. I have listed the Pros and Cons of this film as I see them.Pros:1. Good subject material2. Cinemaphotography is interesting and artistic3. Nominated Golden Berlin Bear - Berlin Film Festival4. Winner Sutherland Trophy - British Film Institute AwardsCons (I only have one con, but it was a major con for me):1. Long films generally do not bother me, nor do I need an action film to entertain me, however, this film was not well edited by Bill Douglas. It was like he could not let anything go, so it ends up being a 185 minute movie that really should not gone over 90 minutes, so I was just glad when it was over and felt the story would have had more impact if it was shorter as well.

Product in perfect condition, seller is a standup character, that's coming from a repeat customer. A+++

More famous for his trilogy of growing up in Scotland Bill Douglas was an undoubted socialist. Here he sets out to tell the tale of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. They were a group of farm workers and labourers in the nineteenth century who decided to do something about the unfair working conditions and wages that were being forced on them by unscrupulous and over privileged land owners. So they formed one of the first ever trade unions.Whilst this was not a crime in itself, it did not stop the authorities from stitching them up and having them `transported' for seven years to Australia to face all the privations of convict status in the burgeoning colony.The story is told through the lens of a lanternist and there are many references to the forms of entertainment of the time. The actors are also very noteworthy, Keith Allen, Philip Davies, James Fox, Vanessa Redgrave, Imelda Staunton and Barbara Windsor to name but a few. A special mention to Alex Norton who played over ten roles including the aforementioned lanternist and I never spotted it.This is a beautifully filmed piece of cinema with fantastic attention to period detail filmed at Cerne Abbas in Dorset. There is real filth and detritus and the grime on the convicts always looks genuine. It is long at 176 minutes (my version - the BFI restoration) but is a great chronicle of a vital piece of our history and also a unique piece of cinema - absolutely essential viewing.

Comrades is probably my favourite English Language film of all time. I first saw it in the cinema and then again on Television. How great that it is now available in DVD format. I only feel sorry for the previous reviewer having failed to be able to watch it: sort out your equipment!Comrades is very different to the Douglas trilogy but, in its own way is as fine. The contrasts between the two halves of the film, set in England and Australia, are superbly done. The muted light of Dorset contrasts with the harsh light of the Australian penal colony and the wide expanses of virgin land.Linking the film together is the figure of the projectionist, who takes on different aspects of the history of the moving images. At times his exploits are anachronistic and at times whimsical but he provides a unifying thread.The actors playing the parts of the Tolpuddle martyrs, trades-unionists who were prosecuted and exiled for the temerity of resisting a reduction of their pitifully small wages, are superb. The figure of George Loveless is one that stays in the mind long after the finer details have gone. He stands for the heroic nature of the exploited worker.

I couldn't hack it

I saw this for the first time quite recently. I already admired the Bill Douglas Trilogy, and wondered how he did on his first full length, relatively big screen production. It's quite a lavish film, but I do think that the narrative gets a little lost. This is not completely unexpected sine Douglas's style is to tell the story in pictures, with relatively little dialogue. While this works with the short films, it doesn't quite work here. There are some superb individual scenes, but I wonder if the director was slightly overwhelmed by the nature of the task. The many extras do fill in a lot of detail with crew and cast members outlining the pros and cons of working with Bill. The film is not a 'glorious failure,' but it doesn't quite come off. I know others will disagree. Maybe I need to watch it again?

This is a long movie. Be prepared to invest 2 and a half hours. This film takes place in England in the 1830's and tells the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Six men who were desperately poor agricultural labourers living and working on land owned by one wealthy family. Its a story of brutal exploitation (so what's new?)and the courageous people who created an uprising against the oppressive rich landowners. This event may be considered the birth of labour unions in England. The men were charged and sentenced to seven years "transportation" to Australia. There are surprises in the way their exile is treated and the whole presentation could be seen as an historical art film complete with Ed Woods type musical background scores. I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD, I laughed, I winced, I learned a thing or two. I'm happy I bought it.

A very well told story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, with a running theme of pre-cinema devices.

A most informative DVD on the plight of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, a piece of history generally swept under the carpet for itsportrayal of injustices and corrupt men in authority. A little over biased in Trade Unionism, but none the less,part of ourhistory and should be available to the people.

Love this film.