5/5 An excellent adaptation all round
  by MartinP (Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
A Handful of Dust is arguably Evelyn Waughs finest novel, striking a perfect balance between dark humour and aching tragedy without indulging in the baroque excesses that make Brideshead so tempting and yet so flawed. In fact, HoD shares some of its themes with Brideshead Revisited, especially the threat posed to traditional aristocratic country life by a vapid modern lifestyle, and the destruction of the great English country house. But while at the end of Brideshead Charles Ryder has found redemption and is looking `unusually cheerful', nobody is smiling at the end of HoD - with the possible exception of the gruesome Mr. Todd, a lover of Dickens who is himself a Dickensian character as well as one of the most viciously evil personages to emerge from 20th century literature.

This quietly stylish production does full justice to the novel (but please do not use it as a substitute, you'll rob yourself of a wonderful read). James Wilby is perfect as the almost childishly naïve Tony Last, clinging to outdated codes of chivalry with such determination that he volunteers to take the role of guilty party in his divorce, even though it is his wife who is cheating on him. He seems to be looking at the modern world in a state of constant, bewildered surprise. But just when the callous Brenda thinks she's getting it all, it turns out that Tony is not quite the cuckold everybody took him for. Unfortunately, however, his plan of chasing the vision of a gothic dream city in the Brazilian jungle backfires in a way almost too cruel to bare.

The film has everything spot on. Huge, quaint and ugly Carlton Towers is a perfect choice for Hetton Hall; you can see why Tony loves it, yet understand why Brenda hates it. The art deco detail of the London scenes is delightful. And the jungle scenes add an exciting touch of adventure. But given Waughs razor-sharp texts, it is the characters that carry the movie, and all the actors make the most of them. Judy Dench is hilarious as the shamelessly exploitative Mrs. Beaver, Rupert Graves equally perfect as her disgusting leech of a son. Kristin Scott Thomas is Brenda to a tee, all elegance and style and bored, blind egotism. Young Jackson Kyle deserves special mention; he is an utterly endearing John Andrew which makes his eventual fate even more heart-wrenching than it already is in the novel. Anjelica Huston and Stephen Fry make small but significant appearances, the former as a likeable Mrs. Rattery, the latter as Brenda's caddish brother Reggy. And to top off this list of luxury casting we get Alec Guinness as the sly, Amazonian psychopath.

HoD never really got the attention it deserved; yet it is infinitely better than the much-hyped yet absolutely awful recent remake of Brideshead Revisited. Indeed, given the relative failure of Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things (i.e., Vile Bodies), HoD is still the only successful Waugh movie around (with the possible exception of the 1986 Scoop, which I haven't seen). Don't miss it.


1/5 Don't waste your time.
  by Bill
Let me make this easy for you. Tony & Brenda are married to each other, but split up because Brenda is unfaithful. Tony goes to Brazil on what he thinks is an adventure, and ends up trapped there. Everyone back in the UK is falsely led to think he is dead by a man who keeps Tony a virtual prisoner so that he will read Charles Dickens books to him. A funeral is held for Tony back home, who is actually still alive. And the movie ends. Wow, did I ever get a lot out of that.

You might ask, how can such a negative review be valid when so many other reviews for this movie are so positive? Well, I have been reading movie reviews on this site for some time, and I have concluded that people write reviews for movies that have attracted them for some reason. They tend not to bother with movies that they have reason to believe they would not like. If they saw and wrote reviews for such movies, there would be a lot more negative reviews. This is somewhat similar to auto websites in which folks write reviews on their new cars. Even the worst dogs get great reviews. The reviewers wouldn't have bought the cars if they didn't like them.

So, what is so bad about a movie in which everything goes downhill and the only character I had some liking for ends up trapped and is thought to be dead? Well, I guess I can live with unhappy endings, but I generally still need to get some kind of a positive message. In this case, the message seems to be that a marriage is worth saving. Not enough of a message to make up for the time I wasted on this movie.

By the way, this is the first movie review I have written. I figured something this bad deserves a response.

4/5 All that glitters...
  by Kona (Emerald City)
The story opens in 1932, in the magnificent country home of Tony and Brenda Last (James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas). Tony loves puttering around the old manor, while Brenda longs for the party life in London. Out of sheer boredom, she begins an affair with a social-climbing mama's boy (Rupert Graves).

As the title indicates, this is a grim story, the first part being a rather typical domestic drama focusing on the stuffy, idle rich. No one plays the snobby aristocrat better than Thomas, and she is so wonderfully convincing, you'll hate her. Wilby is well-cast as the dull but loyal lord of the manor who dotes on his young son. Graves is handsome and suitably innocuous. This section of the film exaggerates the stiff-upper-lip, passionless lives of the upper classes in contrast to the end, which takes us halfway around the world to a primitive land. This part was very creepy and left me cringing.

I love period pieces set in posh locations, so I really enjoyed this movie. It's beautifully photographed at the exquisite Carlton Towers estate. The acting is excellent and the odd turn at the end may leave one a bit depressed but still satisfied. Recommended.

5/5 You'll want to slap Brenda!
  by Judith (Philadelphia, PA)
Brenda and Tony Last live in a quirky English country house. Tony is perfectly content with their quiet country life with their precocious little son. Brenda, however, is bored and stupid. She longs for the shallow party life in London. She lacks morals, brains, and taste. She becomes involved with an equally shallow person, John Beaver. He's a penniless fop, who relies on being invited to dinner and parties to keep himself fed. You want to slap Brenda for being so stupid and selfish. You want to shake Tony for not seeing through Brenda's web of lies. Of course, her game can't last. The second part of the movie takes us through twists and turns, and it all ends in a most surprising, thought provoking conclusion.

The acting is superb. James Wilby is perfect as the likable Tony who turns out to have more backbone than we thought. Kristen Scott Thomas makes us thoroughly dislike Brenda. Rupert Graves is so completely different from his previous role as the gamekeeper in Maurice. It is rather interesting that in their first movie together, Maurice, Wilby and Graves played gay lovers, and then in this movie (filmed immediately after Maurice) Graves was knowingly cheating with Wilby's wife.

The ending is intriguing. I've thought about what I'd do in Tony situation at the end many times since first seeing this wonderful movie.

5/5 A must see film.
  by N. Caudill (Fresno, CA)
What a GREAT movie! Movie in exact condition as stated by seller. perfect condition. Arrival of movie very quick.Would definitely order again from seller.