Pemberley (Lyme Park, Cheshire)

Pemberley (Lyme Park, Cheshire)
Oh, to be in England...

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Young Visiters (Author's spelling) DVD and book

The Young Visiters, or Mr. Salteena's Plan
I just stumbled across the film The Young Visiters from 2003 on the BBC Canada website  and I had to find out more about it. After all, look at the DVD cover. It stars Jim Broadbent and Hugh Laurie! How bad could it be? And then I find out that it also stars Bill Nighy, Geoffrey Palmer, Sophie Thompson and Sally Hawkins. Awesome! But what is it about?

The Young Visiters written by 9 year old Daisy Ashford in 1890
It is a hilarious story written by a 9 year old Victorian girl Daisy Ashford in 1890 (with rather creative and variable spelling) about a young girl Ethel Monticue, who meets Mr. Salteena, "an elderly man of 42", who falls in love with her at first sight and promises to introduce her to high society. Only one problem... he only knows one aristocrat by the name of Lord Bernard Clark! Hilarity ensues.

Daisy Ashford, authoress and child prodigy
I shan't say any more about this except that it is adorable and very "BBC", so very well done. So if you would like to travel back in time through the imagination of a little girl, this is the DVD for you. And now excuse me while I go order the book for Christmas. Apparently, it has never been out of print.

P.S. This would be perfect to watch or read WITH a similar little girl with a good imagination.

4 comments:

  1. SOOO happy that you finally watched this one! I would say that it's one of those hidden gems. Wasn't it hard to believe that a story written by a 9-yr-old could be so wonderfully portrayed but such an awesome cast?! I especially loved seeing the ever-charismatic Bill Nighy. He always charms the socks off of me and made me giggle in each of his scenes! Sweet film!

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  2. Hi Cheryl, I found your post on this one after I had watched it and was writing this. So few people know about this one. We'll have to keep trying to get the word out on these little sleepers.

    Yes Bill Nighy was a scream in this and Sophie Thompson had a cute little role. Sally Hawkins was funny too. Oh, and Geoffrey Palmer. He was a hoot. I have to keep going through your site to see what I have missed.

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  3. Never heard of this one but it sounds marvelous. Will look for it.

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  4. @ Jane- You will love this one. I will have to lend this to my niece who is 10 years old. She and my sister will have fun watching it too!

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