Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55253 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-14
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 258 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Adapted from the novel by Mary Wesley, The Camomile Lawn proved one of Channel Four's most successful dramas, telling an intricate story set during World War II and over two days in 1984. In this portrait of the Home Front in Cornwall and London in the Blitz, the titular lawn becomes a symbol for halcyon pre-war days, and also for a lost innocence on a personal level. For this is very much about growing up and sex, including rape and child abuse (both handled tactfully, mainly in dialogue), adulatory, ménage á trois, bisexuality and rampant promiscuity. The attitudes, from the war-damaged, nihilistic Oliver, (a powerfully charismatic Toby Stephens) to the mercenary Calypso (an incendiary Jennifer Ehle), and some individual scenes, shock in their very matter-of-factness. What could be salacious soap is leavened by a comic touch, intensified by tragedy and elevated to intensely moving drama during its final half hour set around a funeral in 1984. Generally excellent production values make the best of the television budget, and there are outstanding performances by a large cast including Felicity Kendal and Paul Eddington (reunited from The Good Life), Tara Fitzgerald in her first starring role, and especially Rebecca Hall as Sophy.

On the DVD: The four episodes are presented on two discs, with a total running time of approximately four hours 22 minutes. There are no special features of any sort. The picture is standard television 4:3, and while marginally better than VHS has a slight softness, with occasional after-images to shots with moving lights betraying that the series was made on video rather than film. Some scenes are rather grainy and there is the occasion brief instance of MPEG artifacting. The sound is stereo and appears to have been remixed from mono, some elements such as the music remaining in mono, while some sound effects are stereo. --Gary S Dalkin

Special Features
Aspect ratio: 4:3

Soundtrack: English, stereo

Synopsis
Based on the novel by Mary Wesley, THE CAMOMILE LAWN is set in Cornwall in August 1939, the eve of the Second World War.This series opens at a summer gathering of the sprawling Cuthbertson family in the idyllic countryside, a reunion darkened by the gathering clouds of WWII. At turns dramatic, gossipy, comedic, and tragic, the series follows the young Cuthbertson cousins as their lives are torn asunder by the traumas of the war and also by their sexual experiences.

Customer Reviews

Gloriously decadent wartime drama
The Camomile Lawn is a production bursting with delicious characters superbly portrayed by a quality cast. The "action" is split between the early years of World War 2 and the "present": 1980's/1990, telling a number of individual but interlinked stories that are by turns touching, shocking and humorous. The lovely Jennifer Ehle as the promiscuous and self seeking Calypso, Tara Fitzgerald as Polly and Felicity Kendall as Helena all bring glamour to their excellent performances as the three leading ladies in the earlier period. Rebecca Hall shines as the naive but worldly child Sophie, trying to make sense of the adult world around her. There are also some cleverly observed turns from the male cast, including the irrascible Richard (Paul Eddington), Oliver (Toby Stephens), and some lovely supporting roles, especially that of no-nonsense, heart of gold Aunt Sarah played marvellously by Polly Adams (Aunt Helen, A Dark Adapted Eye).
Kendal reprises her role in the "present" with grey wig and heavy makeup, while Calypso and Polly are played by Rosemary Harris (Ehle's own real life mother) and Virginia Mckenna respectively, giving a convincing likeness to aid continuity whilst showing that time has most definitely moved on. Claire Bloom seamlessly takes the role of the older Sophie after a gap of forty years, giving a new perspective on the events she witnessed as a child.

The plot and characters are perhaps slightly frivolous against the backdrop of war, but nevertheless capture the essence of the time. The character of Calypso, a woman who most definitely "had a good war" is a very likeable but recogniseable stereotype.

The Camomile Lawn certainly contains some potentially shocking material, both in terms of language and sex, but it is a highly enjoyable and entertaining story of a family's survival and thirst for life under the shadow of World War 2, and their recognition in peacetime forty years later that some things were less complicated then than now.

How The War Really Was?
This film is set in two time scales: now and during WW2. The characters are played by the same actors in both, just aged in the "now" time frame. The story revolves around a group of teenage cousins who spend summer at their aunt (Felicity Kendal) and uncles (Paul Eddington) house in Cornwall, where there is the Camomile Lawn. Then war breaks out and they all go their own ways leading their own (fascinating) lives. This really is a whole lot of individual WW2 experiences which intermingle. As far as I can tell they portray the desparation of war very well, the whole "live for today, because you don't know if there will be a tomorrow" attitude. Each character is very strong and played by actors who have gone on to greater things. It tackles some rather "touchy" subjects very well. You really will not be able to stop watching it when you start!

Great Drama; Shame About The DVD Presentation
I first saw this drama when it was first broadcast by Channel Four during the early 1990s. Its still wonderfully entertaining today. Based on a Mary Wesley novel, its a story of families and friends as they prepare for war in 1939. Many fine actors grace this drama, and as far as I know, it was the lovely Jennifer Ehle's debut. The only complaints I have though is that the soundtrack is a little inconsistant; the picture looks smudgy at times, maybe because it was shot in soft focus. And there are no extras or even sub titles for the deaf and hard of hearing which is inexcusable. Still, its a good buy and can be bought at a good price. Fans will probably buy this anyway.