All Creatures Great and Small (film)
| All Creatures Great and Small | |
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| Directed by | Claude Whatham |
| Written by | James Herriot (book) Hugh Whitemore (script) |
| Starring | Simon Ward Anthony Hopkins Brian Stirner Lisa Harrow |
| Distributed by | EMI Films |
| Release date(s) | 27 July 1975 |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
All Creatures Great and Small is a 1975 television film, directed by Claude Whatham, based on the book All Creatures Great and Small, by James Herriot. The book is a compilation volume, first published in 1972, comprising Herriot's first two novels, If Only They Could Talk and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet. The title, a line from the hymn "All Things Bright and Beautiful", was derived from a punning suggestion by Herriot's daughter, who thought the volume should be titled Ill Creatures Great and Small.[citation needed]
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[edit] Cast
Simon Ward starred as James Herriot, Anthony Hopkins as Herriot's eccentric employer, Siegfried Farnon, Brian Stirner as Farnon's errant younger brother Tristan, and Lisa Harrow as James's love-interest and then wife, Helen.
[edit] Script
The script by Hugh Whitemore, focused very much on James, and played down Siegfried's eccentricity; for example, a speech he makes early in the film rebuking James for refusing to attend a call during the middle of the night is delivered straight, while in the book it was highly hypocritical, as Siegfried himself had earlier told James that he was 'spoiling' the farmers by coming out at all hours.
[edit] Music
The film's incidental music was by Wilfred Josephs.
[edit] DVD
The film has been released on DVD for both Region 2 PAL and Region 1 NTSC.
[edit] Sequel
A second film, It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet was made in 1975. John Alderton took over the role of James and Colin Blakely that of Siegfried, while Lisa Harrow returned as Helen. The film was directed by Eric Till from a script by Alan Plater.
