Cold Comfort Farm [VHS]
This earthy, down-in-the-excrement adaptation of Stella Gibbons's 1932 popular comic novel stars Sarah Badel as Flora Poste, who at the tender age of 19 loses her parents to the Spanish plague. Flora has been left 100 pounds a year, which, her friend notes, "won't keep her in stockings and furs." "Possessed of every art and grace save that of earning her own living," she sends letters to her relatives asking to be taken in. Her plan, she states, "is to alter his or her character and mode of living to suit my own taste."She gets much more than she bargained for when she accepts an invitation from the Starkadders of Cold Comfort. Thus begins her "career as a parasite." An aspiring author, Sarah will find no end of inspiration from the gallery of colorful characters who inhabit the farm, including the aptly named matriarch Ada Doom, who remains locked in her room and speaks of long ago seeing "something naaaaasty in the woodshed."The distinguished cast includes Alastair Sim (the 1951A Christmas Caroland the only Scrooge that matters) as glowering Amos Starkadder and Brian Blessed (Boss Nass inThe Phantom Menace) as one of the Starkadder boys. Originally broadcast in 1971,Cold Comfort Farmhelped to launch the first season of PBS's signature seriesMasterpiece Theatre, and vividly illustrated that even this distinguished series could get down and dirty. Though stagy, this vintage production makes for lively viewing and is ripe for classic TV collections. Also highly recommended on video is John  Schlessinger's acclaimed 1995 film adaptation starring Kate Beckinsale.--Donald Liebenson