All Creatures Great and Small (1975)

Being a fan of the series I found a copy of this extremely difficult to find film while I was watching the series and was very happy that I was able to watch it.I would have liked to see is that it was a bit longer and covered a bit more of the life of James Harriot. A very young Anthony Hopkins was superb as Siegfried and Simon Ward and Lisa Harrow as James and Helen made the movie very entertaining. I would have loved to see Simon Ward as James in the series, nothing against Christopher Timothy.The series features Tristan much more than the movie and this would be the only drawback I could find about it. Tristan is one of my favourite characters in the series.

This film version of James Herriot`s series of novels isn`t much cop compared to the television show of the same . This movie is the prior piece but there`s nothing very memorable about . The plot is more or less composed of " Will young James get married to his girlfriend or not ? " , hardly the most original or compelling premise for a movie , and we`re treated to little in the way of these blackly comical scenes of animals and their owners having mishaps that made the TV show enjoyable . Perhaps the worst problem is that Tristan ( Played by boyish mischief in the show by Peter Davison ) is more or less a peripheral character in this movieThe cast are passable ( Simon West was rather famous when this was produced while Anthony Hopkins was almost totally unknown ) but they seem to lack the flair that Christopher Timothy , Robert Hardy and Peter Davison brought to the long running series

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, at great surprise. I would not recommend it to fans of the action genre but everyone else should take a look, especially animal lovers, don't think for a second you need to have read Herriot's book. The actors themselves provide all the entertainment with their dialogue (except the bits with the animals and farmers). It is actually an emotional film and makes you involved with the characters. A word of warning, since it covers a significant amount of time without making it that clear don't leave the room. I haven't made this film sound as good as it is but believe me it's great. Simon Ward and Brian Stirner are very good as James Herriot and Tristan respectively but Anthony Hopkins steals every scene he's in (as always) as Siegfried, who constantly confuses Herriot by changing what he said the night before and manages to insult all the women. The scene where he is chatting up his girlfriend is a classic example of how NVC can be better than actually saying something. So long as you know what you are expecting this film is excellent.A great British classic, watch it.

This was a light-hearted, sometimes moving, quaint little period piece. Based explicitly on Herriot's surprise bestselling autobiography of the same name, All Creatures Great and Small is a wholesome family film. The book is a collection of stories about Herriot's beginning years as an assistant vet, and the movie is basically the same. Very pure, and very enjoyable. I recommend it for families, and especially for animal-loving families. This movie won't change your life, but it will entertain you. (Watch for a great performance by a younger Anthony Hopkins, who plays the quirky Veterinary Surgeon that Harriot goes to work for)