User Reviews

It wasn't great but it was good. I'm not as harsh as the reviewer who gave it three stars, and I didn't give it 10 stars either. I gave it 7 stars, which is in between. What did I like about it? The story was believable. Scarlet fever, and other diseases that we have medicines for today, was a killer. It was set on a farm in New Hampshire just after the Civil War. Tilly, the oldest of three children, is a writer who concocts an incredible story to get her wealthy grandmother to come up. Then, as now, people were worried about losing their homes in foreclosure. Ellis Bassett was killed in the war and Mrs. Bassett has to pay rent to Mr. Hopkins, whose son. Gad, wants to marry Tilly, but her mother opposes it. Where does she go? What does she do? Watch the movie and find out,

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION & THAT IS WHAT IS GOING ON HERE FOR THIS FILM! NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 Christmas MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM FARE

This is not a "Christmas Movie" but it takes places at Thanksgiving and that starts off the "Christmas Season"

Inspired by a short story, Isabella Caldwell is a high-society woman in late-1800's New York. When Isabella's estranged daughter Mary becomes ill and is too proud to ask her mother for assistance, Mary's daughter, Tilly, takes it upon herself to contact her grandmother and plead for help. Isabella's arrival causes an upheaval in many lives, but may also lead to reconciliation within the family.

The film is very enjoyable. You also learn there is more than one side to every story. There is a reason why "People Do What They Do At The Time That They Did It". It also shows that no matter what choices we make there always consequences for whatever decision we have to make. What is nice about this film it does everything between the lines. It does assume the audience for this film is not a stupid one.

The warm family relationships that abound in this production makes the movie an appealing one.

Taking place after the civil war, it chronicles the life of a widow with 3 children who are poverty stricken. The eldest daughter, a writer with a great imagination, concocts a story that ultimately draws their wealthy grandmother to their New Hampshire home.

Jackie Bisset plays the stern grandmother. She is entirely too young for the part. Nevertheless, she gives a gem of a performance as a wealthy matron who married a much older widower than she and had a daughter with him to secure herself financially.

The daughter ran away years before with a stable boy who has now died. Both mother and daughter must confront past events in front of the children.

The story is filled with scarlet fever epidemics abounding.

The film also deals with a getting kind grandmother who will go to any length to get her children and grandchildren out of the poverty cycle.

It is a nicely done film with a triumph of the family spirit in this season of giving.

I actually found this film in our local public library. As I'm starved for anything new to watch I thought hey why not and borrowed this movie. When you see the cover it makes you think it might be a cheesy film. But I didn't think it was at all. The actors whom I personally have never heard of before (but will be looking for in the future!) astonished me at how well they acted. They had me believing the story almost instantly. Though it's no Masterpiece Theater, it's well acted, the music is good, and the characters had you rooting for them the whole time. I suggest that you look for this film. If you liked 'Little Women' I'm pretty sure you will like this one.

I think that the problem that most people have with this movie is that it is so far removed from Louisa May Alcott's story that the only thing they have in common is the title and the name of the family. And on a more personal level, my maternal grandmother being a Bassett from the old New England family, I didn't like that they turned Ellis Bassett into an Irishman, when Bassett is one of the oldest and well-known Norman-English names in England and Old Yankee names in New England. And so as not to make anyone mad, I do have some Irish in me and I don't have a problem with being Irish. It is just the turning of a name into something it isn't. It would be like calling the Kennedy family English.

So, now that I gave what I didn't like about the movie, this is what I loved. The movie was excellent. The costuming was out of this world. The homes in the movie were perfect. The plot line was good. The actors were great. And like with most Hallmark movies, I really felt good at the end of the movie.

So if you watch this movie just on its own, not comparing it to the original story by Louisa May Alcott, then you're going to love it.

I purchased the movie and it will be one of the movies that my family and I watch every year near Thanksgiving Day.

I love this movie and have tried to see it each year around Thanksgiving if I can manage to catch it. Tatiana Maslany is great in a role she completed well before Orphan Black made her famous. I'm only sorry she didn't perform in the follow up "An Old Fashioned Christmas" as the young woman who took her place in that movie is nowhere near as good.

While I gather from other reviews that this story is far removed from the Louisa May Alcott story on which it is loosely based, I still felt it maintains an affinity with Alcott's writing and that Tillie is a believable Alcott heroine. The love story with Gad and the familial rapprochement that is the focus of the storyline are all quite charming and make one feel the hope of the holidays. Best of all, they actually filmed it somewhere with snow and cold weather, versus the horrible Hollywood tendency to blow some fake snow over green bushes and pretend it's winter. Definitely worth a watching.

Very well written. I love the respect given to the audience who allowed to discover characters through the story. We are not told by narration who, what where or why.

Drama develops naturally to develop our understanding as does our love of characters.

I actually found this film in our local public library. As I'm starved for anything new to watch I thought hey why not and borrowed this movie. When you see the cover it makes you think it might be a cheesy film. But I didn't think it was at all. The actors whom I personally have never heard of before (but will be looking for in the future!) astonished me at how well they acted. They had me believing the story almost instantly. Though it's no Masterpiece Theater, it's well acted, the music is good, and the characters had you rooting for them the whole time. I suggest that you look for this film. If you liked 'Little Women' I'm pretty sure you will like this one.

18 out of 18 found this helpful. You must read this book or watch this film.

I loved this film for its lovely simplicity. For acting. For the flavors of Little ladies. And, sure, for Jaqueline Bisset.

A film about family and childhood courage/ solutions and reconciliation. And about love in fair, gentle manner.

A beautiful trip in past, charming, bitter - sweet, useful for remind values and the attitudes inspired by them. A chain of decisions and small events.

In short, a story for feel it Seductive, simple, touching, precise about a family and the birth of its happiness.

Not great, not memorable but correct and inspired crafted . And this represents a not small virtue.

This is an excellent heartfelt movie with good acting, dialog, story, scenery.... Brought tears to my eyes. New Hampshire around 1870... a simple time and a rewarding time... Loosely based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott. Made me think about what Thanksgiving was in days ago... Made for Hallmark and as such is a quality movie. I enjoyed the acting of Jacqueline Bisset and the young girl Tatiana Maslany. There is memorable dialog that needs to be relished. I am saddened with comparing this time to our current modern time. Where has Thanksgiving gone -- in many cases today it is just a dinner party with family. Enjoy.