Search - Under the Greenwood Tree on DVD

Samuel K. (Solvanda)
Reviewed on 7/12/2018...

First of Hardy's Wessex novels. Quaint pastoral tale with a relatively happy ending. A rare occasion for this author. I particularly enjoyed a scene of rural musicians having a debate concerning which band instrument most likeably was given to man by the devil. (I agree. The clarinet is a hideous twisted piece of work.) Available at the moment on Prime.

As for me, I'm......I'm a woman of Mellstock

Lynne P. Caldwell | Dadeville, AL USA | 05/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE, published way back in 1872, is Thomas Hardy's first popular novel. So many of Hardy's beloved novels have the underlying theme of forbidden love. Someone is always in love with a person from the wrong social class. Who could forget the bewitching Bathsheba Everdene in FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD and the spell she casts on three defenseless men (well 2 of them, anyway)? UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE is the charming and adorable story of Miss Fancy Day, the lovely and spirited schoolteacher who is hired by the town parson to teach the children of Mellstock. And here again, a spell is quickly cast on three men.

First, we have Dick Dewy, the shy and handsome carrier (predecessor to moving van company) who is quite poor. Then there is Frederic (Farmer) Shiner the wealthiest man in Mellstock (and Fancy's father's choice). Last, we have Mr. Maybold, the arrogant town parson who feels very superior to his parishioners.

Music also 'plays' an important part in this lighthearted little story. The church choir is constantly playing their instruments or singing. They welcome Miss Day to the community by serenading her under her window. They are also replaced--much to everyone's consternation, by Pastor Maybold's new harmonium (at the Church). There are many parties and dances that utilize this little orchestra. Even at the end of the film, these musicians again serenade Fanny in an act of contrition. She has become very despondent about her future in this little village and when the band plays, she realizes that she truly loves where she lives. In fact, upon being proposed to by Mr. Maybold, she retorts, (when told how superior she is to the villagers) "As for me, I'm......I'm a woman of Mellstock."

We can tell what season it is by looking at the leaves on the Greenwood Tree in the little village. It takes a year for the leading characters in this story to make major transformations in their thoughts and actions: Dick Dewy becomes ambitious to win the affections of Fancy. Fancy and her father also change...............farmer Shiner will be glad to change in order to acquire Fancy's affections!

I absolutely adored this little film (as I do Thomas Hardy). Compared to Hardy's other works, this is a much lighter fare. It still has the lively heroine and the great romance but we don't have to go through any of the great sadness and torment that we find in his deeper novels. Hardy, who grew up in a town like Mellstock, took the title from a poem by Shakespeare's, AS YOU LIKE IT:

Under the greenwood tree,
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither;
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather."

So sweet! I can't believe this is Thomas Hardy!

Sarah Olivia | United States | 04/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The course of true love never did run smooth, and Dick and Fancy certainly have their share of thorns in love's path. The eligible bachelors of a small country village pine for Fancy Day. Fancy reminds me of a 19th-century Lorelei Gilmore (Gilmore Girls) who is lucky enough to have all of the hot men interested in her. Dick is immediately drawn to Fancy and is not discouraged by the class difference. Fancy's father was the gamekeeper for the estate of his wife's family; his wife was spurned by her family when she eloped with Mr. Day. Fancy is well educated and takes a position as the local schoolteacher. Mr. Day encourages his daughter to accept the hand of a wealthy farmer, Mr. Shiner. Mr. Shiner is sweet and well-intentioned, but Fancy feels no love or attraction for him. I thought it admirable of Mr. Shiner to admonish Reverend Maybold to treat Fancy well or the parson will have him to answer to. Mr. Shiner wrongly assumes that Fancy is in love with Rev. Maybold when she refuses his hand. Fancy loves Dick who is loved in turn by a young woman of Dick's class. Thomas Hardy critiques class boundaries and reveals them as problematic in a far lighter manner than he does in his other novels. I never read this novel; in fact, I had never even heard of it. I'm used to downward spirals, thwarted love, and hanged heroines when I think of Thomas Hardy. This novel is a refreshing break from the darker pen of the great writer.

Dick is so handsome and passionate (the casting is perfect in "Under the Greenwood Tree") that I can't imagine refusing him! The scenes between Dick and Fancy are filled with electricity and are even erotic in an understated way. I love when Dick chides Fancy for lacking the courage to follow her heart and states that he would marry the lowliest milkmaid from the direst of circumstances if he loved her. Nothing would matter except Dick's love for the woman, even if he was a high-born, landed gentleman.

This short film is romanticism at its best. As I said in my title for the review: it's so sweet that I can't believe it's Thomas Hardy! Not to disparage his bleaker novels, but I really like this softer side of Thomas Hardy."

"We could have been more than friends, if you'd had the cour

CodeMaster Talon | Orlando, FL United States | 12/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Oh wow was this unexpectedly good. I spent my senior year blazing through Hardy's novels, which are great but a tad gloomy, with the exception of "Under the Greenwood Tree", which was written before Hardy himself became depressed and decided to depress high school students for generations to come. This BBC version differs from the novel in several key areas, and at the risk of committing literary sacrilege I will go so far as to call it an improvement.

The story is fairly simple; Fancy Day (Keeley Hawes) is the daughter of a nobody who has basically been in life training to marry someone rich. She returns to the town of her father, and immediately attracts three suitors, two acceptable and one really really not (the highly appealing James Murray). Guess which one she ends up wanting?

The film truly is a departure from the book, as Fancy is much more sympathetic here (she was kind of a twit in the novel), and Dick Dewey less of a country dolt and much more of a hottie. Hawes and Murray have spectacular chemistry, in fact they seem barely able to breathe in each other's presence. Another reviewer describes the music as repetitive; it is. But I happen to like the refrain, so I wasn't bothered by it. Besides, the end of the film contains a stunning acapella sung by the village men, a total and unexpected delight. The scenery is lovely, the story engaging, the acting splendid, and Murray gorgeous. I consider this film superior to "Wives and Daughters", and while not as complex and thought-provoking as "Berkley Square", certainly as much fun. Highly recommended.

Grade: A"