I Capture The Castle

Released by Columbia Pictures. Region 4 DVD.

Based on the novel by Dodie Smith (better known as the creator of 101 Dalmations) this slight but appealing period (1930’s) drama centres around 17 year old Cassandra Mortmain (played by newcomer Romola Garai) and her eccentric family. Her father, James, played by a dissolute Bill Nighy is penniless and the family are renting a crumbling castle in Suffolk . Tara Fitzgerald pops up as stepmother Topaz (Fitzgerald is rapidly becoming this generations Jenny Agutter unable to keep her clothes on in any role – here she is given to naked moonlight wanderings) and there is a role for Australian Rose Byrne as Cassandra’s sister Rose who is determined to escape the confines of her surroundings and find love with some rich sugar daddy. This is may just do when a pair of handsome American brothers turn up to check out the estate they have just inherited (an estate which includes Mortmain Castle).

With a theme focusing on love and whether you should compromise your ideals for the sake of actually being with someone I Capture the Castle is a film of great charm and probably more suited to DVD than the big screen, playing as it does a little like a high quality Sunday night BBC drama. With high quality performances throughout I Capture the Castle makes for a piece of solid entertainment.