Goodnight Mr Tom

Original title: Goodnight, Mister Tom

TV Movie
1998
Not Rated
1h 41m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A shy and quiet World War II evacuee is housed by a disgruntled old man, and they soon develop a close bond.A shy and quiet World War II evacuee is housed by a disgruntled old man, and they soon develop a close bond.A shy and quiet World War II evacuee is housed by a disgruntled old man, and they soon develop a close bond.

Director
- Jack Gold
Writers
- Brian Finch
- Michelle Magorian
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

5.1K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Jack Gold
Writers
- Brian Finch
- Michelle Magorian
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 BAFTA Award
- 4 wins total

Trivia
The exterior village scenes are filmed in Turville, Buckinghamshire, UK. The same village is used for the BBC sitcom "The Vicar of Dibley". Mr Tom's home is Sleepy Cottage and adjoins the Dibley vicarage, which is partially hidden by a wooden shed. In Dibley, Harry supposedly lives at Sleepy Cottage, but a property up the lane was actually used, giving the characters more space to walk.

Goofs
During this programme we sometimes get a view of other houses / cottages in the village. It is a shame that with all the other detail and thought that went into the making of it, no one thought to remove or disguise the UHF television aerials on their rooves ! You would not have seen an aerial of that type on a roof until the mid 1960's when BBC2 came into being.

Quotes
Mr. Greenway: But then it isn't the boy's welfare this is all about, really. Is it, Mr. Oakley?
Tom Oakley: Isn't it?
Mr. Greenway: No, it's about you, I'd say. Your welfare.
Tom Oakley: Me?
Mr. Greenway: A lonely and, from what I hear, embittered old man, facing a lonely and bitter old age.
Tom Oakley: You really think that's the only reason I want him back? Just to be company for me when I'm past it?
Mr. Greenway: Well, isn't it? Basically?
Tom Oakley: No, it bloody well isn't! And I resent the implication!
Mr. Greenway: Doesn't it bother you at all that when you're seventy, he's still going to be in his teens?
Tom Oakley: 'Course it bothers me. I'm not stupid, you know. There's not a lot we can do about that, is there? Look, I know it's not an ideal situation, anything but, but... But put it this way: it's got to be a damn sight more ideal than your Dr. Stelton in there turning him into some sort of human guinea pig.
Mr. Greenway: Just tell me one thing, Mr. Oakley. Why is the boy suddenly so important to you? He's an evacuee, for God's sake. And one at that, as I understand it, you took violent exception to having foisted on you in the first place.
Tom Oakley: Isn't it obvious?
Mr. Greenway: Not to me, no. Nor to Dr. Stelton.
Tom Oakley: Because I love him, of course. As if he was my own flesh and blood, I do. And for what it's worth, I think he loves me as well.
Mr. Greenway: And is that really enough, do you think, in this day and age?
Tom Oakley: Well, I suppose it has to be, hasn't it, Mr. Greenway? In this day and age or any other. Because if it isn't, what else is there, eh?

Alternate versions
In the UK, the version shown on ITV1 cuts out the scene where William's mother is shouting at him then cuts to the next scene immediately after she slaps him we only hear the sound of his cry as does so before it goes black. Originally, when his mother slaps him quite hard, he falls off the chair on the floor & she leans over threatening she has knows lots of shops that sell belts & to get upstairs out of her sight, which then he runs very quickly scared up the stairs and covers his ears on the bed as she shouts to the screaming baby "And you can shut up and all!" The ITV DVD is uncut.

Connections
Featured in Masterpiece: Goodnight, Mister Tom (1999)

User reviews44

Review

Featured review

10/10

A War Story

This movie resonated with me on two levels. As a kid I was evacuated from London and planted on unwilling hosts in a country village. While I escaped the bombing and had experiences which produced treasured memories (for example hearing a nightingale sing one dark night for the very first time) and enjoying a life I never could have had in London, I missed my family and worried about them. Tom is an old man whose wife and child have both died and who lives alone in a small country village.As an old man who is now without a wife whose kids have gotten married and live far away in another province, I am again sometime lonely. The boy's mother is a religious fanatic with very odd ideas of raising a child. Since a deep affection has grown between old Tom Oakley and this young lad, Tom goes in search of him and finally rescues him from very odd and dangerous circumstances. At the end of the story there is great tension since due to some bureaucratic ruling it seems that the child is going to lose someone who has developed a loving relationship with him.