All Creatures Great and Small

All Creatures Great and Small (1975)

James Herriot is a vet in Yorkshire, England, during the 1930s. He is assigned to the practice of Siegfried Farnon, who—together with his mischievous brother Tristan—already have a successful business. James undergoes a variety of adventures during his work, which are just as often caused by the characters of the county, including the Farnon brothers, as the animals in his care.

Date of release
1975-07-27
TMDB
6.6 / 10 (24)
Runtime
1h 32m
Genres
Drama, TV Movie
Director
Claude Whatham

Casting

Interesting facts

All Creatures Great and Small is a 1975 British film, directed by Claude Whatham and starring Simon Ward and Anthony Hopkins as Yorkshire vets James Herriot and Siegfried Farnon. It is based on the first novels by James Herriot : If Only They Could Talk (1970) and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (1972).

Production

All Creatures Great and Small was a best seller in the US - selling over 3 million copies in the Reader's Digest version - and film rights were optioned.

The film was made for NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame but it was theatrically released outside the US. The producers were Duane Bogie for FCB Productions and David Susskind for the Talent Associates.

According to one account, the budget was $1.2 million, nearly twice what NBC paid for it. Another account said the budget was $1 million, with $650,000 from NBC, $250,000 from EMI (who distributed), and $100,000 privately raised.

The lead role was given to Simon Ward, who later recalled, "I hadn't known the books and a lot of people hadn't known about them then, so at that time I wasn't taking on a national icon. It's always nerve-wracking playing a real person particularly if that real person is still alive and comes and sits on set watching you. Although Herriot was the most charming wonderful man who I really adored and kept in touch with till he died."

Filming started in May 1974, in the town of Malton, North Riding of Yorkshire. Studio work was done in London. A number of set pieces that were scripted such as Tristan driving a car into a cricket pavilion were cut for lack of money.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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