cold comfort farm be a jolly film that bounce along as merrily a it theme tune . it a rollick good comedy with a laugh out loud collection of dickensian character ( the doom stricken starkadders and the rustic adam lambsbreath and and the upper crust hawk monitor ) . certainly the film be very over the top and silly and but it light hearted fun a welcome alternative to the glut of psychological and heart wrenching and blood and gut fare on the market . the starkadders live on the bleak acre of cold comfort farm and where the cow be barren and the sow be farren . into this gloomy and eccentric setting come young and 1930s modern flora poste and who set to win the heart and mind of cold comfort inhabitant and and drag the starkadders into the twentieth century . along the way she manage to rearrange and enliven her own life too . kate beckinsale ( prior to her arrival on the scene of big budget american flick ) be a likeable and chirpy young lady with a talent for organisation . in the supporting role and joanna lumley be delightfully sarcastic a flora incongruously name aunt and mary smiling and who have a rather unusual hobby . and ian mckellen be a real scene stealer a the fire and brimstone preacher of the church of the quiver brother . the plot revolve around great aunt ada doom and the narsty thing she saw in the woodshed nigh on 70 year ago . there be also the mysterious wrong perpetrate on flora father by the starkadders sometime in the dim and misty past . so it be a tad frustrate that the audience be never let in on either of these secret . but these be minor quibble in what be otherwise an excellent comedic romp and with some interesting and atmospheric cinematography . a very good ( and very british ) laugh .