Customer Rating: 
Summary: I was not disappointed
Comment: I first saw this series when it was broadcast on PBS in 1980 and although I missed the first two installments I was emotionally moved by its impact. Since then, having read both Vera Brittain's "Testament of Youth" and her diary of the same period, "Chronicle of Youth," I was eager to again see how this was adapted for television.
Because neither a memoir nor a diary, in contrast to a work of fiction, necessarily conveys the nature of the personalities of different individuals, I was especially curious to see how they were portrayed in the dramatization. I have to say that I was not disappointed in any case (with the minor quibble that Joanna McCallum was much better looking than Winifred Holtby).
It is one thing to cast actors who physically resemble the people they portray (or at least resemble the existing photographs of those people). It is a much greater achievement to create dialog that conveys the personalities and relationships of the characters as only described or outlined in the source material.
For example, Peter Woodward as Roland Leighton is exactly how I would have expected that character to be portrayed. While I had no preconceived notions about his personality (the way he talked or his mannerisms) I was in no way disappointed.
The same could be said for just about every other cast member in the production.
Another drawback is the fact that the production was videotape on a soundstage with a few exterior locations and situations filmed--particularly effective was the scene of Vera and Roland walking on the beach and the boarding school ROTC cadets marching with pre-war patriotic earnestness.
Apparently the sound stage limitation was standard procedure for early Masterpiece Theater productions, and the producers generally made the best of the situation, such as the vivid hospital scenes. However, it goes without saying that the entire production would have been so much better if the budget were not a consideration and it had been done completely on film (imagine seeing Vera on board the RHS Britannic, or walking on the shores of Malta).
It is admirable how well Vera's story was told within the time constraints of five episodes. However, someone who has read the books that were the source of the dramatization recognizes the places where significant references were included-such as Roland's recommending "Story of an African Farm" to Vera, or Vera and her brother playing tennis--mainly for the purpose of not leaving them out, not because they were to be a factor in the plot development.
Finally, the depiction of Vera's developing relationship with "G", her future husband, seemed rushed. Even in her book she didn't go into as much detail as one would have hoped, but at least she presented a better sense of her doubts at the time about whether marriage was practical for a woman of her generation and career aspirations.
I look forward to reading her novels and later non-fiction writings.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Only PBS series in a league with Upstairs Downstairs
Comment: I saw this on PBS in around 1979, and it had an enormous emotional and intellectual impact on me. The film gives clear insight into the personal toll of war. Cheryl Campbell gives a masterful performance as Vera Brittain and the narration poetry that runs through the film takes it to another level. This is one series that should definitely go to DVD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Emotionally Gripping World War I Drama
Comment: Why isn't this incredible mini-series on DVD? There are no flaws
in this masterfully done cinematic version of Vera Brittain's
"Testament of Youth." The story begins as Vera Brittain portrayed as a highly intelligent, sensitive, but misunderstood
young woman wants to continue her education. Ultimately she obtains a scholarship to Oxford (highly unusual for a woman...then), and meets a soul mate in a poet and student.
Then, WORLD WAR I. As the story develops, just about every young man that she knows is killed or seriously wounded in the war. The dedication to glory and country leads only to disaster. Rather than do nothing, she courageously becomes a nurse rather than finish her education, all so that she can help the young men facing so much harm in the war. After the war ends, she becomes a militant anti-war critic and this book is
her masterpiece oevre. This is not an action piece, but a
very well thought out dramatisation of the effect of war on the men and women of the times. (For World War II, don't forget to watch the miniseries Foyle's War). In every sense of the word the film touches the heart and mind...poetry in film.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Testament of Youth
Comment: Testament of Youth is a superb and faithfully rendered film version of the first volume of autobiography by Vera Brittain, one of the major voices of her generation, those who were young during the First World War.The five-part series takes us from the peaceful twilight of Edwardian stuffiness through the horrors of WWI to the hopefulness of the post-war years. We first see Vera at 18, kicking against the strictures and expectations of upper middle class society (and her stubborn traditional father), wanting nothing more in life than to be permitted to attend Oxford. With considerable luck and the tactful intervention of her brother Edward, permission is at last granted, and she applies herself to hard work, winning not only a place at Oxford, but a scholarship as well.
But by now it is 1914. Vera decides to put her education on ice for the duration of the war and become a nurse because she cannot isolate herself from what's happening in the world, when her fiancé and brother and so many other young men of her acquaintance are doing what they feel they have to (courtesy of a well-oiled war propaganda machine). Again her sex is against her, for family, friends and school authorities have no patience with this decision. As a woman, she is under no moral obligation join the war effort (other than some genteel handiwork involving bandages or socks). Until she sees active service in Malta and France, she still feels the gulf between herself and her brother. After France she is again in concert with him and with others who are fighting. This is the same gulf she subsequently experiences from the other side when she returns to Oxford in 1919, where nearly everyone in her year, only a few years younger, seems a generation removed from her.
I first saw this BBC production of Testament of Youth in the early 80s, and have been looking for it for a long time, because it left me with a deep and lasting impression. Not only is the subject matter both significant and captivating, but the I think the production is one of the best films ever made.
The casting is flawless. Cheryl Campbell portrays Vera wonderfully in all her seriousness and fierce determination. Her father is presented as a strict but loving Victorian, bewildered by the changes that the twentieth century is wreaking on him and his family and the settled life he thought would continue forever. Her brother and fiancé represent all that was brilliant and promising in the young men of the time, eager to join up, but so soon brought face to face with the reality of trench warfare.
Costumes and settings are highly evocative of the era (or at least as much as we can know of it today) and there are many scenes that depict the flavour of the times: various meetings at a busy London tea-room, several partings on crowded railway platforms; Oxford before and after the war; the contrast of the incredibly impossible conditions at the field hospital in France with the deadly quiet of the Brittains' London flat, where the conversation centres entirely on rationing and the inability to get good help during war time.
This video set is essential viewing for those interested in Vera Brittain's work, especially her Testament books (including Testament of Experience and Testament of Friendship). Furthermore, I recommend it highly to anyone who appreciates a well-told, intelligent story combining history, romance and the struggle for one's heart's desire.
