I saw this movie when it was first released and it always comes to mind when anyone mention a favorite movie. If you love animals and are sensitive to the "place" of gays in society just a few decades ago , you have to be touched by the interactions of middle class with lower class Brits,the straight world with the gay world and how one creature "EVIE" a German shepherd brings out the best and the worst in humankind . It is a sweet , gentle story with laughs and tears and the dramatic tension of wondering what will be EVIE"S fate . The acting is wonderful.The script is tight and every word of dialogue rings true . The final scene in the park is one of my all time favorites . You can't help but want to watch the movie again if just to marvel at how well acted and perfectly cast are all of the characters. Unfortunately the movie is out of print but shows up on cable every once in a while.

As London recovers from World War II, an aimless young man - who is bisexual and already married - named Johnny (Gary Oldman) is sent to prison. He gives his dog Evie to his parents, Tom and Millie, who are conniving at best and abusive at worst. The man who really falls in love with the dog is Johnny's older ex-lover and best friend Frank (Alan Bates).

Based on the 1960 J.R. Ackerley novel, this film was directed by Colin Gregg, who also directed the Liam Neeson-starring Lamb, which you guessed it, is also on this Mill Creek box set.

If you ever wonder how much our world has changed, when the trailer for this movie played in the U.S., it was sold as a light-hearted comedy about a dog and nothing was said about the romance between two of its leads.

It's nice that someone wanted to adapt this book, but there are a few big problems. One: Johnny is supposed to be very beautiful with "honey colored skin". Gary Oldman? It's like, as John Waters would say, Jaws without a shark. What's worse though is that the novel is told from the point of view of Frank. The film is too objective in its writing. Not that give a whit about Frank "growing" which he does, to understand Megan and finally respect her. The fact is the fun of the book is Frank's bad attitude towards these people who, in his view, and perhaps even objectively, if your objectivity doesn't match that of the screenwriter, treat him abominably. Instead we get this pathetic old queen with a poor dye job who and instead of identifying with him and his curmudgeonly prospective, we find almost painful to watch! In effect not only the "arc" but the whole feel of the story is undermined.