Hidden Places is a nice film about a young mother of two whose husband has died, she moves her family back to her father in laws orchard in the 1930s. The father in law dies leaving the family with a mortgage payment and other hardships. A young handsome world war one veteran drifter comes to town and helps the family out, this is a quaint and heartwarming story about hard times and how the salt of the earth survived the depression. Good cinematography and scenery. The dialog struggled some in places, but the experienced cast did a wonderful job making the characters as believable as possible in a film whose era has few living members left. A good movie about overcoming tragedy and hardship for the entire family.

This movie has several great story lines going on at the same time. One shows the "favorite son" politics portrayed by by the school board, another of the lone black principle in a southern white school district, and the free thinking new teacher. I especially like the irony of the black principle who at first seems to have forgotten she is the same color as her students, but as the movie progresses we find she is only able to keep her position if she remains under the thumb of the Deputy Superintendent which in itself is a figurehead position with no authority. It was easy to dislike Frank Langella's role as the superintendent after seeing him in "Dave". All the story lines were tied together very well and contributed to a little suspense in trying to guess where the individuals were heading. The interaction of Conroy with the students and the portly of the island residents was excellent. The added touch of the Stones only deepened the sense of the residents being forgotten as the world passes them by. I can't remember a movie by Hallmark that I didn't like. This one ranks right up at the top.

Once again Hallmark brings us another good and wholesome movie into our living rooms. This story is about faith, hard work and determination during their difficulties and trials times that seem to be impossible to turn it around for better, especially during the great depression with a family struggling to keep their farm and home from being foreclosed. Shirly Jones plays Aunt Betty who has strong faith in God to get them through this trial period.This story reminds me of "Run the Wild Fields" but the ending is different. Great story!

I'm a little bias, because this was based on my Aunt Lynn Austin's novel. But aside from that, it was a great, clean, uplifting movie in which they are few and far between. The movie starred Sydney Penny, Jason Gidrick (Iron Eagle), Shirley Jones (Partridge Family), Tom Bosley ( Happy Days)and Barry Corbin (Northern Exposure). Good job to the Hallmark Channel which made and aired Hidden Places, Saturday night, January 28th, 2006. If you liked this movie, you'll love the book by the same name. She also has many other great titles in bookstores. She did a series on the Kings from the Bible in which she used facts and fiction to create a knowledge of just what the old Kings in the Bible had to do the keep their standings.