"My Boy Jack," April 20, PBS

NEW YORK (CNS) -- The "Masterpiece Classic" series (formerly "Masterpiece Theatre") has had a superb season, with high-quality adaptations of Jane Austen's novels and E.M. Forster's "A Room with a View." They have another winner in "My Boy Jack."

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This is a moving anti-war story set in 1914 about British author Rudyard Kipling's son, who, despite severe nearsightedness, managed to enlist in the army during World War I. He did so with the encouragement of his gung-ho patriotic father, and over the misgivings of his American mother, Carrie, and older sister Elsie. The film airs Sunday, April 20, 9-11 p.m. EDT on PBS. (Check local listings.)

Jack had been rejected from both the navy and army during the physical exam for not being able to read the eye chart, prompting outrage from his father, and deep disappointment from the boy. But the senior Kipling pulled his weight, and secured admittance for his son.

After a shaky start, Jack determinedly hones his sharpshooting skills and demonstrates great promise, earning a promotion as a lieutenant with his own platoon. Sent into action in France, he proves staunchly reassuring with his men, many trembling with fear as the time for battle approaches.

Before long, though, Jack goes missing, and word reaches the family. There are recriminations from the women, and guilt for the father who worries that he's responsible for sending his son off to die. Yet, the loving family hangs together, and clings to the hope he'll be found.

Carrie moves into high gear, badgering the army office daily for the latest news, speaking to any soldier who may have been near her son's platoon, and poring tirelessly over photos of soldiers, hoping to find Jack.

The extraordinary English actor David Haig -- who wrote this as a play in 1997 -- is Kipling. Haig played an emotionally damaged father in the London stage production of "Mary Poppins," and brings equal skill to delineating another conflicted paternal figure.

His performance and script itself take pains not to portray a coldhearted warmongerer, but one who simply believes fervently that it is every young man's patriotic duty to defend the country from what he is certain will be German invasion.

Kim Cattrall, best known for her provocative role on "Sex and the City," is almost unrecognizable as Jack's caring -- and careworn -- American mother, while Daniel Radcliffe, who's already proven there's much more to him than Harry Potter, is very fine as Jack, whose eagerness to go to war is prompted more by a desire to escape the shadow of his famous father than true commitment to the cause but who becomes a caring, proficient leader.

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There are, as expected, some strong images of battlefield violence in the war scenes, along with quite a few expletives and a little profanity, all uttered under the duress of battle.

Despite those elements -- dramatically essential, we think -- this WGBH/Ecosse Films production is fine family viewing for teenagers and up.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops