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From Amazon.co.uk
The Forsyte Saga is often cited as the first television miniseries; it wasn't, but there's no question that it was a singular, powerful cultural phenomenon that deservedly got under the skin of European viewers in 1967. Today the 26-episode production, based on several novels and short stories by John Galsworthy, is a more timeless enterprise than many of the protracted British TV dramas that have followed. While it would be wrong to consider The Forsyte Saga high art, it's certainly a mesmerizing and inspired mix of theater, sprawling Victorian narrative, thinking man's soap opera, and some finely tuned, 1960s black-and-white production values that (especially when shot outdoors) are strikingly handsome.
Above all, Forsyte is driven by its characters--perhaps to an extreme, though the two-generation storyline makes no apologies for creating compelling people whose capacity for short-sighted blundering, bursts of grace, and slow-brewing redemption make them recognizably human. Eric Porter towers over everything as Soames Forsyte, a humorless attorney whose guiding principles of measurable value cause great heartache but slowly evolve, leaving him a graying, good father, arts patron, and sympathetic repository of memory. From the cast of 150 or so, other standouts include Susan Hampshire as Soames's troubled daughter, Nyree Dawn Porter as the wife of two very different Forsyte men, and Kenneth More as the family's artistic black sheep. --Tom Keogh
Product Description
The opening four episodes of the celebrated BBC drama series: 'A Family Festival'; 'A Family Scandal'; 'The Pursuit of Happiness'; and 'Dinner at Swithin's'. In 1879, Winifred Forsyte is to marry man of means Monty Dartie, while Jo is having a relationship with Helene, the Austrian governess of his daughter. When Jo's wife dies he marries his mistress, only to be cut off by the family. Meanwhile, his cousin Soames has a loveless marriage with Irene Heron.
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154 of 158 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Now available on 7 DVDs, comprising all 26 episodes plus several hours of additional features, this most celebrated and splendid of BBC TV serials was the brainchild of adapter and producer Donald Wilson. Its world-wide success is known to all, but some might not be aware of the following: -
Donald Wilson was denied funds to produce it for ten years. Had there been a delay of a further year the series would have been filmed in colour, as he wished, rather than black and white.
The first of the John Galsworthy novels on which the series is based contains almost no dialogue. BBC script writers supplied the dialogue that helped make the ten siblings in the eldest Forsyte generation so memorable.
Galsworthy intended the Forsytes to represent the rapaciousness, greed and snobbery of the English upper middle class. In this adaptation they are much more endearing.
Being filmed in black and white made it possible to interpolate archival film of Queen Victoria’s funeral procession and of combat scenes from WW1.
Joseph O’Conor who plays the part of Old Jolyon was two years younger than Kenneth More who plays his son.
Eric Porter and Margaret Tyzack, who play Soames Forsyte and his sister Winifred, are in each episode and are required to age almost 50 years.
Although never credited, the music that opens and closes each episode is the first movement, “Halcyon Days”, from the suite “The Three Elizabeths” written in the early 1940s by Eric Coates.
112 of 115 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:VHS Tape|Amazon Verified Purchase
I saw this many years ago on television and it is as facinating now as it was then. I even forgot that I was watching it in black and white!
If you are a reader of good books you will know that screen versions are usually disappointing. Of course, there is not all the detail but having read the books the timing and content of this presentation is accurate enough to draw you through the epic saga without the usual irritations of "screen licence". It is one of the very few book-to-screen productions I would highly recommend - the others are also BBC Drama Productions.
68 of 70 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:VHS Tape
I have been given volumes 1 and 2 of this saga. Having seen the original episodes when first shown on television, I was prepared to be disappointed (memory can view things through rose-coloured spectacles). Not so! I have been enthralled by these episodes, not being able to wait to see the next one on the video. The acting is superb - Kenneth More, Nyree Dawn Porter, Eric Portman, to mention a few. The fact that the series is in black and white does not detract from it at all. I can't wait to purchase the next volumes, which I will do as soon as I can afford them. I thoroughly recommend this to any one who has an interest in life as it was in the rarefied atmosphere of those days of the affluent middle class, and what goes on behind the facade.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
DVDS
Thorougly enjoyed this series and it brought back some good memoories of watching it in my teens. Nice to see the old actors as well.
Published 12 hours ago by pen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Series
It was great to see this series again after so many years. Even better than I remembered. Eric Porter excellent as Soames. Includes interviews from the time of production.
Published 27 days ago by Montag
5.0 out of 5 stars
forsyte saga
a super long series. it was our holiday viewing and enjoyed as much as it was when we saw it the first time on tv.
Published 1 month ago by Ruth Roose
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
This was an excellent purchase, I enjoyed every minute of watching these dvds, and watching it now for a second time.
Published 1 month ago by Mrs Patricia McPherson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous
Once again I wish the BBC would bring this kind of series back to our screens. This is such a beautifully acted and produced series which is revetting watching if one likes this... Read more
Published 1 month ago by madcow
5.0 out of 5 stars
Britain's intimate past
This is an old version, 67 I believe so not a great visual experience but a very faithful rendering of the book and so of the times: pre- victorian to 30s. Read more
Published 1 month ago by de Gandt jennifer
4.0 out of 5 stars
The way the other half lived.......
Good series displaying a nostalgic look at life in the early 20th century and showing the difference between the Rich and the poor
Published 2 months ago by John Whelan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timeless
Though bought as a present for my father, I was just as keen to see this timeless production. When I started two view it, I noticed two things that made it stand out from many of... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Blackadder
5.0 out of 5 stars
Super
I really love this! I saw it 30 years ago, and I still think it is good quality! I like it better than the new Edition.
Published 2 months ago by Per Weber
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Good Service
Great series - looks a bit old in places - but Kenneth More? Come On - a true British Star
Published 2 months ago by Jan Cunnington
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