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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
Three episodes of the celebrated BBC drama series: 'Afternoon at Ascot'; 'Portrait of Fleur'; and 'Swan Song'. Fleur becomes restless after several meetings with John, not all of them by chance. Meanwhile, Soames joins Michael's slum clearance scheme.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
156 of 160 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.
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By B. Bruno
Format:DVD
I was sent to bed when the serie was shown in France in 1967, 10 years old at the time, but I amazingly remembered Kenneth More, Eric Porter and Nyree Dawn Porter faces. My mother was absolutly taken by the show and had no time for a kid.
Just last year, in Oslo, I walked into a news stand and found a very cheap print of the book. I bought it...........and let it rest until this summer on my coffee table. I finally took it while on a 10 days hike in the austrian alps and couldn't let go of the book. Primarly because I realized the Forsyte, although english, were just like my family !! Very chilling, but yet, there are heaps of french Forsytes, have a read at Emile Zoal or Balzac !!
I suddenly had to have the DVD. I finally went for the 1967 one and I'll never be sorry I did.
Black and white was in hinsight, a brilliant idea. Had it been in coulour, the make up would have been terrible. Don't forget most of the actors were in the 30's and had to be aged almost 50 years. Black and white allowed that.
I was amazed by the way it was filmed. One could believe it was very static, quite the contrary. The cameras never stop moving; think there were no portable cameras or steadycam then, but only very big " on stand video cameras.
The acting is just brillant but I'm sorry to say Nyree Dawn Porter'snperformance didn't really cut the mustard as far as I am concerned, still a very beautifull dame. All the other cast members are of the kind you would rarely or never find in France and elsewhere. I always had a soft spot for Kenneth More as a kid ans Eric Porter made me feel for poor Soames. Once you start watching you'll find it very hard to stop.........and we're talking 20 hours viewing. It's a bit like deciding to stop smoking........it's always the last one !!... Read more ›
Just last year, in Oslo, I walked into a news stand and found a very cheap print of the book. I bought it...........and let it rest until this summer on my coffee table. I finally took it while on a 10 days hike in the austrian alps and couldn't let go of the book. Primarly because I realized the Forsyte, although english, were just like my family !! Very chilling, but yet, there are heaps of french Forsytes, have a read at Emile Zoal or Balzac !!
I suddenly had to have the DVD. I finally went for the 1967 one and I'll never be sorry I did.
Black and white was in hinsight, a brilliant idea. Had it been in coulour, the make up would have been terrible. Don't forget most of the actors were in the 30's and had to be aged almost 50 years. Black and white allowed that.
I was amazed by the way it was filmed. One could believe it was very static, quite the contrary. The cameras never stop moving; think there were no portable cameras or steadycam then, but only very big " on stand video cameras.
The acting is just brillant but I'm sorry to say Nyree Dawn Porter'snperformance didn't really cut the mustard as far as I am concerned, still a very beautifull dame. All the other cast members are of the kind you would rarely or never find in France and elsewhere. I always had a soft spot for Kenneth More as a kid ans Eric Porter made me feel for poor Soames. Once you start watching you'll find it very hard to stop.........and we're talking 20 hours viewing. It's a bit like deciding to stop smoking........it's always the last one !!... Read more ›
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Neil Brough
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This first televised version of the Forsyte Saga is a masterpiece. The writing, casting and acting are flawless. When you have watched the last disc, the first feeling that you have is regret that there is not another.
The later, colour, versions have some merit but do not bear comparison with this for even a moment.
First class work by all concerned. Buy it at once if you do not already own it. Thought is not called for - you simply cannot go wrong.
The later, colour, versions have some merit but do not bear comparison with this for even a moment.
First class work by all concerned. Buy it at once if you do not already own it. Thought is not called for - you simply cannot go wrong.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By John Torr
Format:DVD
It was like welcoming back a long lost friend or should I say friends. It some ways it seemed like it was only a few weeks ago that I was watching this wonderful story; full of complex characters and intertwining plots. There is a saying "they don't make things like this any more!", and it is true, to assemble such a brilliant cast to complement the story, would practically be impossible now. It reminds us of the golden days of drama, and towers above any of the serials and drama that we now see on television.
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4.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Forsyte Saga
For very personal reasons this has bad memories for me and I will never listen to it again at all.
Published 2 days ago by Glyn Scarth
5.0 out of 5 stars
Taking me back
What a marvelous trip back to my black and white youth when the highlight of Sunday evenings was the Forsyte Saga. To get all that for so little money is wonderful
Published 16 days ago by Dr RM Youngson
5.0 out of 5 stars
good olde
We remember this when it was on tv what a blast to be able to get the whole series on dvd so the whole family can enjoy it at there leisure well done brilliant acting by all... Read more
Published 26 days ago by Small and Mighty
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 1 month 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 1 month 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 2 months 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 2 months 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 2 months 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 3 months 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 3 months ago by John Whelan
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