Civilisation: The Complete Series
by Michael Gill, Peter Montagnon
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DVD details
Actor: Kenneth ClarkDirector: Michael Gill, Peter Montagnon
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 670 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Warner
DVD Reviews of Civilisation: The Complete Series
DVD Review: heroes of history
Summary: 5 Stars
A magnificent teaching tool.Delightful and enlightining entertainement.Highly commendable.Prepared and done with profound knowledge and great class.
DVD Review: disappointed
Summary: 2 Stars
I remembered this series when it first aired on BBC, it has not aged well. Kenneth Clarks opinions do not seem relevent now. The CDs are great quality unlike some of the reviewers stated, just not worth the cost.DVD Review: Nourishment for the brain
Summary: 5 Stars
I recall when this series was current, but I never watched it. Now, I can appreciate its considerable charms at leisure and pronounce it sublime. Yes, Kenneth Clark can seem stuffy and his veddy British pronounciations can seem a bit cloudy at first. But he grows on you, and you'll delight in his opinionated, if constricted, survey of Western Civilization. Each episode is less than one hour, and taken dose by dose, really delivers a superb overview of what made European man civilized. Nothing here, of course, about the rest of the world, but that's beside the point. Borrow it from your local library and savor. They don't make them like this any more.DVD Review: western civ
Summary: 5 Stars
This series was made in the 1960s and is a bit dated but then again so is everything Lord Clark is telling you about so what's it matter? The picture quality is not fantastic but more often than not what the cameras captured is great enough to transcend less than crystal clear representation on a TV screen. Clark is a great guide although he makes some remarks that are fairly comical and maybe his perspective is not that of a liberal multiculuralist. That's perfectly OK with me. There is some speculation on the German people that had me laughing. As a British man old enough to personaly remember the first half of the 20th century you can appreciate where he's coming from, however. Watching the series I made no point to count all the locations and couldn't have kept up if I tried. The helpful review by Amazon gives the figures: 80,000 mile journey, 13 countries, 117 locations, 18 libraries, 118 museums. Why does this series after half a century still hold up so well? 40 years in modern media time is longer than centuries of cultural development covered in this TV documentury. Obviously, collecting all that footage was a monumental undertaking. Unless you have no interest whatsoever in art, culture and architecture it's impossible not to be impressed and at some point in awe of the creative achievements brought before you. So there's that. And being that the series is about civilizaion philosophy and history are covered along with art and architecture, although the cntral focus is on the latter which are used to help us appreciate what's so great about being civilized. Kenneth Clark is likable and perfectly prepared after a lifetime of learning to take us on the trip and his genuine passion comes through. That it is one learned, highly capable individual sharing his with you his passion for subject matter he has dedicated his life to is what makes "Civilisation, A Personal View by Lord Clark" special. It is personal journey. It really is one of the best documentaries ever made and I highly recommend it to you.DVD Review: 40 years later: Still fascinating and relevant
Summary: 5 Stars
40 yrs have passed since I first saw Civilisation...and read the companion book. In the intervening period I have travelled, studied Western art and society, and seen a great many terrific documentaries. This first documentary on the history of art and the West remains unparalleled..fascinating overview with opinions that are worth thinking about. His final "Heroic Materialism" still rings true to me. It deserves to be back on television and for a now-huger audience.
Description of Civilisation: The Complete Series
The eminent art historian Sir Kenneth Clark was commissioned to write and present an epic examination of Western European culture, defining what he considered to be the crucial phases of its development. Civilisation: A Personal View by Lord Clark would be more than two years in the making, with filming in over 100 locations across 13 countries. The lavish series was hailed as a masterpiece when it was first transmitted in 1969.Civilisation, A Personal View by Lord Clark, may be the definitive documentary series of the past 50 years. Aired in 1969, this ambitious British undertaking which spanned an "80,000 mile journey visiting 13 countries, 117 locations, 18 libraries, and 118 museums," not only reconfigured the public view of documentary style, but also cemented BBC Two and its new Controller, David Attenborough, in history. In watching this thirteen-episode series, one clearly sees how Attenborough, as well as narrator Kenneth Clark, pioneered the direct-gaze speaking style of the narrator along with the concept of placing the narrator in the setting he refers to. In episode one, The Skin of Our Teeth, Clark stands in front of Notre Dame to question first, if civilization worth preserving, and secondly, what the difference between art and culture is. Heavy. In subsequent episodes, cultural history is viewed through an art historical lens. Especially wonderful is The Worship of Nature, discussing 18th century England's obsession with landscape painting in relation to religious beliefs of the period. Deep philosophy colors each 50-minute segment. This DVD set includes an interview with Attenborough. Undeniably educational, Civilisation feels eternally significant, and improves with repeated viewing. --Trinie Dalton
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