Piece of Cake
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DVD details
Actor: Boyd Gaines, George Anton, Nathaniel Parker, Neil Dudgeon, Tom BurlinsonCinematographer: Peter Jessop
Producer: Adrian Bate
Producer: Robert Eagle
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 312 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-10-01
Studio: Bfs Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Piece of Cake
DVD Review: Beautiful, beautfiul Spitfires.
Summary: 5 Stars
Given that there are 47 reviews of the series, I doubt there's much I can add. So let me go with impressions.
First off, the squadron is lucky to have Uncle. He's the one who keeps things running. If not smoothly, at least running. He's the guy who carries Flash off to bed when all Flash wants to do is have a go at Rex. Uncle gives Hart the word that the "chaps" are getting a bit bored of his stories about the Spanich Civil War.
The squadron's not quite so lucky in Skull, its intel officer. Though he can keep secrets (e.g., Fitz and his "friend"), he's just too damn smart for his own good, and manages to keep everyone constantly peeved at him.
The squadron's unfortunate in having Moggy. A great pilot, maybe, but a complete psycho more intent on killing anyone he can, any way he can.
Hart initially comes across as just there to have a good time, but as the war proceeds, and the losses mount, he can barely begin a conversation with the junior pilots without beginning to harangue and lecture. He's a natural fighter pilot, but the war gets to him.
Every episode begins with a squadron picture. It's kind of sad to see the picture change over time. Not in that the uniforms get more scruffy and relazed, but there are fewer people on display. By the time Churchill gives his "Few" speech, the surviving pilots really, really don't care. Moggy mocks it. A rest and a pint is mostly what everyone wants.
The story's a good one, but you really buy this for the sight of Spitfires in the air. If you're a true fanbiy, you'll scoff at the odd mix of marks (Vs and IXs, I think), but what utterly beautiful machines!
DVD Review: Great story, sub-par transfer
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an excellent drama centered on the Battle Of Britain, filled with memorable characters and great flying sequences. Everything about Piece Of Cake is first rate - except the transfer. The video is is grainy and poorly defined and the audio is not much better. It's a real shame that there is not a better transfer out there because it would immediately be added to my collection.
Still, it is definitely worth seeing for the production itself. If only it would get the transfer it deserves...
DVD Review: Piece of Cake by Tom Burlinson, Neil Dudgeon, Jack McKenzie, Tom Radcliffe
Summary: 4 Stars
I cannot tell a lie. I thought this series was not as good as UXB, but I am partial to Judy Geeson. I did expect the inaccuracy of the planes being flown, but not the pristine landing strips/meadows. I guess that I really missed the realism of the stressful situations that seemed to be somewhat missing here. I can only surmise that the writers were from another era with no oversight by older experienced professionals who might have given more insight into the acting roles. I am also a dog lover & thought that the part of the elimination of the mascot that wizzed on anyone other than his master, was a bit too much even in wartime. Oh well, you can't have everything. Even though I was displeased at some parts, I did enjoy the series overall as worth the bargain price paid.DVD Review: Add half-a-star, but this isn't up to the usual standards...
Summary: 2 Stars
The first three hours, half the show, were dull, stodgy, and confusing. The second half was much, much better, with lots of aerial combat and some male-female relationships which seemed promising. However, the final half has too much tragedy, no humor except some attempts to lighten the mood which come off as cruel. I never really found a character to root for in the whole darn thing, save for Boyd Gaines, who plays Hart, the only American among this bunch of Royal Air Force flyboys. And it was hard, frankly, to even care much about him. It is sad when a six-hour miniseries about something as important as the start of World War II leaves one with kudos only for the cinematography, but that's how I felt when I finished watching this the other night. The aerial shots of the White Cliffs of Dover are what I will remember most, not the script or performances.DVD Review: Three-and-One-Half Stars
Summary: 3 Stars
Even though I enjoyed this production on television, its inclusion in "Masterpiece Theatre" made me question whether the producers' definition of the word "masterpiece" was not, in this case, hyperbolic. On the one hand, the series is more than competently acted, but on the other, it sprawls and does not really pick up momentum until episodes five and six, when the action in the air becomes riveting. Part of the trouble is that the episodes set in France during the "phony war" are by nature slow. This would not be a problem if the characters were fully developed (as they were in Kenneth Brannagh's "Fortunes of War"). Unfortunately, the characters in "Piece of Cake" are either left in an embryonic state (e.g., Jeremy Northam--an otherwise fine actor--whose persona is so undistinguished that I wasn't really interested in his romance with one of the French girls), or else they seem clich?d (e.g., the Yank whose cluelessness upsets the class conventions of the time--although I really liked the actor who played the part). Other characters are so persistently obnoxious that I shed no tears (except for the RAF and for England) when they were blown out of the air: e.g., the first squadron commander, Rex, who indulges in luxury as much as he indulges his opprobrious dog; and Moggie Cattermole, who is unrelenting in his bullying of everyone. In fact, the characters whom I found the most interesting were not the flyers, but the low-keyed young ex-Cambridge don and the adjutant, "Uncle," both of whom remain earth-bound in every sense of the expression.
Episodes five and six work, not because they are action packed (and the scenes of the Spitfires buzzing the chalk cliffs are thoroughly compelling), but because they represent a persuasive and gripping truth about the desperate battle to save Britain from what at the time seemed the unstoppable onslaught of the Luftwaffe.
I fell in love with the entire RAF when I was a little girl and my father brought several of their officers home for dinner one Christmas during the War (What they were doing in Los Angeles I never found out.). I therefore feel almost unpatriotic in criticizing this series about the "few," in Winston Churchill's words, to whom "so many" owe "so much;" and for whom the word 'valiant' in no way constitutes hyperbole.
Description of Piece of Cake
Based on derek robinsons best-selling novel piece of cake follows the adventures heartaches and rites of passage of the fighter pilots of the raf hornet squadron during wwii. Dvd features not listed. Studio: Bfs Ent & Multimedia Limi Release Date: 09/28/2004 Run time: 300 minutes Rating: NrGeneral DVDs
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