The Barchester Chronicles
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Actor: Alan Rickman, Donald Pleasence, Geraldine Mc Ewan, Nigel Hawthorne, Susan HampshireBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 385 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2011-04-12
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: E2111
Studio: BBC Worldwide
Product features:
- The cozy community of Barchester is rocked from its complacency when a crusade against the Church of England's practice of self-enrichment misfires. Overnight, Septimus Harding (Donald Pleasence) becomes the pawn in a political battle begun by his younger daughter's beau, John Bold, and kept kindled by his older daughter's husband, Archdeacon Grantly (Nigel Hawthorne).Running Time: 385 min. For
DVD Reviews of The Barchester Chronicles
DVD Review: Just why and at whom are we really laughing?
Summary: 5 Stars
I thoroughly enjoy a BBC production, and the Barchester Chronicles, based on works by Trollope, The Warden and Barchester Towers (Volume 1), is a perfect one. It's fantastic cast, incredible costumes--BBC should have a museum dedicated to what can only be described as costume art, maybe even send them on tours of foreign museums; I'd certainly pay to see them!--and stunning scenery are a visual feast.
Like so much of British TV these stories are filled with characters that literally come alive and capture the viewer with the subtleties of their lives. Each is a work of art. Donald Pleasence, is the central figure in both parts of the feature, and his Rev. Harding is perfection. It reminds me of his role of Oracle Jones in the The Hallelujah Trail, which I also found delightful. Probably the most noticeable character for younger audiences will be that of Alan Rickman, the erstwhile Professor Snape of Harry Potter fame, Harry Potter Years 1-6 Giftset (Widescreen Edition), and a character with something in common with the Chaplin Slope whom he portrays here in Barchester Chronicles. Slope's almost serpentine approach to the females in his company is creepier than Snape ever thought of being; the way he uses his nose, eyes, and the position and motion of his head leaves one with the impression of a cobra about to swallow a mouse whole. Wonderful work.
The general intention of the work is of light social criticism with a happy ending. I'm not quite sure how to take it though. If the author is against the status quo of society and of the Anglican Church in particular, why does nothing change? If he is against the efforts of radicals to change the customs that the social elite hold near and dear and on which their leisure and comfortable living depend, why does he point out so clearly the evils of the time? One must assume that his intention is simply to gently raise the audience's consciousness of the problems of society and of its own complicity in perpetuating them without making them angry or defensive. In this he might be seen as partaking more of Shaw's, George Bernard Shaw's Plays (Norton Critical Editions), method of invoking laughter over society's foibles rather than of Henrik Ibsen's tendency to weap over abuses, Four Major Plays: (Doll's House; Ghosts; Hedda Gabler; and The Master Builder) (Oxford World's Classics).
I couldn't help but feel that the poor Slope (formerly "Slop but he added an e") was much put upon and that the audience unwittingly takes a willing part in his undoing by hoping for it in the end. Admitting that he is an odious person, he is also something of a self-made man. His only "crime" is to have risen above his station, that of a "guttersnipe" according to the imperious Mrs. Proudy. Even worse is the obviousness of his every intent. While politer society had learned at its mother's knee to disguise every intention, poor Snape's demeanor gives everything away. He is funny only because he is so obvious and therefore easily made the fool. In this respect his character reminds me of Malvolio in Twelfth Night, whose pretences are much the same and whose punishment for them is also to be revealed a fool.
Nor has Chaplin Slope done anything more to promote himself than has already been done by those far higher up the food chain than he. He aspires to a rich wife, places professional advancement before love, pulls strings to gain allies, equivocates to cover duplicity, places his own designs before the well being of others with greater need, and betrays the interests of a former mentor to gain advantage. In short, he behaves like his "betters." Having had his efforts to enter into polite society foiled by those around him, and just as in Shakespeare, the Fool Slope has something significant to say. His parting shot to the weak willed Bishop and his spiteful and manipulative wife--and probably to the audience and society as well--is "may you live forever." Something like the Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times!" One is left to wonder if he is not the only person in the play with anything like a clear understanding of the situation and what if anything he will do with his new found knowledge. From lesser beginnings great and passionate social reformers arise!
Audiences "should" identify with Slope; not many of us today are high society and even fewer of us were so at the time the book was written. Yet because the Chaplin is socially pilloried by the situation, we tend to side with those conspiring against him and are happy at his defeat and content with our "happy ending." Once again, if the author's intention is simply to raise the audience's consciousness of the problems of society and of its own complicity in perpetuating them, one has to admire his subtly but wonder if it had any effect other than to entertain. Still the work has much to say to a modern audience about society and its victims. Just why and at whom are we really laughing?
Description of The Barchester Chronicles
The cozy community of Barchester is rocked from its complacency when a crusade against the Church of England's practice of self-enrichment misfires. Overnight, Septimus Harding (Donald Pleasence) becomes the pawn in a political battle begun by his younger daughter's beau, John Bold, and kept kindled by his older daughter's husband, Archdeacon Grantly (Nigel Hawthorne).Bestsellers in DVD
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