The Forsyte Saga - The Complete Series
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Actor: Eric Porter, Kenneth More, Nyree Dawn Porter, Susan HampshireBrand: Warner Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Box set, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1300 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-02-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Worldwide
DVD Reviews of The Forsyte Saga - The Complete Series
DVD Review: The original 1967 BBC production of "The Forsyte Saga"
Summary: 5 Stars
I checked out this 1967 television production of "The Forsyte Saga: First Generation" in between the two parts of the 2002-2003 mini-series, having never read the three novels and two short stories that make up John Galsworthy's epic. Both divide the saga the same way, with "The Man of Property" (1906), the short story interlude "Indian Summer of a Forsyte" (1918), and the novel "In Chancery" (1920) comprising the First Generation and another interlude, "Awakening" (1920) and the novel "To Let" (1921) making up the Second Generation.
It is impossible not to look at the relative strengths of each production, both of which are well worth the watching. The main one for me is that I get a much better sense of Jolyon Forsyte (Kenneth More) being one of the main characters in this version, along with Soames Forsyte (Eric Porter), than I did in the recent version. This is helped by the fact that "Young" Jolyon function as the narrator for the story. In terms of Soames I thought that Porter (who I recognized form one of my favorite B-monster movies, "The Lost Continent") had the hardness but not the buried heart that made Damian Lewis's performance in the final scene of the 2002 production so effective (as is Errol Flynn's understated performance as Soames in "That Forsyte Woman"). Then there is Irene Forsyte née Heron, the woman who is loved by each of the Forsytes, and my clear preference is for Nyree Dawn Porter in this version, because there is more of a sense of this woman being able to go on her own when dictated by the situation.
Overall there is clearly a sense of all of the characters in this dysfunctional family from the modern version. The problem is not that there are so many characters to juggle but rather than there are few opportunities for many of them to be established in our minds. For me the most compelling character was Old Jolyon Forsyte (Joseph O'Conor), who eventually decides that family is more important than propriety. All of the elements of his story are here, but they just seem sketched to be rather than fully developed. The same can be said for Irene's affair with Phillip Bosinney (John Bennett), the intended fiancé of young June Forsyte (June Barry). The whole motivation and rational for that is suggested rather than revealed.
In the second part of the saga the Victorian age has come to an end and now the family conflict is passed on to a new generation, represented by Soames's daughter Fleur (Susan Hampshire) and Jon Forsyte (Martin Jarvis), son of Irene and Jo. Unaware of the family feud the two youngsters meet and fall in love, but it is only a matter of time until the truth comes out and all hell breaks loose. The other principle character is Michael Mont (Nicholas Pennell), who is fated to love Fleur more than she will ever love him. However, even with his daughter taking the central part in the drama, the story keeps coming back to Soames and we wonder what when all is said and done is finally going to be the death blow for the old man. When the end comes it is something of a surprising, but certainly a fitting climax. As Michael says towards the end, "It's pretty hard sometimes to remember that it is all comedy."
The soap opera elements, which include a case for libel, are balanced by a sense of the changing society, which moves beyond the Edwardian age to that of the post-World War I era. Michael Mont becomes the spokesperson for the concerns of the times, probably because he is not a Forsyte, and in that regard he becomes the counterpart of Young Jo for the second-generation characters. But in the end it is Soames who defines his family, both its strengths and weaknesses, and the second half of the saga resonates with our memory of how the first half ended. Soames Forsyte was a man of property, but the term was clearly one of evolving meaning. Ultimately, this production is one of those marvelous marriages of actors and characters, graced with a script that does a superb job of adapting a series of novels and two short stories by John Galsworthy that is rather sparse on actual dialogue in the initial works (this second half is essentially the 1921 novel "To Let"). Even in black & white it remains something to be equaled, but not surpassed.
One benefit of this historical production, which led directly to the birth of "Masterpiece Theater" on PBS as a way of showing this series to American television audiences, being filed in black & white is that there are able to include actual film of the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901. Ultimately, I am not bothered by either the black & white photography or the soap opera type sets. The limitations of this production are in the adaptation of Galsworthy's story by Lennox Philips and Donald Wilson, which gives us a sense of the breadth but not the depth of this narrative. However, this does not detract from the importance of this series in television history. Whatever its shortcomings this was the "mini-series" that opened the door for scores of noteworthy BBC programs.
You definitely want to catch this landmark 1967 television series on DVD because of the supplemental material. Surprisingly you will find a couple of deleted scenes and a whole series of outtakes; the latter are not of the comic variety, but more a collection of the technical problems reflecting state of the art television production at the time (it took 15 minutes to splice together two bits of video tape so they went to great lengths to avoid having to do so). Even more fascinating are the public debates over the mini-series, including a very passionate debate over the issue of who was the injured party in the Soames-Irene question and the infamous scene in which he "reasserted his marital rights." Any illusion you had of "The Forsyte Saga" being high brow (i.e., "Masterpiece Theater") is quickly dispelled as ordinary folk in the street reduce the entire affair to something on the level of "All My Children" but with the obsession of the level of "Who Shot J.R.?"
Description of The Forsyte Saga - The Complete Series
The miniseries that started it all! In 1969, a internationally-acclaimed BBC show began airing on the fledgling public broadcasting network. The Forsyte Saga, in telling the remarkable story of a nouveau riche English family, introduced America to a new kind of TV. Millions of Americans devoted the next half year of their lives to following the frank treatment of all sins, foibles and peccadilloes of the Forsytes and their circle. The passing decades can never the erase the memory of their extraordinary evenings with the Forsytes: Kenneth More as Jo, the philosophical outsider; Eric Porter as Soames, the grasping man of property; Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene, "born to be loved and to love" and in later episodes, Susan Hampshire in an Emmy-winning performance as Fleur, Soame's 'restless' daughter. The series was so popular that Masterpiece Theatre was created to meet the new demand for great literary adaptations. With 150 characters, 2000 separate costumes and over 100 sets, this sprawling yet intimate saga continues to move, provoke and entrance viewers today.Bestsellers in DVD
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