[.ca] Barchester Chronicles

From Amazon.com:
The first two episodes of this BBC miniseries only hint at the delights to come. A lawsuit aimed at church reform in the town of Barchester forces a decent middle-aged clergyman (the august Donald Pleasence, best known in the U.S. for the Halloween movies) into a moral crisis and a conflict with his son-in-law, a pompous archdeacon (Nigel Hawthorne, The Madness of King George). The gracefully written and acted narrative shows glimpses of dry wit--but in episode 3, the arrival of a new bishop (Clive Swift, Keeping Up Appearances), his imperious wife (Geraldine McEwan, The Magdalene Sisters), and his devious chaplain (Alan Rickman, Truly Madly Deeply, the Harry Potter movies) launches The Barchester Chronicles into a satirical power struggle all the more mesmerizing because of the smallness of the territory. The scheming of the citizens and clergy of this British town is both Byzantine and wonderfully comic as the tempestuous personalities claw and dig at each other. Rickman, in one of his first film or television roles, turns in a tour de force of oily ambition. McEwan's ferocious machinations are downright terrifying, while the sputtering Hawthorne (The Madness of King George) seems constantly in danger of bursting a vein. At the center of it all is Pleasence. Making goodness compelling has always been difficult, since wickedness is always more dramatic; but Pleasence brings a deep and stirring passion to his role that proves as engaging as all the back-biting that surrounds him. And these are just the more familiar faces; a host of lesser-known actors give equally superb performances. The final episode (of seven) will have you on pins and needles. The Barchester Chronicles, adapted from two novels by Anthony Trollope, is one of those marvels of British television, a skillful production that proves intelligent fare can be hugely entertaining. --Bret Fetzer

Excellent acting:
The first two episodes are adapted from "The Warden" and the other five episodes are adapted from "Barchester Towers" by Anthony Trollope. I had to read these books for a course in nineteenth English history, third year, at the University of Wisconsin, thirty-six years ago. I found the books a bit tedious, although it gave an interesting insight into the history of the time. In 1983 I watched the adaptation by the BBC of those books in "The Barchester Chronicles" on PBS. I was fascinated by the acting. Finding that many older TV productions were put on DVD, I was happy to find it a earlier this year. I saw it again, now twenty-three years later, and was again fascinated by the excellent acting by all involved. For the first time since my university years, I read the books and found again, like then, the story was a bit slow in unfolding. Then I watched the DVD a second time, and came to the conclusion that the BBC adaptation for the screen is far superior to the books it is based on, specifically because the story moves at a good pace, and most importantly because of the excellent acting. I highly recommend this DVD to anyone interested in nineteenth century England, the church politics of the time, and in seeing superb acting by all persons on the screen.

Most Enjoyable:
There were aspects of this production that I found a little disappointing. The sound wasn't always clear, and some of the locations could have been better chosen. The Thorne estate looked terribly run-down, and the 'jousting' scene was rather hammy. I couldn't disagree more with a previous reviewer who wrote that the DVD was more enjoyable than the book. The book is vastly superior. Nevertheless, one performance soared above all others, lifting this BBC production out of the mediocre and into the near classic category, and that was the portrayal of Mr Slope by Alan Rickman. He was everything Trollope intended Slope to be, without the slightest hint of overacting (a danger with some others in the cast). Truly one of the greatest acting performances on the small screen, and reason alone for anyone to purchase this DVD.