SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

terrence-paris When I first learned that this series of Shakespeare's history plays was on DVD I ordered it on the spot. I first saw it at the age of 11 on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) and it sowed the seed for a lifelong interest in British history and Shakespeare. It was great to see Sean Connery, Robert Hardy, Eileen Atkins, and Judi Dench as young actors, but even more pleasurable to enjoy again the late Robert Lang as the villainous Cardinal Beaufort and the late Frank Pettingell as Sir John Falstaff. Also, thanks to IMDb I am pleasantly surprised to learn that Geoffrey Bayldon, the Lord Chief Justice and nemesis of Sir John (and Prince Hal) in Henry IV, is still active over 50 years later. I've no problem with it being in black and white. The introductory music as the camera moves to each of the heraldic devices arranged in a row - the white hart of Richard II, the swan of Henry IV etc. takes me back in an instant to my first viewing of this remarkable series.

ben-lenthall Anyone who enjoyed this series when first broadcast (I rushed home from school to see it) now is of a certain age so I can only add my comments to those asking for a DVD release to enable those of us to relive the memories of first transmission before it simply becomes a piece of unremembered TV archive history. If so many old TV series from the sixties and seventies can be released, why not this? Surely the rights clearances can't be that difficult. Most of the Shakespeare lines I can quote comes from this iconic series and I remember swapping them with my school chums as we tried to outdo each other's memories of the text. Peter Dews rightly deserved the credit for having the foresight to bring it to the screen. This surely was public broadcasting at its finest. Robert Hardy and Sean Connery fighting to the death - it's riveting stuff and from the beginning of the BBC Television's golden age. Come on BBC. Clear it and license it please. March 2009 So finally the DVD is here and congratulations to those who have made it happen. The picture quality is remarkably good and the performances every bit as good as the memory thought. Now all those who clamoured for it must buy it and relive those magic moments.UK viewers. Given the series was made in the UK by the BBC using British actors it's strange that the DVD release is not available there on Region 2 (Europe) DVD and can only be imported from the US and played on modified players. It seems hardly likely that there are major rights issues, perhaps the market was felt to be too small so why on earth wasn't it released 'region free?' so everyone could enjoy it?

sndotyrd An Age of Kings was my introduction to Shakespeare. I still have the viewing guide you had to mail in for. I remember the series as stimulating, exciting, and entertaining. I saw the broadcasts when I was in 9th grade...15 years old. That was quite an accomplishment for any TV drama. I have awaited a Video or DVD reissue for many years. Also a devote of the films of Akira Kurosawa, I have collected his works when issued by the Criterion Collection. I feel that An Age of Kings is certainly deserving of such loving treatment. What can we as individuals do to move the BBC or some other group to actually reissue a quality set of this series. Living outside the UK, a trip over to view the series is currently not feasible.

jpphipps I believe it has been over 40 years since I saw this series, yet memory of it hasn't faded a bit. This would be a natural for DVD re-issue, it seems to me. Many of the performers have gone on to greater fame (Robert Hardy, Sean Connery, to name a couple); though it was a smallish role, I still remember Judy Dench, then in her 20's, as Katherine of France (Henry V). She was very lovely then as now.There is a hint on this site that the series was filmed in color - is this so? Who of us would know - virtually no color TV in those days. Mores the pity, no VCR's; if so, some might have recorded it. As a way of teaching English history, this series made it come alive in ways few class room teachers can manage.What a fine re-issue this would be!