howardmorley
One of my wife's friends bought, at a Hampstead charity shop, the complete 12 volume 1986 BBC VHS video set of this stupendous 1967 drama series.She then gave these videos to me but after playing 3 volumes my v.c.r. promptly gave out forcing me to have the antiquated machine fixed at a local electrical repair shop so I could see the saga in its entirety.The video set is rated PG as there are several adult scenes (for 1967) and I noticed in the film credits several personnel were employed to dramatise the various episodes of this legendary Galsworthy classic.Other reviewers have made a good job of explaining the history of the saga and its transition to TV, so I won't dwell on that.This series needs its critique updating and re-appraising on IMDb as some of them are now quite old.For a TV miniseries the acting is of a very high standard.I hesitate to single out individual actors since even the maids' roles were chosen and cast with care.My late parents were addicted to this series when it was originally shown on BBC TV in 1967 when I was 21 and living at home, (I'm now 61).I remember it was transmitted on Sunday evenings by the BBC but as my parents were churchgoers, they were obliged to miss some of the episodes.My father got around this by attaching a timer device on his reel to reel tape recorder, timed to come on when the episode started.There were no video recorders available to the public in 1967 and this meant they could only listen in sound on their return from church!For me it's a bit like going into a time machine and going back 40 years being the interval since I last saw it.I notice now, what I wouldn't have noticed then, being that Galsworthy drew attention in his saga to the social problems and conditions of the working classes living in England in the period 1880s-1920s.Other social dramatists like J.B.Priestley noted this in plays like "An Inspector Calls".I can incidentally recommend the latter film from 1954 with Alistair Sim in the title role, as it is set in 1912 when the Forsyte saga is partly set.Other reviewers, especially our American cousins, have noted the difficulty in obtaining this video series in the USA.It's a pity, because there is an American side to this drama when young Jolyon goes off to S.Carolina with his mother Irene and meets Anne while her brother comes to England and meets and is enamoured of the flapper who sues Fleur for libel.I found the actress who played Anne very appealing.For those film fans who do not possess a copy, try looking on eBay.Maybe someone's executor may be trying to auction off the complete video series to raise money for the estate and by so doing giving film fans a treat.I rated it 9/10.
behrens-4
In the early years of the last century, John Galsworthy wrote nine novels, divided into three trilogies. "The Man of Property," "In Chancery" and "To Let" formed the first trilogy, which he called "The Forsyte Saga." The second group, "The White Monkey," "The Silver Swan" and "Swan Song" formed "A Modern Comedy." Finally "Maid in Waiting," "Flowering Wilderness" and "One More River" made up the last group called "End of the Chapter."The first three books concentrated on the property-driven first generation Forsyte men, whose world was broken up by a beautiful woman called Irene, "a concretion of disturbing Beauty impinging on a possessive world," as Galsworthy puts it in his preface. But it is also a saga that brings us from the Victorian world in the 1880s up to the 1920s when the new generation finds new values.
Now this is very difficult stuff to reduce to a miniseries, but that is what BBC did quite successfully back in the 1960s and the television audience on both sides of the Atlantic went wild. For half a year, given a 50-minute episode each week for 26 weeks, they sat fascinated as they watched the fortunes of the Forsytes, man and woman, grasping, losing, growing older, having children who suffered from what their parents had done, some finding happiness at last, some settling for second best, but all interesting and very human. It is said that the idea of British miniseries based on famous novels is what prompted PBS to create Masterpiece Theatre to satisfy the demand. (Coincidentally, at the time of this writing, the very first Masterpiece Theatre, "The First Churchills," is due at the time of this writing to come out on DVD from Acorn Media!)
I am sure many of you have watched the first third of the new version of "The Forsyte Saga" complete with color, the obligatory scenes in bed, and horse manure carefully piled up in the streets of London. Be advised that the 1967 version is a studio version, with several location shots, in glorious black and white, with a cast that is simply hard to beat or even match, and a tendency to be wonderfully addictive.
I have viewed the DVD version on 7 discs released by Warner Home Video on the BBC label. (Yes, that is 1300 minutes in all, followed by 2 hours of spellbinding, often extremely funny, "bonus" material on the 7th disc.) If you prefer video tapes, the series comes in two sets: The First Generation on 6 tapes, The Second Generation on 7 tapes. They do not contain any of the extra material, so be advised. Technically, the picture has been beautifully restored except for a second here and there when there is a slight blur, perhaps 10 seconds worth out of more than 21 hours hours, and now and then the sound does get a bit fuzzy. In fact, I remember that being true when this series was first telecast, so that is no fault of this restoration.
The major stars are Eric Porter (Soames Forstye), Nyree Dawn Porter (Irene), Kenneth Moore (young Jolyon Forsyte), and a pretty actress who made her reputation in this series, Susan Hampshire. I cannot begin to list the rest, all of which you can catch during the end titles and much of which you can find on the Internet Movie Data Base. Porter plays to perfection the "unlovable" man who cannot understand why he is so; and as the story unfolds, his partial mellowing, as played by Porter, is an example to all "modern" actors.
In the book, Irene is seen only through the consciousness of the other characters, and as good as Ms. Porter looks as Irene, her acting is a touch wooden for such a catalytic character. Still she looks far more striking than her counterpart in the 2002 version.
Galsworthy has been compared with Thackery, but he does not quite have the sweep of that earlier author. Still, the scene at a party after a lawsuit in which the loser is attracting all the attention while the winners are being cold-shouldered by their so-called friends is both painful and telling. (In fact, if it makes you think of "Chicago," you can see how far ahead Galsworthy was in his estimation of how we treat "morality.")
Of course this is high class soap opera, but the production values are quite good for a 1967 studio production, the acting superb, and the dialogue a bit more intelligent than you will find in the afternoon on commercial series. This set, on tapes or DVDs, is a real "grabbit." It afforded me nearly 22 hours of viewing pleasure and will do the same for you.
overseer-3
Please, oh please, watch this original b/w 1967 British version of The Forsyte Saga instead of the 2002 mini-series. You cannot compare the two; the modern version has terrible casting, lacks charm, and has a terrible script. The actors in that version try but do not reflect the authenticity of the characters in this Galsworthy classic. This 1967 version in contrast has perfect casting, a completely amazing script, multi-dimensional characters, why even the house at Robin Hill is more gorgeous in the original version! The DVD box set you can purchase off Amazon is well worth the price. Buy it before it goes out of print. Do yourself a favor and enjoy this sirloin steak version, instead of the 2002 chopped liver disaster.
