VHS : The Forsyte Saga - Vol. 6 [1967]

Rating: - BY ALL MEANS GO FOR IT
I was sent to bed when the serie was shown in France in 1967, 10 years old at the time, but I amazingly remembered Kenneth More, Eric Porter and Nyree Dawn Porter faces. My mother was absolutly taken by the show and had no time for a kid.
Just last year, in Oslo, I walked into a news stand and found a very cheap print of the book. I bought it...........and let it rest until this summer on my coffee table. I finally took it while on a 10 days hike in the austrian alps and couldn't let go of the book. Primarly because I realized the Forsyte, although english, were just like my family !! Very chilling, but yet, there are heaps of french Forsytes, have a read at Emile Zoal or Balzac !!
I suddenly had to have the DVD. I finally went for the 1967 one and I'll never be sorry I did.
Black and white was in hinsight, a brilliant idea. Had it been in coulour, the make up would have been terrible. Don't forget most of the actors were in the 30's and had to be aged almost 50 years. Black and white allowed that.
I was amazed by the way it was filmed. One could believe it was very static, quite the contrary. The cameras never stop moving; think there were no portable cameras or steadycam then, but only very big " on stand video cameras.
The acting is just brillant but I'm sorry to say Nyree Dawn Porter'snperformance didn't really cut the mustard as far as I am concerned, still a very beautifull dame. All the other cast members are of the kind you would rarely or never find in France and elsewhere. I always had a soft spot for Kenneth More as a kid ans Eric Porter made me feel for poor Soames. Once you start watching you'll find it very hard to stop.........and we're talking 20 hours viewing. It's a bit like deciding to stop smoking........it's always the last one !!
You want to see some great english television, then buy the DVD. .................You'll thank me for it :)))

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Rating: - Why hadn't they the foresight to make it in colour?
I can vividly remember the panic of Sunday evenings - bath, hairwash, school uniform laid out by 7.15pm or suffer the wrath of Mum. If she missed a second of this series the consequences were dire.
As I watched this DVD I remembered most of the plot, even though I was definitely too young to watch it back in the day. I think I was actually remembering Mum's reactions to the plot and my view of the characters was certainly coloured by her opinion - initially.
Am the only viewer who actually likes Soames? In the novels, after all, he is the main protagonist; not 'Young' (Kenneth More!) Jolyon. I felt that Irene was a cold, manipulative harridan. There is never any excuse for rape, of course, and I share the horror of the British public regarding 'that' scene, but Soames deserved more from her. He couldn't help being brought up unable to articulate his feelings. The way he made up for it by his outpouring of love when he first looked at his beloved Fleur (another undeserving recipient of his affection) was pure poetry.
Let's not forget the peripheral characters. Margaret Tyzack is a revelation as Winifred, a truly modern and sympathetic member of the clan, and the perfect foil for Soames. I loved her for loving him. And the superb Nicholas Pennell as Michael Mont, churning up with jealousy inside yet remaining so jolly and loving on the outside. Fabulous.
Anyway, this sweeping saga is utter joy. Forget the oddly colourless recent ITV version. Watch this and remember how it all used to be.And, alas, will never be again.

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Rating: - The Not So Discreet and Limited Charm of the Bourgeoisie
The Forsytes are a Victorian extended family of property owners and solicitors whose main obsession is keeping their capital intact and above all in the family. This series was first shown on in the UK, on BBC2 and later BBC1 in 1967 and was eventually shown in many other countries including American PBS (public TV) and in the Soviet Union, where it was the first series from the West to be allowed on TV, no doubt because it shows the materializing effects of bourgeois lifestyle and culture. Nyree Dawn Porter stole the show as the unwilling wife of Soames Forsyte and, later, of young Jolyon Forsyte. The tensions within the family are well drawn and the acting faultless in most cases. It is a shame the series did not come out a couple of years later, when it would have been done in colour. In 1967, this display of middle class snobberies and property obsession was probably seen as outdated, but in today's house price crazy Britain, perhaps it seems still something to be seen with open eyes.

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Rating: - A TV Serial that is High Art
Now available on 7 DVDs, comprising all 26 episodes plus several hours of additional features, this most celebrated and splendid of BBC TV serials was the brainchild of adapter and producer Donald Wilson. Its world-wide success is known to all, but some might not be aware of the following: -

Donald Wilson was denied funds to produce it for ten years. Had there been a delay of a further year the series would have been filmed in colour, as he wished, rather than black and white.

The first of the John Galsworthy novels on which the series is based contains almost no dialogue. BBC script writers supplied the dialogue that helped make the ten siblings in the eldest Forsyte generation so memorable.

Galsworthy intended the Forsytes to represent the rapaciousness, greed and snobbery of the English upper middle class. In this adaptation they are much more endearing.

Being filmed in black and white made it possible to interpolate archival film of Queen Victoria’s funeral procession and of combat scenes from WW1.

Joseph O’Conor who plays the part of Old Jolyon was two years younger than Kenneth More who plays his son.

Eric Porter and Margaret Tyzack, who play Soames Forsyte and his sister Winifred, are in each episode and are required to age almost 50 years.

Although never credited, the music that opens and closes each episode is the first movement, “Halcyon Days”, from the suite “The Three Elizabeths” written in the early 1940s by Eric Coates.

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Rating: - Interestingly Dated
An excellent example of British period drama during the New Wave era of the late sixties. Although it is rather repetitive after episode 4/5, it's great for anyone interested in looking at filming techniques of early tv adaptations.