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.
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.