Customer Reviews

Barchester Chronicles, the

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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.

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.