Product Description

The miniseries that started it all! In 1969, a internationally-acclaimed BBC show began airing on the fledgling public broadcasting network. The Forsyte Saga, in telling the remarkable story of a nouveau riche English family, introduced America to a new kind of TV. Millions of Americans devoted the next half year of their lives to following the frank treatment of all sins, foibles and peccadillos of the Forsytes and their circle. The passing decades can never the erase the memory of their extraordinary eveningswith the Forsytes: Kenneth More as Jo, the philosophical outsider; Eric Porter as Soames, the grasping man of property; Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene, "born to be loved and to love" and in later episodes, Susan Hampshire in an Emmy-winning performance as Fleur, Soame's 'restless' daughter. The series was so popular that Masterpiece Theatre was created to meet the new demand for great literary adaptations. With 150 characters, 2000 separate costumes and over 100 sets, this sprawling yet intimate saga continues to move, provoke and entrance viewers today.

DVD Features:
Biographies
Featurette:Archival behind-the-scenes featurette

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7972 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2003-02-25
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 7
• Running time: 1300 minutes

Amazon.com
The Forsyte Saga is often cited as the first television miniseries; it wasn't, but there's no question that it was a singular, powerful cultural phenomenon that deservedly got under the skin of European viewers in 1967 and changed the American TV landscape two years later. (Among other things, The Forsyte Saga brought more viewers and extra clout to a then-struggling public television in the U.S., and gave rise to PBS's Masterpiece Theatre.)

Today the 26-episode production, based on several novels and short stories by John Galsworthy, is a more timeless enterprise than many of the protracted British TV dramas that have followed. While it would be wrong to consider The Forsyte Saga high art, it's certainly a mesmerizing and inspired mix of theater, sprawling Victorian narrative, thinking man's soap opera, and some finely tuned, 1960s black-and-white production values that (especially when shot outdoors) are strikingly handsome.

Above all, Forsyte is driven by its characters--perhaps to an extreme, though the two-generation storyline makes no apologies for creating compelling people whose capacity for short-sighted blundering, bursts of grace, and slow-brewing redemption make them recognizably human. Eric Porter towers over everything as Soames Forsyte, a humorless attorney whose guiding principles of measurable value cause great heartache but slowly evolve, leaving him a graying, good father, arts patron, and sympathetic repository of memory. From the cast of 150 or so, other standouts include Susan Hampshire as Soames's troubled daughter, Nyree Dawn Porter as the wife of two very different Forsyte men, and Kenneth More as the family's artistic black sheep. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

The definitive screen adaptation
Possibly the greatest TV miniseries of all time, it is wonderful that it has been released with great care and pride in this marvelous DVD set.

What sets this particular adaptation apart from others, especially the recent (2002) version, is the outstanding ensemble acting and rich characterizations. For example, as Soames, compare Eric Porter's crisp, impeccable diction in this version with Damian Lewis's mushy delivery in the 2002 version. Compare the delightful, comic realization of James (Soames's father), played by John Welsh in 1969, with the indistinguishable-from-all-the-other-Forsytes character in 2002. Most compelling, compare Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene in 1969, with... well, there really is no comparison here.

Of course, visually, this version suffers compared to last year's. It's shot in black and white, mostly on stage sets. Clearly, they used very few takes (another tribute to the actors), as minor defects like coats falling off racks, cameras getting bumped, slightly muffed lines are retained. But, really, who cares when you're watching the finest combination of acting and screenwriting ever put on TV?

This DVD not only contains the entire set of 26 fifty-minute episodes, but also additional material: cast interviews, behind-the-scenes, even deleted scenes and outtakes. Altogether, a beautiful job.

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.

A Caution about The Caution
There is a major factual error in the review written by A Viewer in Arlington VA which may result in confusion to persons wishing to purchase this DVD.

This DVD series includes all 26 episodes of the original version of The Forsyte Saga, and runs approximately 21.75 hours. I believe the technical information concerning a runtime of approximately 660 minutes listed by Amazon.com is incorrect, leading to the confusion by A Viewer in Arlington VA.

With the help of a friend I checked numerous other sites offering the same DVD for sale, including the BBC which produced the series, and all sites stated this was the complete 26-episode version, with a running time as I stated above.

I write this only to clear up any confusion that might occur as a result of both the improper run time listed by Amazon.com, and the incorrect review that resulted from that incorrect information.