Starring: Donald Pleasence, David Gwillim, John Ringham, Joseph O'Conor, Clifford Parrish Directed By: David Giles (III) Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, NTSC Label: BBC Warner Number of Items: 2 Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 25, 2005 Running Time: 374 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1982
Product Description: The cozy community of Barchester is rocked from its complacency when a crusade against the Church of England's practice of self-enrichment misfires. Overnight Septimus Harding (Donald Pleasence) becomes the pawn in a political battle begun by his younger daughter's beau John Bold and kept kindled by his older daughter's husband Archdeacon Grantly (Nigel Hawthorne).Running Time: 385 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 794051211125
Amazon.com: The first two episodes of this BBC miniseries only hint at the delights to come. A lawsuit aimed at church reform in the town of Barchester forces a decent middle-aged clergyman (the august Donald Pleasence, best known in the U.S. for the Halloween movies) into a moral crisis and a conflict with his son-in-law, a pompous archdeacon (Nigel Hawthorne, The Madness of King George). The gracefully written and acted narrative shows glimpses of dry wit--but in episode 3, the arrival of a new bishop (Clive Swift, Keeping Up Appearances), his imperious wife (Geraldine McEwan, The Magdalene Sisters), and his devious chaplain (Alan Rickman, Truly Madly Deeply, the Harry Potter movies) launches The Barchester Chronicles into a satirical power struggle all the more mesmerizing because of the smallness of the territory. The scheming of the citizens and clergy of this British town is both Byzantine and wonderfully comic as the tempestuous personalities claw and dig at each other.
Rickman, in one of his first film or television roles, turns in a tour de force of oily ambition. McEwan's ferocious machinations are downright terrifying, while the sputtering Hawthorne (The Madness of King George) seems constantly in danger of bursting a vein. At the center of it all is Pleasence. Making goodness compelling has always been difficult, since wickedness is always more dramatic; but Pleasence brings a deep and stirring passion to his role that proves as engaging as all the back-biting that surrounds him. And these are just the more familiar faces; a host of lesser-known actors give equally superb performances. The final episode (of seven) will have you on pins and needles. The Barchester Chronicles, adapted from two novels by Anthony Trollope, is one of those marvels of British television, a skillful production that proves intelligent fare can be hugely entertaining. --Bret Fetzer
A hilarious story that can be viewed over and over and still be amusing and delightful. I am presently viewing The Barchester Chronicles for the 3rd time and enjoying it immensely. The characters are dead-on portrayals of villagers, clergymen and their wives and daughters with all their human foibles. Money, power and ego are fought for here behind all the facades of righteousness. Never depressing though; it's very funny and humor rules the day. The role of the mild-mannered warden of the hospital is played very well by Donald Pleasance. Nigel Hawthorne is the Arch Deacon who can barely keep his temper under any circumstances, but finds it especially difficult when dealing with Bishop Proudy's shrew of a wife, played brilliantly by Geraldine McEwan (she's absolutely scary). Alan Rickman, as Mr. Slope, takes away top honors in his outstanding portrayal of the Bishop's chaplain. His slimy, smarmy persona counterbalances the witchy ways of Mrs. Proudy and together they manage to give the Bishop many of his "sick headaches." Take the ride to Barchester, it's well worth the trip!
Brilliant comic acting For those who enjoy seeing great British actors at the peak of their form, this is a feast. Alan Rickman, Donald Pleasance, Nigel Hawthorne and Geraldine McEwan are brilliant, and funny, funny, funny. Don't miss it.
The Barchester Chronicles Worth seeing. Good, not great, but some very interesting characters. Alan Rickman is superb!
Quite good, really (I'm just trying to sound 19th-century British and failing - it's FABULOUS!) This is one of the best shows of its type I've ever seen - maybe THE best. As others have noted, all the actors give great performances, and the humor is kick-your-heels riotous. Alan Rickman as Obadiah Slop(e) (hubby and I love the places where ladies say that Mr. Sleope's behaviuh is eodious) is enough to make the series great, but there is so much more! Even the little baby in the piece is a good actor. Trollope was a comic genius and the makers of this series have done him full honor. I find myself nearly speechless in trying to describe the beauty of the scenes, the humor of the exchanges, the glory of the costumes... We Americans, or a certain subset of us, have a strange nostalgia for an older England even if our mongrel ancestry is mostly German or something else. I'm certainly in the nostalgic group. The churches, cathedral scenes, old buildings, and so forth will make you yearn to be there, to walk beneath Gothic arches and hear a boy-choir sing its high, breathy anthem. That said, I did get the feeling that too much was squeezed into the last episode, as though more had been filmed but time constraints had required it to be cut. In particular, the events of a certain garden party are only described by the actors, and we'd have LOVED to have seen them ourselves! There are even a couple of character motives which are not explained, as in the case of a lady who rather favored a certain wooer but has turned against him....and others. But the series is STILL GREAT ANYWAY!
One of the Greats First of all, you should read Trollope: The Warden and Barchester Towers. They are fabulously wonderful and entertaining books.
Then you should buy this film. It is a true masterpiece, which faithfully and effectively condenses the stories.
The acting is superb. Donald Pleasance was born to play Septimus Harding; he is magnificent as the cello-playing, kindly old warden. Nigel Hawthorne as the archdeacon is a scream: sputtering, constantly outraged, a wily, politically savvy climber who is at heart a solid and good man. Angela Pleasance plays his wife, who respectfully calls him "Archdeacon" at all times, even in bed. Clive Swift (Keeping Up Appearances) plays the weak and ineffectual bishop, while Geraldine McEwan plays his wife, Mrs. Proudy, who calls all the shots. But a new performer makes a huge impression, the one and only Alan Rickman, playing a reptilian subdeacon who is all about backstabbing and grabbing power. This is a MUST SEE for all lovers of Brit period stuff.
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