Barnes & Noble

Few literary adaptations have had the combination of success and influence that marked the BBC's 1967 production of The Forsyte Saga. Its success on National Education Television (the precursor to PBS) inspired the networks to experiment with the miniseries format, and it quickly set a benchmark for appointment viewing. This adaptation of John Galsworthy's first two novels stars Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers) as Soames Forsyte, a partner in a thriving law firm and the wealthy scion of a London family. When his wife, Irene (Gina McKee), becomes involved in a tempestuous affair, it upsets the world he's so carefully erected and tears the Forsyte family asunder. A first-rate soap opera, The Forsyte Saga has an accomplished supporting cast, including Rupert Graves (Mrs. Dalloway) and Corin Redgrave (Enigma), and deftly portrays a Victorian family's fierce struggle to survive the social complexities of a new era. Working with an artist's respect for the original series, director David Moore has created an adaptation every bit as enthralling as its predecessor.

All Movie Guide

The Forsyte Saga was a remake of the classic 1960s British miniseries which put the PBS anthology Masterpiece Theatre on the map. Whereas the original version covered all of John Galsworthy's novels about the upper-crust Forsyte clan, requiring 26 episodes to do so, the remake took in only the first two books, running five episodes in Great Britain and seven episodes when it was exported to the U.S. (several sequels were, however, promised should this "trial balloon" prove successful). This was more than ample time to detail the fortunes and follies of the Forsytes as they made the sometimes painful transition from the Victorian to the Edwardian era. The focus was on frosty, tradition-bound Soames Forsyte (Damian Lewis), whose sincere but sterile relationship with his beloved wife Irene (Gina McKee) was complicated by Irene's fondness for iconoclastic architect Bosinney (Ioan Gruffudd). And in another branch of the Forsyte family, Old Jolyon Forsyte (Corin Redgrave) was vexed by the bohemian lifestyle of his son Young Jolyon (Rupert Graves). Budgeted at ten million dollars and running approximately eight hours, the "new" Forsyte Saga debuted in the U.K. on April 7, 2002, and in the U.S. courtesy of PBS on October 6 of that same year. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 054961528998
• Source: ACORN MEDIA
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Language: English
• Time: 7:06:00
• Sales Rank: 3,988

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