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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Civilisation (1969)

Civilisation (1969)

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Released 4-Aug-2005

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Documentary Main Menu Audio & Animation
Menu Animation
Featurette-Sir David Attenborough Remembers The Making Of Civilisation
Gallery-Photo
Rating Rated E
Year Of Production 1969
Running Time 644:28 (Case: 670)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered
Multi Disc Set (4)
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Michael Gill
Peter Montagnon
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Clark
Case Gatefold
RPI $79.95 Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.29:1
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    In the mid-1960s the BBC started BBC2, a second public broadcaster. Using higher resolution PAL colour transmission, the second BBC channel commissioned a series to show off the higher quality of broadcast and the standard of programming the channel would bring. The result was Civilisation, a ground-breaking thirteen-part series devoted to the rise of Western European society.

    Selected to write and host the series was the celebrated art historian and administrator Sir Kenneth Clark, later raised to the peerage. Subtitled A Personal View, the series allowed Clark to portray his own view of the rise of Western civilisation through the vestiges of art and architecture, painting, sculpture and (to a lesser extent) music and literature. No Marxist views of history as a outcome of social and economic forces here. Man became what he is through the aspirations reflected in the monuments he built. And it is all centred on Western Europe. I do not recall any mention of Russia or Spain, the US is mostly ignored and Islam is given short shrift. Africa is only mentioned in the context of slavery and the southern hemisphere might well not exist.

    Despite such omissions, necessary because of the amount of ground that needs to be covered in an 11 hour series, this is a fascinating look at the high art of Europe. Shot on locations in Britain, Germany, France, Italy and the US over a period of three years, it represents a watershed in arts television. Hugely popular in its day, it paved the way for multi-episode documentaries such as The Ascent of Man, America, The Body in Question and Life on Earth. Today's television documentaries owe a lot to this series, which has now been released on DVD in a four-disc set in Region 4. Discs One to Three house four episodes each and disc Four has one episode and the extras. The episodes are as follows:

Skin of our Teeth (50:03)

    After the collapse of the Roman Empire Europe descended into the Dark Ages. Due to the efforts of roaming Christians and the Emperor Charlemagne civilisation survived by the skin of its teeth. This programme looks at the Byzantine empire, the Vikings and the Christians who lived on the fringes of Europe as the barbarians held sway, ending with the religious buildings and artefacts of Charlemagne's time.

The Great Thaw (48:22)

    In the 12th century civilisation suddenly reawakened from a long slumber, and was manifested in great religious buildings. The chief of these was the cathedral at Chartres.

Romance and Reality (49:48)

    In the Gothic period architecture resulted in some splendid castles and technical achievements in the design and construction of buildings.

Man - The Measure of All Things (49:30)

    In the Middle Ages Italian culture rediscovered the Classical era through the surviving buildings and monuments, and the result was the Renaissance. The focus of art became man as much as God.

Hero as Artist (49:13)

    Michelangelo was the great Renaissance man: sculptor, painter, architect. He sculpted the famous statue of David, was commissioned to design a papal tomb and took on the rebuilding of the Vatican. Raphael changed the course of painting while Leonardo da Vinci turned his insatiable curiosity to a myriad of problems.

Protest and Communication (50:05)

    As a reaction against the excesses of the Roman Church, the forces of Protestantism were unleashed in the north. While the inward-looking Erasmus in England and Dürer in Germany made advances in thought and art, it was the cleric Martin Luther who started a wave of rebellion in Germany that resulted in the destruction of much religious art. Shakespeare gave voice to man without the certainty of religion. This episode concludes with several extracts from Shakespeare performed by stage actors of the time. The graveyard scene from Hamlet is performed by Ronald Lacey (the gravedigger), Ian Richardson (Hamlet) and a bewigged Patrick Stewart (Horatio).

Grandeur and Obedience (48:55)

    The counter-reformation enabled Michelangelo to continue work on the new Vatican, while the greatest sculptor of the age was Bernini. The Catholic Church survived the threat from Protestantism and thrived, St Peters being a monument to its glory.

Light of Experience (49:18)

    Scientific progress was mirrored by new realism in painting, especially in Holland and the work of Vermeer and his contemporaries. Rembrandt married realism with psychological insight.

Pursuit of Happiness (49:59)

    In the 18th century conformity and austerity were replaced with the Baroque and asymmetrical Rococo styles. Music replaced architecture as the expression of man's aspirations, reflected in the music of Bach and Handel, Haydn and Mozart.

Smile of Reason (48:58)

    In the mid-1700s French portraiture began to reflect the inner peace and happiness of a quiet, uneventful lifestyle. This masked the problems which led to the Revolution.

Worship of Nature (49:45)

    In the 19th century, a movement of nature worship spread across Europe, as reflected in the poetry of Wordsworth and the painting of Turner.

Fallacies of Hope (49:29)

    The Revolution in France galvanised political change throughout Europe and ushered in the Romantic age. Beethoven in music and Byron in poetry expressed their disillusion with men and their yearning for something more.

Heroic Materialism (51:03)

    The Industrial Revolution brought its own unique architecture in the form of the railway bridges of Brunel. This led to a schism between idealism and what Clark calls "heroic materialism". It is in this age that we still live. Clark gives his thoughts on what makes civilisation bearable.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The programme is transferred in the original television aspect ratio of 1.29:1.

    Not a perfect transfer by any means, although it is very sharp and detailed. It was shot in 35mm and this means it looks pretty good despite being almost 40 years old. It is bright and has good contrast. Shadow detail is acceptable. The colours look very good, slightly faded but not disconcertingly so. Black levels are acceptable.

    There are problems with the transfer, the main issue being the amount of aliasing. It appears regularly throughout, which is annoying given a lot of the visuals involve the camera panning over straight lines. There is also some moiré, not helped by Clark's propensity for wearing patterned jackets. Edge enhancement is frequently visible.

    Another annoying artefact is that the transfer is jumpy. Not violently so, but there is almost always a slight vertical shake to the image. Grain is visible but rarely an issue except in the last episode. There are also prominent MPEG artefacts in the last episode. Film artefacts are limited to rare scratches, only serious at the very beginning of episode one.

    The English subtitles are in small white font which seem to be well-timed and transcribe the narration almost verbatim. They contain hard-of-hearing information, including identification of some of the music.

    Each disc bar the last is dual-layered, but there is no layer change within any of the episodes.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The sole audio track is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.

    The narration and the occasional dialogue is very clear. I only found myself using the subtitles to check the spelling of the names of people and places. The audio is slightly sibilant at times, but there is no serious hiss or distortion otherwise. Audio sync seems spot on throughout.

    The music is almost entirely comprised of music of the times and regions depicted, ranging from Gregorian chant to Richard Strauss and beyond. A couple of times the music seemed slightly strident or distorted, but again this is not significant and does not detract from the content.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    According to the packaging this set includes a 36-page booklet. My review copy included the packaging but not the booklet. Even without the booklet the gatefold section holding the discs fits very snugly into the cardboard case, so much so that it is not easy to extract.

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    The menus feature some of the music, with minimal animation.

Featurette - Sir David Attenborough Remembers The Making Of Civilisation (23:19)

    In 1965 David Attenborough was asked to be controller of BBC2, and he was part of the team that instigated and produced the Civilisation series. In this 2004 interview he recounts the lunch where Clark was invited to work on the series, some of the problems the project faced and the impact of the series.

Gallery - Photo (2:00)

    A short gallery of behind the scenes photos in colour and black and white. These mainly show camera set-ups.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    As far as I can tell this material has not been released in Region 1. The UK Region 2 equivalent is identical to the Region 4.

Summary

    A superb television series that is worth seeing despite some video problems. The audio quality is satisfactory and there are a couple of relatively brief extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Philip Sawyer (Bio available.)
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-S733A, using Component output
DisplaySony 86CM Trinitron Wega KVHR36M31. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player, Dolby Digital, dts and DVD-Audio. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationSony TA-DA9000ES
SpeakersMain: Tannoy Revolution R3; Centre: Tannoy Sensys DCC; Rear: Richter Harlequin; Subwoofer: JBL SUB175

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