Brideshead Revisited: Collector's Edition (1981)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Cast - Episode 1: Et In Arcadia Ego Audio Commentary-Derek Granger (Producer) - Episode 1: Et In Arcadia Ego Audio Commentary-Derek Granger (Prod.) & Anthony Andrews (Actor) - Episode 4 Gallery-Stills Gallery-Photo-Brideshead Remembered: With Commentary Outtakes Audio Commentary-Charles Sturridge (Director)-Episode 11:Brideshead Revisited Featurette-Making Of-Brideshead Revisited: Cast And Crew Documentary
Rating
Year Of Production	1981
Running Time	662:30
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (4)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Michael Lindsay-Hogg Charles Sturridge
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jeremy Irons Anthony Andrews Phoebe Nicholls Diana Quick Jane Asher Simon Jones
Case	?
RPI	$49.95	Music	Geoffrey Burgon

    Having recently watched and reviewed an adaptation of A Handful of Dust, another novel by Evelyn Waugh, it was very interesting to compare and contrast this famous and justifiably popular television series based on one of Waugh's most famous novels, Brideshead Revisited. It should be noted that this series has been available on Region 4 DVD previously as a three disc set. Unfortunately, we never received a review copy of it but my understanding is that it contained the episodes only with no extras. I would guess that the video and audio here are the same as that version considering the rather poor quality of the transfers and that the extras are new.

    The series was made over a two year period in the late 1970s and early 1980s and was originally screened in 1981. It was made in a time where there was little commercial competition in British television and lots of money for program production. Can you imagine a production these days that part way through decides to expand from making a six hour show to making an 11 hour one without a squeak of protest from the money men? That's what happened here. Also part way through production the director changed as a strike disrupted shooting. By the time shooting restarted the original director, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, was no longer available. He was replaced by Charles Sturridge who, later in his career, also directed A Handful of Dust. It was shot on film, which was different to most television production of its day. If you need any further evidence that this is an amazing production for television look no further than the presence of two great actors in small but pivotal roles, John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier.

    So, what's it all about then? Well, at a simple level it's the story of Charles Ryder (Jeremy Irons in the role which really launched his career) and his relationships with the Flyte family over the course of some 20 or so years. The aristocratic Flyte family own an enormous country house, the eponymous Brideshead. Charles is of middle class background has no brothers or sisters and shares a house with his cold and eccentric father, Edward (John Gielgud). He leaves the family home to go up to Oxford, where he meets Sebastian Flyte (Anthony Andrews), the younger son of the head of the Flyte family, Lord Marchmain (Laurence Olivier). The Flyte family are a difficult bunch; the father has run away to live in Venice with his mistress and the mother, Lady Marchmain (Claire Bloom), a devout Catholic, is incredibly manipulative and a constant source of angst for Sebastian. The other members of the family include: Lord Brideshead (or 'Bridey' played by Simon Jones), the older brother who is very proper and stiff upper lipped but lacking in humanity; sister Julia (Diana Quick) who is the third most important character in the story; and younger sister Cordelia (Phoebe Nicholls who went on to marry the second director, Charles Sturridge). At a deeper level this is a story about the decline of the Marchmain family and the aristocracy generally in England between the wars, about Catholicism and its effects on the family both good and bad, and about memory and the nature of wistful longing for times past. The story is told in flashback when Charles Ryder, during World War II, is a middle ranking officer in the army and finds himself and his men moved during the night into the grounds of Brideshead. Once he learns where they are he begins to think back to the times he spent amongst the Flytes there in his youth and adulthood. In his time with them he finds love, sadness, anger, resentment and has to fight divided loyalties. There has been much conjecture over the years as to whether the relationship between Charles and Sebastian was a homosexual one and people's views differ. It is not spelled out in the story. Sebastian is obviously homosexual later in the story and one of their friends at Oxford, Antony Blanch (Nickolas Grace), is openly gay.

    Generally speaking, this is a languidly paced character drama which has an air of great sadness and wistfulness. It includes some great dialogue directly from the novel and a voiceover by Irons which adds great poetry to the proceedings. The music by Geoffrey Burgon is also worthy of note. It was very popular at the time the series was initially released and adds significantly to the tone of the series. It is haunting and quite beautiful. The acting is universally excellent with all of the cast playing their roles marvelously.

    This is not, however, a series for everyone as some will find the leisurely pace difficult, especially those used to more pacy modern television such as C.S.I or Desperate Housewives. For fans of drama television such as The Jewel in the Crown or The Singing Detective, this has much to offer. For fans of the novel, this is a must have, for I believe this is a very close adaptation of the book. According to the director in one of the commentaries, this was possible because of Waugh's writing style.

    This is a landmark English drama serial which is justifiably famous.

Video

    The video quality is poor but watchable. I would go so far as to call this transfer a primer for DVD reviewers as it has just about everything you can name in terms of artefacts and video issues.

    The feature is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio non 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was quite soft throughout with some passages (e.g. 50:00 - 52:00 in Episode 1) being worse in this regard than others. There was some low level noise but nothing too terrible. Shadow detail was average with darker scenes showing little detail. Grain was present throughout with some episodes such as Number 4 showing more than others. The bitrate was quite low, generally hovering around 4 Mbps.

    The colour was dull and the faces pale (although this may just be because of their Englishness). Colour artefacts included some chroma noise, some sections where the whole picture became duller or paler and some bleeding from light colours and flames such as candles.

    Artefacts were also abundant including flecks, specks, lines and hairs although these seemed to come and go, edge enhancement from time to time, macro-blocking especially in large expanses of colour or smoky/steamy scenes, tape tracking artefacts, evidence of excessive noise reduction and some telecine wobble, especially during the credits.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read but slightly summarised.

    I did not specifically notice any layer changes.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is acceptable but no more.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand although some scenes were a little echoey or muffled probably due to issues with on-set recordings. There was no problem with audio sync.

    The score of this film by Geoffrey Burgon is one of the highlights of the production and sounds pretty good here, although certainly not spectacular.

    The surround speakers added some mild atmosphere when played using Dolby ProLogic II.

    The subwoofer sprung to life occasionally but mostly stayed dormant. This obviously was a result of my amp's bass management rather than the soundtrack itself.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are a good collection of extras spread across the four discs.

Menus

    The menus included an intro, music, scenes from the show and the ability to select scenes and subtitles.

Disc 1

Commentary - Episode 1 - Jeremy Irons, Nickolas Grace & Diana Quick

    This commentary includes a moderator who asks questions of the actors, sometimes to their annoyance. They talk about the music, how they got their parts, the production, the scripts, other cast members and issues with the shoot. They spend a lot of time laughing and reminiscing which sometimes is not overly interesting. A decent commentary but nothing spectacular.

Commentary - Episode 1 - Derek Grainger

    A much more informative commentary by the producer. He discusses the business of television at the time, relationships with Granada, technical details, locations, the extension during shooting, the shooting, casting, the experience, budgets, schedules, the strike issues, art direction and much more. Good quality commentary. The moderator appears here as well but has less to do.

Disc 2

Commentary - Episode 4 - Derek Grainger & Anthony Andrews

    Another quite interesting commentary which covers casting, the novel, shooting, reminiscences, locations and other information.

Stills Gallery

    This includes about 25 behind-the-scenes stills.

Disc 3

Brideshead Outtakes

    A worthwhile selection of outtakes including Laurence Olivier stuffing something up, some practical jokes, goofs and footage of the shooting of the last scene and subsequent celebrations. Worth a look.

Photo Gallery: Brideshead Remembered with commentary by Michael Lindsay-Hogg (40:07)

    A strange combination of photo gallery and interview with the first director. Each photo stays on the screen for about 55 seconds and the director does not actually talk about them so it's not quite a commentary. However, he does have some interesting things to say about the project, his involvement, why he couldn't finish it off, locations, casting, script issues, English television at the time and the changes made during production.

Disc 4

Commentary - Episode 11 - Charles Sturridge

    A good but not great commentary where he discusses working with Olivier (whose character this episode focuses on), meeting and working with his future wife, lighting and other technical details and the other cast. He also tells some interesting anecdotes.

Stills Gallery

    This includes about 20 behind-the-scenes stills.

Brideshead Revisited : Cast & Crew Documentary (39:13)

    Presented 16x9 enhanced 1.78:1. A new documentary featuring a lunch meeting of many of the original cast and crew although not the two leads. Included are Nickolas Grace, Phoebe Nicholls, Derek Grainger, Charles Sturridge and Diana Quick. Interviews are included with Anthony Andrews & Jeremy Irons although they are not present at the lunch. The lunch is hosted by the stridently voiced Kirsty Wark, whoever she may be. Topics covered include development, production, Granada, on set atmosphere, Olivier and Gielgud, anecdotes, locations, script development, the voiceover, its success on release and the controversy over its homosexual overtones. It is entertaining and informative but does contain some spoilers so don't watch this before watching the show.

    This series is available in Region 1 as a three disc set. The differences are as follows:

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Booklet
• Text information on the production, cast and Castle Howard (the main location)

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• All the commentaries 
• The documentary
• Outtakes
• Photo Gallery with interview by Director

    The result is clearly in Region 4's favour although I cannot comment on the video quality in Region 1 which if superior would obviously affect your choice. The Region 2 release is the same as our new local release.

    The video quality is poor.

    The audio quality is acceptable.

    The set has a collection of extras, mostly of good quality.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall