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Mercredi, mai 5th, 2010
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My sister and I like this mini-series which was shown in Masterpiece Theater many years ago. Anyone who enjoys turn-of-the-century films such as The Age of Innocence, House of Mirth, The Golden Bowl, A Room With A Opinion and Howard’s Extinguish or stories of the Astors and Vanderbilts will acquire themselves enraptured with this chronicle of 4 splendid American women who rep themselves being courted by sons of the British nobility.
In the center of the account are Nan (Carla Gugino) and Virginia St. George (Alison Eliott), and their friends Conchita Closson (Mira Sorvino) and Lizzy Elmsworth (Rya Kihlstedt) - four young women living in turn-of-the-century America, when social plot and wealth were the most significant considerations in a woman’s life (these were the days of the Astors and Vanderbilts, after all) . Early in the legend we accept Conchita married to Lord Marable and begins her fresh life with the English nobility. Spurned in Newport and Current York social circles because they are considered “original money,” Nan, Virginia and Lizzy depart to England to visit Conchita and hopefully try their luck there. With the aid of 2 enterprising older women, they soon become the toast of the town and are courted by many sparkling, wealthy young men. Virginia and Lizzy vie for the attentions of Lord Seadown (Brand Tandy) who is not quite what he seems. Nan is pursued by the humble but ambitious Guy Thwaite (Greg Wise from “Sense and Sensibility”) and the wealthy and reserved Julius, the Duke of Trevenick (James Frain) .
The mini-series offers pretty scenery and costumes, mammoth acting from members of the cast (including veterans Cherie Lunghi, Jenny Agutter, Michael Kitchen and Rosemary Leach) and a thoroughly absorbing myth. I loved the astounding mansions, palaces and castles in Newport and England alike and the unbelievable intertwining of the American and British sensibilities in the station. It has “one foot in America and another foot in England,” as Masterpiece Theater narrator Russell Baker aptly explains. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys generous romance/drama!
This is a version of Edith Wharton’s last unfinished fresh as completed by the BBC screenwriter Maggie Wadey. It was filmed barely 2 years after the first complete version of the new was published in 1993 (Completed by Marion Mainwaring) . It chronicles a very different time (1870s) when class distinctions were clearly marked and the nouveau riche found themselves curtly excluded from the “used money” aristocracy of 19th century America. The narrative traces the lives of 4 girls from such families who finding themselves rejected in the land of their birth, depart to England to try their charms and original found wealth on the titled aristocracy of the broken-down country. How they fare and the breaking of their illusions gain the meat of the myth. One reviewer commented on the shallowness and blandness of the characters, of not being able to stutter the girls apart. Some viewers may even behold at these girls as twittering airheads. This is in fragment Wharton’s doing. Edith Wharton was no admirer of the American upper class. She belonged to it, she experienced it first hand and she despised it and made it evident in her books. Wharton constantly pointed out her society’s ignorance, provincialism and prissy narrow-mindedness. None of the girls here really ends up living happily ever after. One of the reviewers here stated that in the absence of Wharton’s hold ending, the BBC screenwriter has let one of the girls off at the raze. But I tend to disagree. Even the heroine Annabelle’s running away with the man she loves (supposedly a blissful ending) is tinged with the public scandal of adultery, the loss of her titles and privileges, and exile to the other side of the world (Durban, South Africa) . This is definitely not what any of the girls would have wanted. Everybody unprejudiced ends up making compromises and settling for second best. But then such is life.
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Buy,Download, Or Stream The Buccaneers! Click Here
As usual with the BBC, this is a resplendent production, with radiant costumes and sets, filmed at various locations in the English countryside as well as in Newport, Rhode Island which stands in for 19th century America.
The DVD transfer is a rather more questionable affair. According to IMDb, Buccaneers was shot on 16mm film. In America, most TV shows are shot on standard 35mm, 16mm film being venerable usually for cheaper productions, especially sitcoms and series whose future is in doubt. The BBC alas is publicly funded and doesn’t have quite the deep pockets of competing American studios, so many of even its major productions are on 16mm. The critically acclaimed “Brideshead Revisited” immediately springs to mind. For a 16mm film, this actually looks sparkling salubrious with strong, vibrant colours, rich blacks and unbiased a puny amount of graininess which imparts a clear softness to the recount, distinguished what you would put a question to from a 16mm print. It actually looks better than “Brideshead” does on DVD. What is disturbing is the rather unfamiliar (1.50:1) aspect ratio presented here. (Yes, I actually popped it into the PC to measure it.) Buccaneers is, I bear, supposed to be in 1.66:1 widescreen. The 1.50:1 aspect ratio means that it has either been cropped or it has had its mattes removed. Either design, it has been modified. Because of the exclusive ratio it has to be letterboxed into a 4:3 frame. It may matter only to a handful of cinephiles or videophiles but I do wish video companies would remove more care in transferring their shows onto discs. Sound is in 2.0 Stereo and dialogue is always definite and obvious.
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