Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

gaffneymyles I had long heard of this program (never read any reviews) and had also always liked period pieces set in India, so I gave it a shot. The first two episodes were wonderful. Gloriously scripted and acted. It was then followed up by 12 or so episodes of wandering, poorly acted (for the most part) nonsense. I can only compare it to an afternoon soap opera. The dialogue, for the most part goes nowhere. In fact I think a majority of the dialogue consists of the following"care for a drink?" "Can I refresh your drink?" "How about another?" "We are meeting for dinner, would you care to join us?". "When is your train?" honestly...hours and hours and hours of this kind of stuff. Then, after they all sit down for supper and one character actually asks another character a question the view might want answered, the response will be "I prefer not to talk about that at dinner." As with most soap operas, you will also find. 100 different story lines that get started and never go anywhere and never get resolved....ever. Wooden actors...except for Dame Peggy (wonderful) and Charles Dance (who appears to be as frustrated with the storyline as you will be). Note actors in the first two episodes are good. It is as complete a waste of time as I have ever encountered. Note...the story line in the first two episodes basically ends after the first two episodes....it won't get anymore satisfactory than that.

didi-5 This mammoth series does a beautiful job of bringing Paul Scott's novels 'The Raj Quartet' to the screen.The scene is the period of time at the end of the British Raj, the characters are well drawn and believable (particularly Tim Pigott-Smith as the racist and intolerant Captain Merrick, a complex character, and Art Malik as the intellectual Indian Hari Kumar). Scott's novel was an engrossing read and 'Jewel' does it proud.One of those series which goes in all sorts of different directions before it comes to its moving and surprising conclusion. One of the great pieces of British TV drama.

pekinman It was brave of Yorkshire Television to take on a filmed adaptation of Paul Scott's massive novel 'The Jewel in the Crown'. All-in-all they did a good job of it. Wisely the script focuses in on the personal relationships within the context of a changing India. The jarring complexities of "old" India rubbing up against the modernizing influences of the British Raj is vividly conveyed, mostly in the smaller, quieter moments, as when Harry Kumar takes Daphne Manners to visit his aunt and the behavior of the servants and the Rajput princess with whom Daphne is living.It's true that there is a great deal of dialog, in a soap opera-ish sense. There are times in some of the later episodes when I thought I was watching some bit of trash on TV on a Wednesday afternoon, but then I'd focus in on what the characters were saying and realize that it was deep and important stuff. You have to pay attention to 'The Jewel in the Crown' or it does indeed become a muddle and a bore. If you lose the train of thought you will not be rescued by brilliant cinematography or sound-track because both are inferior, which is a big shame. Perhaps it is the awful A&E dvds that are the problem, something that could be rectified with a remastering of the original films and sound- track. As it stands the sound is execrable, oftentimes the music and background rumble drowning out the speaking voices of the main characters. The musical score itself is wonderful and the actual camera-work is very good, which makes the loss of a good picture and decent sound-track all the more frustrating. As for the acting, the thing is chocked-full of fine performances. Some of the characters are indeed a little too clichéd and, in the case of Ronald Merrick, completely over the top, but Merrick's character works, as a dramatic contrivance, to add to the melodrama of the story... something which may or may not have been the purpose of Scott's creation in the first place. But that's entertainment!My favorite performances were Eric Portman's crafty old Russian emigré, Count Bronowsky. Porter was a great actor and is greatly missed. I savor his every appearance in 'The Jewel in the Crown' because he evokes the old Northern world of honor and good breeding, now extinct. His character makes me wish for a great film of the true story of the White Russians who had to flee the Bolsheviks in the first two decades of the 20th century, for such disparate places as India, Paris and Manchuria. Susan Wooldridge is superb as Daphne Manners, ditto Art Malik as Harry Kumar. I enjoyed Charles Dance's upper-crust but manly Sergeant and found Derrick Branche's Ahmed Kasim a fascinating and seductive person. Peggy Ashcroft's old missionary lady is heart-breaking in the loss of her simple faith in God, conveying, in the end, a powerful and sibylline persona. It is good to see Rachel Kempson (Mrs Michael Redgrave) in one of her last roles on film. Tim Pigot-Smith manages to make an unbelievable character, Ronald Merrick, human, well, almost. He's a monster of bigotry, jealousy and class envy, and Pigot-Smith plays him so convincingly that it is difficult to imagine a more effective portrayal of pure evil by anyone else. Pigot-Smith steals the show, on the whole.This TV series is definitely worth owning on DVD; if only A&E hadn't tossed it off in such a haphazard manner. Still, it's better 'n nuttin'.

trevillian This work kept me interested throughout, especilly enjoyed the photography and the insights into the Indian culture. Tim was totally evil and the girl was wimpy, but people are that way!!!! Sometimes your heroes aren't all that heroic, You don't have to love and hate every character in the show. If any fault at all, the characters could have been even more developed than this mini-series did them, and there could have been more explaination of some of the traditions of the Indian people. (like the Sutee scene.) Over all I enjoyed this series and rewatch and pick up new things every couple of years.