Strangers & Brothers (British mini-series)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B-
Lawyer,
author, witness of the World War II years and participant in Britain’s race of
nuclear weapons, Strangers &
Brothers (1978) tells of the story Lewis Elliot (Shaughan Seymour) from his
first bar exam to the twilight of his career and success. The 13 shows are broken up into parts,
seasons and years, instead of the usual titles, spread over four DVDs.
Though he
is not featured throughout the series, Anthony Hopkins’ name is used
prominently throughout the print on the box and DVD cases. When he does finally show up in the 11th
show (Spring 1955 – Spring 1957), he gives one of the best performances among a
solid cast that also includes a then-lesser known Tom Wilkinson, Sheila Ruskin,
Nigel Havers, Richard Heffer and Cherie Lunghi.
Where most of the actors are good and the material is smart, Hopkins breaks the monotony of this
“quality television” with a lively performance that has a life and pace that
was not seen enough in these mini-series.
He plays the scheming Roger Quaife, who intends to rise to power in any
way he can. He is also one of the
darkest characters in the entire series.
Made around the time he shot the theatrically released thriller Magic, also released 1978.
Outside
of all the history points, it is the peak of a series that could have used a
few more, considering how much serious history the series spans. It is not to say that it trivializes that
history either, but that it may be putting it too much in the background for
its own good. Otherwise, Strangers & Brothers still manages
to stay fresher than many programs produced at the time and that keeps it worth
looking at a quarter-century later.
The full
frame color image shows its age and its softness, but the professional PAL
analog source is not damaged like so many programs from the era. One idea is that it could be second
generation, but it seems more like the simple quality of the source as is. The sound is here in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
and a better 5.1 AC-3 multi-channel, but that cannot hide the age of the sound
in this case. The 5.1 does it best to
boost and recover, so do not expect anything spectacular if you have a home
theater system. Stills and a “program
synopsis” are the only extras here.
This is
based on the C.P. Snow book, which must have been pretty rich in information
and dramatization for this mini-series to be possible. It would make for an interesting comparison,
but Julian Bond’s teleplay adaptations are ambitious in trying to tell (and
spell out) the story and is one of the better examples of the British
mini-series of the era. This and other
hard-to-find British mini-series are available from the distributor Goldhil at www.goldhil.com and many are also reviewed
elsewhere on this site.
- Nicholas Sheffo
