Affairs Of The Heart – Series Two (1974 Henry James anthology series/Acorn Media)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Episodes: B

 

 

The second DVD set of Affairs Of The Heart, an anthology of British TV adaptations of the work of Henry James has arrived and the episodes are as strong as the first set.  For more on that first set, try this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7704/Affairs+Of+The+Heart

 

 

Series Two offers the rest of the series, with six nearly hour-long shows adapting eight of his classics as follows:

 

1)     Emma (based on Lord Beauprey, with Jeremy Clyde, Lally Bowers and Cheryl Campbell)

2)     Bessie (based on An International Episode, with Christopher Cazanove, Anna Palk, Dorothy Reynolds and Sinead Cusack)

3)     Kate (based on The Bench Of Desolation, with Michael Bryant, Bernard Lee and Eileen Atkins)

4)     Daisy (based on Daisy Miller, with Daniel Massey, Natasha Perry, Rosalie Crutchley and Georgina Hale)

5)     Leonie (based on Nona Vincent, with Richard Morant, Sheila Gish and Barbara Murray)

6)     Elizabeth (based on The Great Condition, with Edward Hardwicke, Derek Jacobi and Diane Cilento)

 

 

Terrence Feely once again adapts all the works for the show and it is a series of more amazing adaptations that are hard to compete with.  The Emma here seems more mature and less pretentious than the feature version with Gwyneth Paltrow.  Other shows are great introductions to the stories and the people making them seem to really understand and grasp what James intended.  I liked this very much and recommend this set as strongly as the first.

 

Picture, sound and extras are the same.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo