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A Dance to the Music of Time |  | Actors: Gillian Barge, Nicholas Jones, Simon Russell Beale, Annabel Mullion, Richard Pasco
Studio: Acorn Media
Category: DVD
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $26.48
as of 9/10/2010 06:37 EDT details
You Save: $33.51 (56%)
New (25) Used (17) from $20.00
Seller: deeveedees
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 40844
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Widescreen, Letterboxed, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Discs: 4
Running Time: 415 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 1.3
MPN: 054961970599
UPC: 054961970599
EAN: 0054961970599
ASIN: B000QXDCWY
Theatrical Release Date: 1997
Publication Date: 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Follows the lives of British upper-class members from the 1920s to the 1960s.
Amazon.com
There'll always be an England--and Anglophiles shall be forever grateful. A Dance to the Music of Time is a sumptuous, leisurely portrait of a time in Britain's history (from the 1920s to the '60s) that epitomizes the pinnacle of romance. At the center of this Dance is Nicholas Jenkins, the narrator of the tales of intrigue, infidelity, queer friendships, and ruthless ambition that intersect throughout the series. Jenkins is played by the appealing James Purefoy, who, with starring turns in the likes of the film Vanity Fair and the HBO series Rome, clearly has not met a period drama he could not master. Flawed but clear-eyed, Jenkins observes the machinations of the upper crust from a bit of a remove, as if watching a play unfold. And unfold it does. The plot is far too intricate to encapsulate, and in the end, plot isn't the appeal of British drawing-room dramas, anyway. Instead, it's the evocation of a time bound by intricate, unspoken rules--which participants seem to spend as much time and furtive energy trying to break as they do abiding by them. Notable characters include the greasy Widmerpool (played by the BAFTA-winning Simon Russell Beale), who, despite being utterly unremarkable, manages to build quite a career in the British government and military. John Gielgud is riveting as the novelist St. John Clarke, whose books are wildly popular but sniffed at by serious critics, and Miranda Richardson is the devilish Pamela Flitton. The miniseries bears more than a passing resemblance to the much-beloved Brideshead Revisited, and in fact the cast of characters is so complex that the boxed set includes a "cheat sheet" guide to the most prominent 15 of them. But keeping tabs is less important than simply being swept into the lush period of time and allowing its gorgeous details wash over the viewer. For Anglophiles, the experience of watching A Dance to the Music of Time is truly transcendent. --A.T. Hurley
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
 Brilliant adaptation August 4, 2007
Peter Mathews (New Jersey)
79 out of 80 found this review helpful
A Dance to the Music of Time is a series of twelve novels by the English author Anthony Powell, a fictionalized version of his own life that invites comparisons to Proust's In Search of Lost Time. The running time of seven hours for the adaptation, therefore, is not surprising given the enormous scope of the project, which charts the life of its semi-autobiographical protagonist, Nick Jenkins, from his schoolboy days through to his old age in the burgeoning cultural revolution of the 1960s. This series was first shown on TV in 1997 when I was living in Australia, and so I have had the opportunity to watch it three times already. I can therefore say with some authority that this is perhaps the best literary adaptation that I have ever seen. The first episode can be a little off-putting, as characters seem to keep bumping into each other at random, but you soon realize that this is not a silly device on the part of the novelist, but an accurate reflection of the incestuous nature of the upper class in England at this time (or really, any time). The production is sumptuous, and the acting is universally good. Stand out performances include Simon Russell Beale, the victim/villain of the piece (he will be fixed in my mind forever as the definite image of Widmerpoole) and, coming later in the series, Miranda Richardson in brilliant form as Pamela Flitton, a twisted maneater. Richardson, who too often gets cast in shrill, nasty roles, is in top form here, chewing up the scenery with seductive viciousness. You don't really need to read the novels to follow what is going on (although I recommend them highly), and the first episode, simply because it has to set everything up, demands a certain level of attention. But overall I love this adaptation, and I'm glad that I can finally own it on DVD.
OUTSTANDING once you get through Disc One! September 12, 2007
Volney Hill (New Orleans, LA USA)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
This is perhaps my favorite set of novels. Given that, I was very skeptical as to the dramatization of Powell's 12 book "cycle." It is brilliant! HOWEVER: since there are at least 20 personae to keep up with, Disc One is almost entirely squib outlines. Think of these as random memories from Nick Jenkin's youth that are robustly completed in the series' remaining five and a half hours. For an additional bonus, read the books afterward - they are perhaps the best use of the written English vocabulary. Pullulate and palimpsest - what great words!
Television Comes Into Its Own November 4, 2007
David Schweizer (Kansas, USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
As is the case with recent HBO series, "Dance" proves that great talents now work in TV as they did in the 1950s. This is as interesting as anything on B'Way or at the local Rialto. This series has great acting and great material; it has been both professionally produced and artfully directed. The Powell novels have been well adapted to TV, although readers no doubt will miss their favorite parts of the multi-volume novel that has only one peer in modern letters, that by Marcel Proust. This four-part series could just as well have eight, ten or twelve parts. The acting is uniformly satisfying. The film , although highly entertaining, is a marvelous introduction to 20th century British mores. The boys from Eton grow to be men under the Blitz, their friendships and connections carry them along toward triumph and destruction. Widmerpool plays the unloved and unlovable grasper, the most despised sort in English letters, ambition being both a sign of poor breeding and bad taste, while his aristocratic friends muddle along in a world increasingly unwelcome as it is unwelcoming. Powell is the least-known of his generation's literary geniuses, but this long-forgotten masterpiece has finally been given the adaptation it rightly deserves.
excellent production October 10, 2007
W. Gilbert (Pennsauken, NJ USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This would be absolutely perfect if they hadn't changed actors for the final dvd. Why they couldn't add some grey to Purefoy's hair is a mystery to me. If you are a fan of the novels (which I am), then you will certainly dote on this production. I've seen it once and cannot wait to view it again.
DVD Please? December 7, 2006
Joshua P. Mueller (Brooklyn, NY)
I sat glued to the tv following this mini-series while studying abroad in London. I've since been waiting almost ten years for it to be available on DVD in the US. I was unfamiliar with the series of books when I tuned in by chance. As a whole it provides a wonderful history lesson using interesting and engaing characters (It's wonderful to follow the characters through time) without all the pomp of a PBS production.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
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