But anyways, my mom and I started watching this series a little while ago. We had already seen three period dramas based off of the books of Anthony Trollope and we enjoyed them (some more than others). My mom happened upon this at Amazon and had asked if I had heard of The Palliswers (which I had heard of a while ago) and she bought it for us to watch. We didn't know too much about this series (I knew it had Susan Hampshire in it, who was also in The Barchester Chronicles, and that it was about politics), so we sat down to watch it without knowing very much of it.
Box Set |
Adapted from The Pallisers series written by Anthony Trollope, the first six episodes follow the events in the first book in the series Can You Forgive Her?. Pressured by her aunt to marry the rich and future duke of Omnium, Plantagenet Palliser, Lady Glencora M'Clusky marries the older Mr. Palliser though she is still in love with the roguish Burgo Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, Glencora's cousin, Alice Vavasor, is engaged to John Grey, but she begins to fall back in love with her cousin, George, who she was engaged to but rejected due to his being unfaithful.
Characters
There aren't many characters that I recognized in this part of The Pallisers. Susan Hampshire, who plays Lady Glencora, can also be seen in another Trollope period drama, The Barchester Chronicles, as Signora Neroni. Anna Massey, who appears briefly at the end of Episode 6 as Laura Standish, can also be seen in yet another Trollope period drama, He Knew He Was Right, as Miss Stanbury.
Plantagenet and Glencora's wedding |
As with Lady Glencora, Plantagenet also takes some getting used to. He oftentimes seems very cold to everyone, even Glencora, but he does become more caring. When Glencora tells him how she is unhappy that she was not able to give him a son, he does what he can to make her happy even by turning down a promotion. Ultimately, he is a gentleman who cares for his wife and is determined to make his marriage work.
Alice Vavasor (left) and Lady Glencora Palliser (right) |
Scenery
The film quality is surprisingly good for a series filmed in the 70s. While there are some scenes that are obviously filmed on a set (especially one scene where Glencora and Plantagenet are riding a carriage through Switzerland), there are others that are out on location and look really nice. The first scene of the garden party was very obviously a scene that must have been filmed on location since everything looked real and nice.
Costumes
Wow! The costumes were great! And very, very elaborate! From the looks of the costumes, The Pallisers appears to be set sometime in the late 1850s or in the 1860s.
George Vavasor with Alice and his sister. Notice the plaid. |
Alice Vavasor and Lady Glencora at dinner |
Overall: 4/5
The Pallisers is off to a great start! I still have to review the other episodes of this series (there are 26 in all and I'll try my best to divide them up according to the books in the series). I do have a complaint that the sound isn't the best at times and the DVD does not have subtitles (my mom and I use subtitles frequently so we don't miss anything in the plot), so if you watch The Pallisers, you may want to turn your volume up loud (though don't forget to turn it back down when you're done). But nevertheless, The Pallisers is great so far!
There's some suggestive talk (though not very much) and maybe a couple of double entendres (though fairly vague), but other than that there really isn't much content to speak of. I would say that The Pallisers is about TV-G for the most part.
The Pallisers is available on DVD. There are 26 episodes in and and each episode runs at about 50 minutes.
Hmm, I might try this one if I can find it on Netflix. Or maybe I'll just look up the books!
ReplyDeleteChecks were fashionable in men's fashion from the 1830s/40s, but you don't see it that often in contemporary period dramas as (I assume) we associate it with the 1970s; if a guy is dressed in a checked suit, it's usually because we're meant to see him as rude and obnoxious.
I had tried watching this series some fifteen years ago and gave up on it. Recently, I started watching it again, and much to my surprise, found it fascinating . . . so far.
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