Fortunes of War
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Rupert Graves, Robert Stephens, Ronald Pickup, Vernon Dobtcheff, Ronald Fraser, Greg Hicks, Nickey Margolis, Mark Drewry, Gertan Klauber, Charles Kay, Caroline Langrishe, Leslie Southwick, Clifford Rose, Esmond Knight, Anthony Calf, Snezana Savic, Michael Cochrane, George SavvidesDirector: James Cellan Jones
Studio: BBC Warner
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording remastered, NTSC
Running Time: 407 minutes
DVD Release: May 17th 2005
Buy DVD:
DVD Review
"Wherever we are, that will always be the center of things." So professor Guy Pringle reassures his new wife, Harriet. Unfortunately, where they are is Bucharest in 1939, with the Nazis gathering on the border, and fascism casting longer, darker shadows. Thus begins this epic 1987 miniseries based on Olivia Manning's Balkan and Levant trilogies that was originally broadcast in the United States on Masterpiece Theatre. For most Americans, it was an auspicious first look at England's glamorous former First Thespian couple, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, who, as one character notes of Harriet, "lightens the darkness." Fortunes of War suggests what Casablanca might have been like had it followed Victor and Ilsa instead of Rick, who famously didn't want to stick his neck out for anybody. Not Guy. "I want to do something more dramatic than lecturing," he proclaims. "It is our duty to shine a little light to hope someone notices." His activities are enough to put him on a Nazi death list, forcing Guy and Harriet to Greece and Egypt. "It isn't a lark," Guy tells Harriet early on, "but it is an adventure." Fortunes of War is populated by colorful characters, most notably the pitiable and decidedly untrustworthy Prince Yakimov (Ronald Pickup), and the dashing young soldier Simon Boulderstone (Rupert Graves of The Forsythe Saga and A Room with a View). There is plenty of intrigue, betrayals, domestic melodrama, and emotional separations and reunions to propel this nearly seven-hour production to its powerful conclusion. Readers of Manning's books and Branagh and Thompson fans will find the release of War good fortune indeed. --Donald Liebenson
User Reviews
More of a Chick Flick - Rating: 3/5
Very little action....more of an understated British
saga of the war.
"Have you ever seen the light from heaven?" - Rating: 4/5
This is a story of a young couple's marriage as they are tossed around by the advancing war. In this world, no one is safe. Not the people who fight and not the people who flight.
The pace of the movie was so slow that I would have stopped watching if it wasn't for Emma Thompson. I'm madly in love with her mind. She has more intelligence about human suffering and human relations than I can comprehend, so any role she is in makes my head try to keep up. And the chance to see her for hours, even when she is silent, is a delight. So young, so much good would later come from her. Her genius is evident in her youth in this feature. Of her character it is said, "You are an unusual lady. You have a mind of your own." And that is certainly true of Emma.
The movie is about living with war moving all around us. The story discusses the casualties of war. War kills, but not just people. It kills dreams. It paralyzes people. In the movie, war is a Rorschach test, not only revealing character, but also testing and refining it.
I don't know if I liked the last few episodes more because they were better, or if I'd learn to trust the author by then (probably a little of both).
On a side note, if the most moving "realization of death" scene in movie history is the mother falling on the porch when the men are driving up to tell her 3 of her sons have died in "Saving Private Ryan", then the worst "realization of life" scene is Kenneth Brannagh's reuniting scene with Harriet, poor both in acting and in film direction (probably intentional, but aggravating nonetheless).
If you had asked me halfway through the series or halfway through writing this review, how many stars? I would have said, "3 stars." But the mini-series is wiser than me, so I must give it "4 stars." Sometimes some of life's greatest joys are tickling another person's feet.
(If you have feedback, please let me know or email me.)
The War in Romania, Greece, and Egypt - Rating: 5/5
"Fortunes of War" is the dramatization of six Olivia Manning novels: The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy. The seven parts of the mini-series (6 plus hours in all of viewing) follow the fortunes of a young British Council English teacher, Guy Pringle, and his new wife, Harriet, through World War II. The couple is living in Romania at the beginning of the war and flees to Greece and then Egypt to escape the Nazis.
This is not a tale of fighting men on the front lines, but rather a domestic drama about civilians bearing up through the momentous events of war and the loss of friends and homes. The miniseries takes its time; you may find parts one and two slow moving, but part three and four are edge-of-the-seat tense. Throughout are atmospheric touches and scenic photography -- not least of which are the wonderful eyes of Emma Thompson (Harriet). The series is readily believable: no hyperbole here, phony heroism, or false notes. The novels were auto-biographical and one can believe in the reality of the series.
In the books Guy Pringle is an exasperating, generous, ebullient, near-sighted, Soviet-loving fool of a man. Kenneth Branagh's rendering of him is too restrained. Emma Thompson, however, is superb as his sensible lonely wife who finds marriage exhilarating at times but more often frustrating. The greatest character of the series is the drunken spendthrift Prince Yakimov, wonderfully played by Ronald Pickup. He's a Micawberish-character worthy of Dickens.
It's a good series, not quite great because of the so-so portrayal of Guy Pringle by Branagh, but well worth viewing for a unique look at World War II.
Smallchief
Just the Best - Rating: 5/5
But how could you go wrong with this cast. BBC was at its best when it made this series...you just don't want to stop watching.
The Start of a Beautiful Friendship! - Rating: 5/5
I was so pleased when "Fortunes of War" was released on DVD! When I first saw this splendid BBC television series, I rushed to the nearest bookstore (in Rome at the time) and bought Olivia Manning's mammoth Balkan and Levant trilogies, which I have since devoured at least three times (so much so that the paperback editions are falling apart). Reading, however, in no way lessens, but, instead, enhances one's enjoyment of "Fortunes of War," which preserves the essence of Manning's novels. Visually stunning, the film recreates Bucharest and Athens on the brink of World War II, and then Cairo and Alexandria, as well as Damascus and Jerusalem, the outposts of the British Empire in the Levant. One step ahead of the advancing Nazi armies, Guy and Harriet Pringle, the film's central characters, are constantly uprooted and forced to be on the move.
Guy, acted with affable understatement by Kenneth Brannagh, epitomizes the type of academic who constantly puts the wants of his students first. Friend to all the world, Guy Pringle remains totally oblivious to the needs of his newly-married bride. Harriet, played with a dry and subtle irony by Emma Thompson, must cope with setting up house, first, in a city that is about to fall to the juggernaut of the Third Reich; next, in a series of hotel rooms, each more seedy than the last; and finally, sharing digs in Cairo with an odd assortment of British expatriates (and their even odder friends and acquaintances who continually drift in and out of the premises). Guy simply cannot understand that Harriet might be miffed at his heedlessness. For example, after Guy offers her the female title role in Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida," she suddenly discovers that he has taken the part away without telling her and has given it to Sophie, a Rumanian professional student and troublemaker who resents Harriet's presence, both in Bucharest and in Guy's life. It is not that Guy Pringle does not love his "little monkey's paws," Harriet; he simply takes her for granted.
Among the outstanding ensemble cast, two performances are memorable: those of Ronald Pickup and Alan Bennett.
Pickup plays the incorrigible Prince Yakimov, a displaced Anglo-Russian aristocrat, long-since fallen on hard times. Pickup's performance is so poignantly nuanced that the viewer is moved from loathing, to laughing--first at him and then with him--and finally to loving him. "Poor Yaki" resembles a spoiled but irrepressibly sweet and helpless child. Not even the much-imposed-upon Harriet can remain angry at a man who appears before her wearing one brown and one black shoe and then explains that he has another pair just like them at home.
Alan Bennett plays the insufferably fussy Cambridge don, Professor Lord Pinkrose, who is always on the verge of giving his renowned lecture on Byron but who, for one reason or another, is always prevented from doing so. Bennett's performance does not make one love Pinkrose (nor should it); it does, however, make one recognize him (He often sits on dissertation committees!). With his smarmy herd of acolytes (including the odious Toby Lush and the insidious Dubidat), Pinkrose, who always darts a baneful glance in Harriet's direction, causes Guy so much trouble that the viewer is tempted to cheer when the Lord Professor finally gets his just desserts. Every film ought to have a character that one loves to hate, and Alan Bennett plays this one to perfection.
The viewer seeking the wartime thrills of dogfighting Messerschmidts, exploding bombs, and action packed battle sequences should go watch "Saving Private Ryan" or a John Wayne movie. Even though the conflict in "Fortunes of War" is omnipresent, it is always just over the horizon. It nevertheless exerts a profound impact on the characters, both major and minor. It exerts an equally profound impact on the audience. For the discerning viewer, who appreciates exceptional acting and remarkable characterization, "Fortunes of War" represents the epitome of cinematic storytelling.
For Kenneth Brannagh and Emma Thompson, who acted together for the first time, this film represented "the start of a beautiful friendship," both on film and in real life. Unfortunately, it was not to last, but "Fortunes of War" at least allows us to glimpse the brilliant start, and to be glad that their joint venture in film lasted as long as it did!
