pekinman I spent the month of July reading Anthony Powell's 'A Dance to the Music of Time'; books that are uneven in quality but afford a long, fascinating read resulting in a strange poignance akin to but also quite different from Evelyn Waugh's war trilogy 'Sword of Honor'. Powell also seemed determined to out-Proust Proust but fails in that regard as Proust was a much better writer. Some have thought this to be Powell's version of Waugh's 'Brideshead Revisited'. I can see no correlation at all beyond, perhaps, the early scenes at Oxford and the drunken character of Charles Stringham who is vaguely reminiscent of Sebastian Flyte in Waugh's famous book.I have reached a point where I am no longer simply grateful for someone taking a stab at filming great or near-great literature. This adaptation of Powell's massive epic is so poorly done that I can find no mitigation for it having been attempted at all. I didn't expect much, even from a longish mini-series, but these books deserved detailed treatment, however many episodes it might have entailed. But the producer, Alvin Rakoff, either didn't have a clue as to the spirit of this story or was sorely curtailed in his budget. Given the often inept casting (something for which the producer is responsible) and the slipshod editing and hacking about of both the story line and the excision of many characters, I suspect the former case to be true. Mr Rakoff managed to miss the heart and soul of this tale and has merely created an interminable bore of a film.And the switch of actors in several roles was not only unnecessary but clumsily done. On the other hand, given the horrible make-up jobs on the characters of Mark Members and J.G. Quiggin who both look 100 years old when they are only in their 60s it is probably good that there weren't more characters to have to age in such a way.There are two performances that are absolutely true to the originals and they are Simon Russell Beale ('Persuasion') and Miranda Richardson who play Lord and Lady Widmerpool. There is no explanation for Pamela Flitton Widmerpool's behavior in the books and she is just as much an enigma in the film. It is terrible that Beale's amazing performance has been wasted on such a lousy screenplay.Most of the acting is very good, such as it is, but several performers are badly miscast. Paul Rhys is especially annoying as Charles Stringham, a man who is depressive but not a lobotomized, grinning buffoon. And poor Lord Erridge Warminster is turned into a goofy clown. Rakoff has added little political bits of his own for some reason; for instance, it was deemed necessary to include an attack on the Marxists in the demonstration by Oswald Mosley's Black Shirts. This is not in the book and adds nothing to the story. There are many other instances of wasted celluloid that would have been better utilized in telling the original story and creating rounded characters. Only Widmerpool and Pamela Flitton are rounded out, the rest are all cardboard cut-outs whose behavior makes little sense as a result.The producers also play fast and loose with time sequences. And characters run on for a scene or two and then vanish never to be seen again. This was even confusing to someone who knows the books!I doubt if I will live long enough to ever see this gargantuan tale presented as it should be so I'll have to stick to the books, which are fascinating. I have given this effort 3 stars, one for Beale, one for Richardson and one for production values which are high. No expense was spared on hiring out vintage automobiles and beautiful houses, not to mention a nice junket to Venice for the production team.Skip this piece of rubbish and try and find the books, if you can. Little Brown published them in a four book omnibus which can still be found from time to time on ABE.com. or if you are lucky and live in a large city, in a good used bookstore with a rare books section.This was a MAJOR disappointment even when I was prepared for a watered down version. I didn't think it could possibly be this bad. Reader's Digest would have been proud but the BBC should hang it's head in shame.

David198 They don't make adaptations like this any more - no doubt for cost reasons and a lack of imagination and bravery at the TV companies. 7 hours of solid drama, yet full of incidental humour and some very fine characterisations.Unfortunately it is flawed, and the flaws make it just very good viewing rather than the excellent series it should have been. The biggest flaws to my mind are: 1 The decision to replace Nick and his wife by new actors for Film 4 was totally wrong. Nick ages far too much in too short a space of time, and looks completely different. This creates a real problem of believability.2 Still on ageing, some of the actors are 'aged' very well, whilst others (especially the ladies and Odo) seem hardly any different as the decades progress.3 Film 4 is by far the weakest, though to be fair this reflects the books on which it is based. Perhaps it should have been cut further and the earlier years given even greater prominence.4 Despite a great deal of pruning, there are still too many characters and insufficient narration for non-aficionados of the books to be sure all the time of who is who.5 The scenes often seem to be a succession of dramatic deaths - difficult to avoid with the way the story has to be condensed, but very predictable nonetheless.However, it's still pretty good, and light years removed from much of the dumbed-down drama on TV today.

Philby-3 Caution: spoilersCramming Anthony Powell's magnum opus, the longest novel in the English language (over 3000 pages published in 12 parts over 20 years and at least 400 characters), into 8 hours of television is an awesome task which defeated several would-be adapters including Dennis Potter, but Hugh Whitemore has managed it here, although of course a lot has been left out. The obsessive Captain Gwatkin and the likable rogue Dicky Umfraville do not make an appearance, though minor characters like Robert Tolland whose only claim to fame is his involvement with an older woman appears in full. It can't have been easy deciding what to leave out, but rightly, I think, the blue pencil fell more heavily on the weaker later parts. Powell was a lot better at depicting the 20s, 30s and 40s that he was the 50s, 60s and 70s, after he had moved from London to Devon. Maybe Hilaire Belloc was correct, at least for urban writers, when he said that the country 'was a kind of healthy death.'The effect of the necessary editing (the dialogue is usually straight from the novel) is to put that great character of English fiction, Kenneth Widmerpool, firmly in centre stage (though his gruesome mother has been dispensed with). Widmerpool is portrayed over the 50 year time span by the same actor, Simon Russell Beale, in a stunningly consistent characterisation. He is a monster, but there is something very ordinary about him, a kid who was never accepted for what he was and who became a power-hungry bureaucrat as a means of imposing his will on those who would not accept him. The final crack-up is a tad fanciful, but it fits, for at last Kenneth can be his obsequious self while at the same time reject the hierarchy he has spent the previous 50 years trying to climb (the best he does is a peerage and a University Chancellorship, which would have to be regarded as consolation prizes). Widmerpool was obviously inspired by some real-life acquaintances of Powell's, but he is a true fictional creation far more vivid and horrible than if he was merely the subject of a disguised biography.One of the mysteries of the novel is why Nicholas Jenkins, the self-effacing narrator, spends so much time on Widmerpool, who is patently not Nicholas's kind of guy. In fact Nicholas, who mostly hob-nobs with fellow-writers and artists such as Moreland the composer, probably shares Bob Duport's opinion uttered from his wheelchair near the end that Widmerpool was 'a château-bottled sh*t'. Perhaps it's just that Widmerpool has been adopted as the centre of the Dance and we should remember there are many other interesting stories going on around the centre. Pamela Flitton, la belle dame sans merci, is splendidly realised by Miranda Richardson (despite being too old for the part) and this tends to strengthen the focus on Widmerpool, given her stormy relationship with him and her unparalleled ability to create scenes on genteel social occasions. Having to cast two or three actors in the same part (four in the case of Jenkins) is always a problem, and the gap between Jenkins Mark III (James Purefoy) and Jenkins Mark IV (John Standing) is, alas, obvious. Some actors, with the aid of excellent make-up, age beautifully, like Adrian Scarborough as J G Quiggan and Alan Bennett as Sillery, others, such as the beautiful Mona (Annabel Mullion) scarcely age at all. 'Dance' is stuffed full of wonderful minor characters – Uncle Giles, Mrs Erdleigh, McLintock and his wife, Lady Mollie, Ted Jeavons, Erridge, Magnus Donners, Matilda Donners, Deacon the painter, St John Clarke, Mark Members, to name about a dozen of them. Most of the performances are fine, though maybe John Gielgud (at 95) was a bit ancient for a novelist in his 60s.I hope viewers of this production won't be put off reading the book (which is still obtainable in a four volume set). I don't know whether it is still obtainable but there is also an excellent 'Handbook' to the Dance and its characters by Hilary Spurling, published by Heinemann in 1977.Anthony Powell, who died aged 94 in 2000, was keen to have 'Dance' televised (on his terms) and spent years trying to get it on air. His contemporary Evelyn Waugh hated the idea of his novels being televised, or for that matter being made into films. Ironically, "Dance" on TV, while generally good viewing is very much a compromise and 'Brideshead Revisited' remains the TV adaptation which produced a work of art comparable with the novel itself.

Marybee223 Hands down, this is the best miniseries or film that I have ever seen. Everything about this miniseries was my cup of tea: the clothes, the scenery, the dialogue, the many handsome actors, just everything. I had broken down and bought myself one of those PAL video players as so many video tapes that I wanted to see were only available in PAL format. As an American NTSC videotape user, it was hard for me to reconcile the purchase of the special PAL VCR, until I saw this miniseries in all its glory. What an absolute confection! I wanted to be a part of the story. I find it hard to believe that this miniseries is not available to the American market in NTSC format. This miniseries far surpasses Brideshead Revisited, among others. Although Simon Russell Beal certainly did a phenomenal acting job, I also thought James Purefoy displayed alot of range and depth particularly in the difficult role of an observer narrator. I really can't say enough about how marvelous this miniseries was! It was worth every penny spent to see this miniseries!