Summary: An epic television mini-series, this 1960's BBC production was avidly followed by audiences around the world. The literary adaptation follows the Victorian pride of the Forsyte family through the scandals, traumas and mistakes of the family, particularly involving the pent-up Soames (Eric Porter) and his bohemian brother Jolyon (Kenneth More). Following an unsuccessful marriage to caged-bird Irene (Nyree Dawn Porter) culminating in a shocking rape scene--Soames' cold ways change when his child grows up to be a captivating young woman (Susan Hampshire) who carries on the family tradition of strong-willed rebellion. Based on John Galsworthy's Nobel Prize winner. Contains all 26 episodes.

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The Forsyte Sagais often cited as the first television miniseries; it wasn't, but there's no question that it was a singular, powerful cultural phenomenon that deservedly got under the skin of European viewers in 1967. Today the 26-episode production, based on several novels and short stories by John Galsworthy, is a more timeless enterprise than many of the protracted British TV dramas that have followed. While it would be wrong to consider The Forsyte Sagahigh art, it's certainly a mesmerizing and inspired mix of theater, sprawling Victorian narrative, thinking man's soap opera, and some finely tuned, 1960s black-and-white production values that (especially when shot outdoors) are strikingly handsome.

Above all, Forsyteis driven by its characters--perhaps to an extreme, though the two-generation storyline makes no apologies for creating compelling people whose capacity for short-sighted blundering, bursts of grace, and slow-brewing redemption make them recognizably human. Eric Porter towers over everything as Soames Forsyte, a humorless attorney whose guiding principles of measurable value cause great heartache but slowly evolve, leaving him a graying, good father, arts patron, and sympathetic repository of memory. From the cast of 150 or so, other standouts include Susan Hampshire as Soames's troubled daughter, Nyree Dawn Porter as the wife of two very different Forsyte men, and Kenneth More as the family's artistic black sheep. --Tom Keogh

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Featurette - 1. FROM THE REHEARSAL ROOM, 2. BEHIND-THE-SCENES INTERVIEWS, 3. SOAMES & IRENE, 4. THE FORSYTE PHENOMENON, Outtakes, Deleted and Alternate Scenes, Cast Biographies
Year:	1967
Release Date:	August 23, 2004
Runtime:	999 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B B C D V D 1487
Keywords:	Saga, General, Forsyte, Tv, Drama, Period
Genre:	Drama