Rating: 
Summary: Book to video is usually a loser, this time more than usual
Review: Trollope was a great writer. His characters were never caricatures or sterile, but fully-developed and interesting, even the most fleeting. And his plots, while not the engine to the story, moved the characters in ways worth following. While not my favorite novel, this is a fine book, with many wonderful, scintillating stories (too many really!) and a cast that makes the head dizzy with their deceptions and foolishness,Hard stuff to film, and given the new Masterpiece Theater interest in flair over substance, it is especially challenging. The sets are amazing, the costumes gorgeous, the hair and small details all spot-on (have we ever seen a character step in manure before? though it must have been all over). Yet somehow, the thing never hangs together. People drive Trollope's tales, long, complicated speeches between those who know each other well, and when that is lost, it would require much better writing than is evidenced here to be successful. The actors act and look well, but never inhabit their characters. Though there are many fine ones present, (other than Mrs. Hurtle and that annoying Gone With the Wind accent) they are forced to superficialize when compressing so much into so little time. It is not a disaster; the board meetings are truly wonderful, the easily manipulated greedily applauding their pickpocket, and poor Brehgert is just beautifully drawn. But Marie is just shrill, Felix is annoying, and Melmotte himself comes across as all puff and bombast. It's hard to see in this how he could maintain his illusion for so long. And the required coincidences that seem more plausible in a big book look especially cloying when removed from their camouflage. Passable, in some ways delightful, but nothing more than a tepid adaptation of a robust book.
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