Rating: 
Summary: Television's Finest Hours
Review: I remember looking forward to Sunday nights in the 1970's, when Upstairs, Downstairs was Masterpiece Theater's offering, introduced by the divine Alistair Cooke. When this DVD set arrived, I hoped that at least it could recreate the Edwardian world for me, as it did 30+ years ago. I was wrong. It is so much better than I remember. With the perspective and experience of thirty years coloring the viewing, the foibles and triumphs of the two families upstairs and down are so much more compelling now. With the underlying theme that the house must run smoothly no matter what is going on in the inside or outside world, the dependence of the two families on each other is beautifully portrayed. The period details, down to the china patterns and the paint colors are exquisite, and the characterizations the actors bring to their parts, made possible by the very fine writing, superb.
From the first episode when Lady Marjorie hires Sarah "On Trial" and gently but firmly establishes Sarah's position in the household, through the elegance and grandeur of the Edwardian era, "There's no one to touch you, Mrs. Bridges, when it comes to lamb," the exigencies of WWI, when poor shell-shocked Edward the footman is cared for by Lord Bellamy; to the bittersweet end, when Lord Bellamy's diatribe when James loses Rose's inheritance in the stock market crash of 1929, causes a tragedy; the delicate balance between upstairs and down is fascinating and amazing to watch. The pride the servants take in the successes of the upstairs family, which their support makes possible, and the avuncular care with which the Bellamys "look after" the servants ("I hate to see servants humiliated," says Georgina, when unexpectedly confronted with Frederick in an embarassing situation) make this series particularly fascinating to Americans, for whom this way of life has never existed.
Despite bombs falling, housemaids giving birth in the attic, party guests committing suicide outside the nursery, various forms of heartbreak occuring both upstairs and down, it's reassuring to know that at 165 Eaton Place, dinner will always be served by an impeccably clad butler on impeccably polished silver, and that tea in the servant's hall will always be accompanied by one of Mrs. Bridges' delicious cakes (when she's not in a snit about being made to go to a lecture on wartime cookery).
No, the quality of the DVDs is not the best, but given a choice between owning it, with all its glitches and jumps--and not having it available at all--I'll take it. There are no problems distracting enough to make it unwatchable. This remarkable series has stood the test of time and truly shines. The fine writing, splendid acting and authentic sets involve the viewer in the stories to the extent that the minor jumps and glitches are unimportant. My only complaint is that Alistair Cooke's wonderful introductions are not included.
Rating: 
Summary: Upstairs, Downstairs - Good News, Bad News
Review: I won't bother to praise the series. If you know Upstairs, Downstairs then you know it is great television! The good news is that it's all here - every bit of it - and it is just as good as you remember: fine writing coupled with great acting. The bad news is the quality of the DVD transfers. These are advertised as being digitally remastered and cost quite a lot of money for the whole series. We should remember that TV resolution was not as sharp in the 1970's, but these DVDs show banding and even tracking errors from the originals. A few of the programs are really pretty bad, technically. It is a shame because these shows actually mean something to the people who purchase them and they are an important part of television history. As it is, someone decided that these episodes didn't even deserve the care and attention you would give to a VHS of old kiddie cartoons on the $2 rack at Fred's Flea Market. Sad! As someone more famous than me must have said, "It is no challenge to create something of poorer quality than you might have done, but the end result says more about you than about the product or the customer." A&E Studios should be ashamed.
Rating:
Summary: Best tv show I have ever seen
Review: I'm just winding up watching this series; I have only 5 more episodes to go. And I am moved to say that this is the best television series I have seen in my entire life. I am going to start over again once I'm finished. The DVD transfers are not brilliant. In fact, they likely do not contribute anything in terms of visual quality to the VHS version. The interviews on in the DVD set for the first season, though, are great, but DON'T WATCH THEM! The interviews give too much of the overarching saga away. Wait until you're done watching the whole set, then watch the interviews.Why is this show so good? Well, first of all, without giving anything away, let me just say that this series has no fear whatsoever of disposing of characters when it seems best for the story. People come and go, move in, move out, live and die, and the show keeps going forward, keeping many of the originals, but tossing out several characters, bringing back others after long absenses, and ditching several entirely never to be seen again. So the drama is real. No one is safe just because they're in the "regular" cast. And there are so many well developed characters that there's never any shortage of stories to tell. Let me just list them: Mr. Bellamy, Marjorie Bellamy, Victoria (I think that's her name) Bellamy, James Bellamy, Elizabeth Bellamy, Georgina, Hudson, Rose, Albert, Edward, Daisy, Mrs. Bridges, Ruby, Lilly, Sarah, and Thomas, and several more that escape my attention at the moment, not to mention the secondary folks who pop in to provoke the plots, such as Lady Prudence and the Bellamy's lawyer. When you consider that, on top of all this, the stories takes us through a 20 year period, and a good chunk of episodes focusses on the First World War, you start to get a feel for why the show was so successful. One note for hyped up members of the MTV generation: this show depends on character and plot. There is little to no music in this show, no pyrotechnics, and low production values. It is just story, that's all. But of course without any high-priced distractions, no half-second shots strung together to make you dizzy, or ariel views or swooping cameras to take our minds off things, this show actually had to put out substance, real tales told well. And it did so in spades. The acting was also flawless. I still am not sure that Mrs. Bridges wasn't a real cook. I'm not sure that woman was acting at all. And Angus Hudson, the butler, is my new role model. And Edward the footman, he's the guy everyone would like to invite over to their parties, such a great guy, always in for a bit of harmless fun. And good old Rose, and poor old Ruby. They seem to have more depth than real people!
Rating:
Summary: Fine, fine series well-remembered from the 70s.
Review: It wasn't commercial. It wasn't conventional. It dealt with issues not often talked about in the early 70s, both the social issues that permiate through the series, and also such issues, in certain episodes, as prejudice, suicide, and homosexuality. This is the story of the Bellamy household at 165 Eaton Place, London, both the upstairs family (the Bellamy family, led by Richard Bellamy, a member of Parliament) and the downstairs family (the servants, led by Angus Hudson, the butler, who in his way is more aristocratic than the aristocrats). Yet in many ways, they are a single family, and we see them from the period 1905 to the 1920s, an era of profound social change, and we see the effects such changes have on this household, from a time when going "into service" was routine to the time when having half a dozen servants for a small upper middle class family such as the Bellamys was beginning to be the exception, not the rule. The series includes rarely shown episodes from the 1st season, as well as the special, Upstairs Downstairs Remembered: The 25th Anniversary Special. While the special is included with the first series episodes, I would advise waiting until you have viewed the entire series before watching the special, to avoid any plot points being given away. The acting is wonderful, led by Gordon Jackson (as Hudson, the butler), David Langton (as Richard Bellamy), and Jean Marsh (as house parlormaid Rose Buck). Marsh also originated and guided the series. These three characters seem like rocks, upon which the waves of the social changes beat. Yet they are worn and changed by the events of this incredible era. Nonetheless, this is very much an ensemble cast--no character appears in more than 60 of the 68 episodes. The first season seems almost experimental--many of the episodes have specific themes, such as those mentioned above. A couple were unsuccessful and their events are never referred to again (for example, "The Swedish Tiger"). In the remaining seasons, events tend to build over the thirteen episodes, to culminate to some extent in the final episode of the season, which usually deals with a major event in the world (for example the King's death at the end of the second season, the start of the war in the third, the end of the war in the fourth). Perhaps the most powerful episodes are those dealing with World War I, and the profound waste of the war, as many of the best of the generation are lost. By the end of the War, there has been tremendous tragedy, and even the most ardent supporter of the war doubts the justice of the war. But do not underestimate the fifth season, as the social structure crumbles. The signs of this crumbling are seen throughout the earlier episodes, but they come to a head in the fifth season. I have tried to avoid discussing the plot, so as not to give away the plot events that should come as a surprise to you. But suffice it to say that this is one of the first series when anything can happen within the framework of the series, when you could not count on everything ending happily by the end of the hour--or at all. Brilliant. Brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: ROCKS!
Review: Often, when one of those "Top 100 Television Shows Ever Created" lists comes out, 'Upstairs, Downstairs' is listed as Number One, usually just above 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and 'I Love Lucy.' Well, now I know why. This show stunned me with its quality and vivid characters! For those unaccustomed to a British accent, it may take a few minutes of viewing before your ears adjust. And I kindly suggest that you do NOT watch the 25th Anniversary documentary until you've first seen all the episodes (I wished I hadn't -- it gave away a lot a great twists and surprises). This show is so subtle and respectful of its viewer. For instance, there are characters who are smitten with each other yet who never say or act upon that love: the show doesn't dare to condescend to you by telegraphing it in any obvious or official way. Many fans cite the fourth season (about the Great War) as the show's best, but frankly and guiltily I must confess that I prefer the real soapy elements of the show that have less to do with world events and more to do with the interpersonal relationships and mini moral dilemmas of the householders. There is one notorious episode called 'The Swedish Tiger' that is quite awful and that made it into the series by mistake (fans already know the whole story) so please don't judge the other 67 great episodes by the one awful one! My personal favorite episode is the one that focuses on the Irish scullery maid's forbidden crush on another great family's footman. It's sounds pedestrian, I know, but that's the genius of the show. It crafts seemingly simple situations with so many nuances and facets that you feel as if you're standing in the kitchen with these people!
Rating:
Summary: ROCKS!
Review: Often, when one of those "Top 100 Television Shows Ever Created" lists comes out, 'Upstairs, Downstairs' is listed as Number One, usually just above 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and 'I Love Lucy.' Well, now I know why. This show stunned me with its quality and vivid characters! For those unaccustomed to a British accent, it may take a few minutes of viewing before your ears adjust. And I kindly suggest that you do NOT watch the 25th Anniversary documentary until you've first seen all the episodes (I wished I hadn't -- it gave away a lot a great twists and surprises). This show is so subtle and respectful of its viewer. For instance, there are characters who are smitten with each other yet who never say or act upon that love: the show doesn't dare to condescend to you by telegraphing it in any obvious or official way. Many fans cite the fourth season (about the Great War) as the show's best, but frankly and guiltily I must confess that I prefer the real soapy elements of the show that have less to do with world events and more to do with the interpersonal relationships and mini moral dilemmas of the householders. There is one notorious episode called 'The Swedish Tiger' that is quite awful and that made it into the series by mistake (fans already know the whole story) so please don't judge the other 67 great episodes by the one awful one! My personal favorite episode is the one that focuses on the Irish scullery maid's forbidden crush on another great family's footman. It's sounds pedestrian, I know, but that's the genius of the show. It crafts seemingly simple situations with so many nuances and facets that you feel as if you're standing in the kitchen with these people!
Rating:
Summary: Overpriced and overated ...... Viewer should expect more....
Review: OK so the BBC in the 1970 decided to produce a long runnig series of the lives and loves of the decadent Edwardian rich, only problem, most of the unions in the production studios were on strike. So, do they wait to start work on the series when all the techs are back OR do they just go ahead and film the thing in B&W with poor sound etc etc ....
Yup you guessed it .. they started the series in B&W cause the execs at BBC never really expected this series to take off.
This may have been very good and well back in the 1970's but they should have explained it to the buyers of the DVD set that the first few DVD's of this box set are in B&W and really really bad production... It took me a while checking my equipment and the disks to realize what they did .. menu in colour and movie in B&W ... thanks!
I sort of expected the DVD set to improve after disk three when it switched to colour but, trust me you could clearly see a substandard production of the 1970's .... I guess for the purists they did nothing to fix the production with today's modern sound, video enhancement programs/computers ... What you saw is what you got ....
OK so I am really bugged out because I bought the box sets of 'The Forsythe Saga' and of 'Horatio Hornblower' series that were produced and published by the same BBC and A&E people, so you can probably understand why I was so so disappointed with this 'megaset' .....
The three star rating on this set is certainly deserved by the writing, scriting, casting and most certainly the acting ... the directors and the producers though should be punished....
Rating:
Summary: They don't make them like this any more....It's all good!
Review: So very very wonderfully done, my heartfelt thanks to all who were involved in the series.
I will never hear the name Ruby again without hearing it in Mrs. Bridge's voice. Never! :-)
The only thing that's wrong is that there are only 5 seasons...sniff, sniff...
I have to defer to the other reviewers; there are really no more comments to add, they've said it all. Simply the best TV series ever made.
I love the series. Wish it could go on forever. Sigh.
Rating:
Summary: Expensive and worth every cent
Review: The most amazing aspect of this collection is how well it holds up after all these years. Having initially seen in the 70s, I wasn't prepared to be surprised. After all, didn't I know all the plots and characters? But what I found was, while I remembered most of it, there were huge chunks that I couldn't account for. I've watched the entire series now, some five times, all the way through, and it only gets better. The writing alone is worth the price of admission, but couple this with excellent acting, stellar camera work, and knockout sets, and you've got the superb drama that is UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS. Please, don't call this a soap opera--this is an insult to the writers and actors. This is great drama that just happened to be spread out over a couple of years. Here are just a few examples of what I'm talking about: THE WRITING: The characters are not cardboard cutouts, but real, fallible people. Lord Bellamy, for all his wisdom and charm, does make some bad decisions (the stock tip scandal, the attempted bribe of the parents' whose infant Mrs. Bridges has abducted), and this only makes him more likeable. Who wants a stodgy old Edwardian man that's perfect? Then there's the subtle references to what's come before, so that if you've missed an episode or two, you'll still know what the characters are talking about. References to Lady Marjorie and the Titanic, the previous maids and footmen who have come and gone, etc. While this is somewhat standard in television and series writing, the deft handling of these references makes this series unique. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: One of the finest examples of this is Edward, the footman. Always joking and playful, his is probably the most dramatic change during the series. When WWI breaks out, he's off to the front, only to come back shell-shocked. His transformation from a rollicking and randy young man, to that of a worn-out and scared soldier is remarkable. The one scene where Bellamy finds him on the stairs and comforts him in the morning room is worthy of an award. Reminiscent of "All Quiet on the Western Front," the performance Christopher Beeny gives in only a few minutes is one of the best ever seen on television. THE SETS: With exquisite tastefulness, the sets on "Upstairs, Downstairs" are the best example of Edwardian decor ever to grace the screen. Never mawkish or overblown, they nevertheless hark back to a tasteful Victorian era without all the fuss, yet embrace the Edwardian era and the "moving forward" theme that permeates the series. It's amazing what one expertly placed kentia palm will do for good drama. CASTING: This one's a no-brainer. Whoever did the casting deserves a gold star. The regulars are loveable with faults, and the guest appearances add just enough spice to the affair to keep you on your toes. Especially liked was the character of Alfred---surly, evil, comic, and dramatic, he's one of the highlights in the collection. My only dislike of this series was that it eventually ended. It was a mark of genius to show the period from 1904 to the stock market crash, with WWI being the centerpiece. Overall, this is probably the best series ever created for television, and like all great works of art, the formula probably won't be repeated in our lifetime. There aren't enough stars for this one.
Rating:
Summary: Expensive and worth every cent
Review: The most amazing aspect of this collection is how well it holds up after all these years. Having initially seen in the 70s, I wasn't prepared to be surprised. After all, didn't I know all the plots and characters? But what I found was, while I remembered most of it, there were huge chunks that I couldn't account for. I've watched the entire series now, some five times, all the way through, and it only gets better. The writing alone is worth the price of admission, but couple this with excellent acting, stellar camera work, and knockout sets, and you've got the superb drama that is UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS. Please, don't call this a soap opera--this is an insult to the writers and actors. This is great drama that just happened to be spread out over a couple of years. Here are just a few examples of what I'm talking about: THE WRITING: The characters are not cardboard cutouts, but real, fallible people. Lord Bellamy, for all his wisdom and charm, does make some bad decisions (the stock tip scandal, the attempted bribe of the parents' whose infant Mrs. Bridges has abducted), and this only makes him more likeable. Who wants a stodgy old Edwardian man that's perfect? Then there's the subtle references to what's come before, so that if you've missed an episode or two, you'll still know what the characters are talking about. References to Lady Marjorie and the Titanic, the previous maids and footmen who have come and gone, etc. While this is somewhat standard in television and series writing, the deft handling of these references makes this series unique. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: One of the finest examples of this is Edward, the footman. Always joking and playful, his is probably the most dramatic change during the series. When WWI breaks out, he's off to the front, only to come back shell-shocked. His transformation from a rollicking and randy young man, to that of a worn-out and scared soldier is remarkable. The one scene where Bellamy finds him on the stairs and comforts him in the morning room is worthy of an award. Reminiscent of "All Quiet on the Western Front," the performance Christopher Beeny gives in only a few minutes is one of the best ever seen on television. THE SETS: With exquisite tastefulness, the sets on "Upstairs, Downstairs" are the best example of Edwardian decor ever to grace the screen. Never mawkish or overblown, they nevertheless hark back to a tasteful Victorian era without all the fuss, yet embrace the Edwardian era and the "moving forward" theme that permeates the series. It's amazing what one expertly placed kentia palm will do for good drama. CASTING: This one's a no-brainer. Whoever did the casting deserves a gold star. The regulars are loveable with faults, and the guest appearances add just enough spice to the affair to keep you on your toes. Especially liked was the character of Alfred---surly, evil, comic, and dramatic, he's one of the highlights in the collection. My only dislike of this series was that it eventually ended. It was a mark of genius to show the period from 1904 to the stock market crash, with WWI being the centerpiece. Overall, this is probably the best series ever created for television, and like all great works of art, the formula probably won't be repeated in our lifetime. There aren't enough stars for this one.
|
