Masterpiece Theatre: Room With a View
by Nicholas Renton
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Elaine Cassidy, Elizabeth McGovern, Laurence Fox, Sophie Thompson, Timothy SpallDirector: Nicholas Renton
Brand: Wgbh Wholesale
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 86 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS
Product features:
- A fresh and poignant adaptation of E.M. Forster'sic novel, A Room with a View tells the story of the coming of age of Lucy Honeychurch in 1912 Florence, Italy. Longing to burst free from the repression of British upper manners and mores, she must wrestle with her inner romantic longings to choose between the passionate George and the priggish but socially suitable Cecil. Format: DVD MOVIE
Movie Reviews of Masterpiece Theatre: Room With a View
Movie Review: This adaptation cuts right to the quick of the story- LOVED IT!
Summary: 5 Stars
Remaking the very famous and almost legendary A Room with a View [HD DVD] is a formidable task for any director or screenwriter. Andrew Davies undertook the project in a much slimmer version for "Masterpiece Theater" on PBS and scored a complete hit with me. Davies cuts right to the quick of E.M. Forester's novel and wastes no time in setting the stage for jibes at the 1912 changing of the times in class-conscious England. The characters are sharply drawn and the plot tight to fit into the 88 minute time slot.
The heart of the matter concerns Miss Honeychurch (Elaine Cassidy) who is chaperoned to Firenze, Italy on her travels abroad by two dottering maiden ladies (Sophie Thompson, as Charlotte, is her usual outstandingly befuddled, ruffled-feathered self!). What Miss Honeychurch really wants, but is not fully aware of it yet, is love, not adventure, and she longs to break the conventions of her Era. Italy, the dangerous land of love, is the place where all conventions can be shed. In Firenze, Miss Honeychurch meets the lower-class, common father and son team of the Emersons, socialist leaning and down to earth (real life father and son actors, Timothy and Rafe Spall). Miss Honeychurch and the younger Emerson eschew their class distinction amidst the sunny fields of Italy. But will the powers that be and their own class allow this to happen?
I admit, I LOVE Andrew Davies adaptations of novels because he works in economy of time without sacrificing character. He tells a well centered and well focused story while carefully choosing what parts of a novel are most essential for making the point of the story.
Gabriel Yared provides and adequate soundtrack coupled with the music of Vivaldi and Beethoven to accompany the action.
Lushness of scenery is there, but is sacrificed for story sake. Davies correctly interprets and infers Forester's sexuality of certain characters (Forester was gay), and also brings out the immense humour of many scenes that made me really laugh. There is an unbound-corset effect in Davies' adaptation, and all of the actors meet the challenge.
An excellent companion film would be "The Light in the Piazza", both the original film and the Lincoln Center Great Performances production if you can find them.
Summary of Masterpiece Theatre: Room With a View
ROOM WITH A VIEW - DVD MovieMade for Britain?s ITV network, this Masterpiece presentation of A Room with a View introduces a fuller version of E.M Forster's 1908 novel. If it isn't as romantic as Merchant Ivory's 1985 film--with that picturesque kiss at the end--Nicholas Renton's adaptation offers its own unique charms. For one, it provides a look at the self-possessed woman Lucy Honeychurch (Elaine Cassidy, Felicia's Journey) a decade after her Italian sojourn. The action alternates, somewhat confusingly, between 1912 and 1922. In both cases, Lucy travels from Surrey to Florence. On the first trip, she and her companion, Miss Bartlett (a fidgety Sophie Thompson) are both taken aback by the left-leaning Mr. Emerson (Timothy Spall) and his railway clerk son, George (Rafe Spall). Not only are the men outspoken in their views, but George is Lucy's social inferior. Despite the obvious attraction between them, she accepts a proposal from the bookish Cecil Vyse (Laurence Fox, giving a more sympathetic performance than Daniel Day-Lewis). For the tragic ending, screenwriter Andrew Davies (Bleak House) draws on notes the author left behind, but didn?t incorporate into his book. Ideally, Davies should've turned to Forster's more upbeat 1958 epilogue A View without a Room. Further, it takes awhile to warm up to the central character (previously portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter), though Cassidy ultimately rises to the occasion--especially in the post-war sequences. It's unfortunate Davies didn?t support her efforts with stronger material. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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