Product Details

• Actors: Derek Jacobi
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: September 15, 2009
• Run Time: 302 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001V7YZCA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,786 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Classic tales of love and loss based on the fiction of Henry James

Peer into the drawing rooms of Victorian high society in these vintage adaptations of the writings of Henry James. This enchanting collection plays out the tensions and travails of late 19th-century romance, in which English accents encounter American attitudes to powerful effect.

Follow the drama as it unfolds in six scintillating episodes. The superb casts include Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius), Eileen Atkins (Cold Mountain), Sinéad Cusack (North and South), Edward Hardwicke (The Return of Sherlock Holmes), Cheryl Campbell (Chariots of Fire), Daniel Massey (Star!), and Christopher Cazenove (The Duchess of Duke Street). Based on Daisy Miller, An International Episode, and other beloved stories by Henry James, the series explores the delicate affairs of the heart with subtlety and strength.

DVD FEATURES INCLUDE Henry James biography and cast filmographies.

Product Description

AFFAIRS OF THE HEART:SERIES 2 - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HENRY JAMES ADAPTATIONS EVEN BETTER THAN THE FIRST SERIES, August 2, 2009

By 

Harold Wolf "Doc" (Wells, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Affairs of the Heart: Series 2 (DVD)

6 BRITISH UPPER CLASS ROMANTIC COMEDIES, intellectual in spirit. Fantastic film versions of 6 more Henry James tales. Surprise endings, like mystery; romantic, like Austen. A Victorian immersion perfection including architecture, costumes, interior furnishings, manners/speech, and of course...
cleavage.
Where Victorian romance meets London socialite genre humor. Yes, actually some laugh-out-loud moments in these romances of the past.

There is a fantastic list of super-stars in these performances, 12 of which have filographies as bonus material. They include Cheryl Campbell, Jeremy Clyde, Sinead Cusack, Christopher Cazenove, Eileen Atkins, Michael Bryant, Richard Morant, Barbara Murray, Georgina Hale, Daniel Massey, Diane Cilento, & Edward Hardwicke.
Bonus stuff also has a Henry James biography. American born James eventually settled in London and wrote "Daisy Miller" included in this DVD adaptations set. 6 individual stories, about 50 minutes each. Great TV-dinner theater.

Fun period stories, which never go out of date, and always with the climatic endings by James, where all does not unfailingly end happily ever after, but can at times. He keeps you guessing. Of course, you'll want to get the first series as well, after seeing this second set. See my review for "AFFAIRS of the HEART SERIES ONE".

If interested, here's the details:
_____Episode 1: EMMA (based on the novel "Lord Beauprey")
Preferring bachelorhood, Guy (Jeremy Clyde) suddenly inherits a title and fortune. Lord Guy Beauprey is frightfully (and comically) besieged by eligible females, some with pushy mother's at their heels. He begs lifelong friend, Emma (Cheryl Campbell), for a fictitious engagement arrangement. But she has her own American suitor. What will become of Emma's true feelings?
_____Episode 2: BESSIE (based on "An International Episode")
Lord James Lambeth (Christopher Cazenove), visits NY in the heat of summer with cousin Percy on business. They visit in cooler Newport, at the home of a wealthy NY businessman, hosted by wife Kitty (Anna Palk) and her sister Bessie (Sinead Cusack). Bessie, with her romantic novel intellect, pursues Lord Lambeth on both sides of the Atlantic. She's opposed by Lambeth's mother, Duchess of Bayswater. Will Cupid's international arrow strike its mark?
_____Episode 3: KATE (based on "The Bench of Desolation"D)
Herbert Dodd (Michael Bryant) ends an engagement with Kate (Eileen Atkins) and begins a family with Nan. After years of paying Kate in an out-of-court settlement, Dodd loses his family to deaths. Kate returns, rich, flaunting what she made of the last of Dodd's money. Herbert plots different forms of revenge. Will Kate's own plan prevail?
_____Episode 4: DAISY (based on "Daisy Miller")
Action begins in Switzerland and moves to Italy as American traveler Daisy (Gorgina Hale) 'plays' with the men around her. She leaves Frederick (Daniel Massey) puzzled as to her intentions, her impropriety, and snobbish rudeness. "I'm a fearful frightful flirt," Daisy admits to Frederick. What will Rome give Daisy?
_____Episode 5: LEONIE (based on "Nona Vincent")
Leonie (Barbara Murray) secretly finances her young lover's mediocre play. Allan (Richard Morant) fails to see the chosen lead actress is falling in love with him. Will the play be successful? Will romance?
_____Episode 6: ELIZABETH (based on "The Great Condition")
Henry (Edward Hardwicke) and Bertie (Derek Jacobi) vie for the attentions of a just-met aboard ship mysterious Midwest American woman. Beauty and a widow is about all they know about her. Although good friends, the two men spar verbally (comically) about the girl. What secret has Elizabeth withheld? Which will win her favor?

Sorry for this long review, but there is lots of delightful, fun, watching in this set.
I don't just recommend "AFFAIRS OF THE HEART SERIES TWO" at 5-stars, but I also recommend the beginning set, "AFFAIRS OF THE HEART SERIES ONE," also worthy of 5-stars. Romance viewing for couples, because even the guys can get into these stories. Classics, not chic-flicks.

Order a six-pack of microwave popcorn at the same time you order this DVD set.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good James adaptations, October 28, 2011

By 

Frances Di Pasqua - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Affairs of the Heart: Series 2 (DVD)

The actors are excellent, and while it is obvious all filming was done in the studio, the costumes and sets are splendid evocations of the times of the stories. The adaptation of 'Daisy Miller' is a good thumbnail of the novella. The other stories are unfamiliar to me in their original form but they all are dramatically convincing.

It's also enjoyable to see so many veteran actors like Eileen Atkins, Edward Hardwick, Daniel Massey & Derek Jacobi in their younger days!

Fran