Customer Reviews

Alan Bennett Collection

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The many fans of British playwright, screenwriter, author and actor Alan Bennett have a wonderful treat awaiting them in this recently released (March 29, 2011) 4-DVD collection. Famous for his plays and film versions of "The Madness of King George" (BAFTA Award and Oscar Nomination) and "The History Boys" (6 Tony Awards), he also wrote "Prick Up Your Ears" (directed by Stephen Frears) and "A Private Function" (directed by Malcolm Mowbray). One reason Bennett fans must rush to purchase this set is the first availability on DVD of his brilliant imaginings of episodes in the lives of Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt, two key figures of the Cambridge Spies -- the major spy scandal of the 20th century, which affects international relations to this very day 60 years later. Alan Bates plays defector Guy Burgess and Coral Browne herself in "An Englishman Abroad" and James Fox art historian Sir Anthony Blunt and Prunella Scales Queen Elizabeth in "A Question of Attribution." Other admirable performances include Daniel Day-Lewis as Franz Kafka in "The Insurance Man" and Alan Bates as Marcel Proust in "102 Boulevard Haussmann." The collaboration between Bennett and director Stephen Frears (Oscar Nominee for "The Queen" and "The Grifters") is represented by "A Day Out," "Sunset Across the Bay" and "A Visit from Miss Protheroe" starring the remarkable Patricia Routledge -- who also appears in "A Woman of No Importance." "Our Winnie" is quintessential Bennett in both theme and execution, based upon a youthful Leeds cemetery experience. Bennett himself is the subject of two titles: "Dinner at Noon" and "Portrait or Bust." Although production values occasionally reflect both age and provenance, this outstanding BBC set of stories by one of the great writers of our time, running over ten hours and shown in aspect ratio 1.33:1, is not to be missed.

The brilliant, hugely fecund Bennett is the author of nearly two-hundred widely admired stage, television and radio plays, screenplays, novels, short stories and memoirs. He is also an occasional actor. His work illuminates the human comedy with subtlety, a light touch, wit, gentle irony, humanity, a soft glaze of melancholy and crackling dialogue. And Bennett has an extraordinary ability to imperceptibly and credibly make something from nothing. Eleven of Bennett's short television plays have recently been released as a collection on DVD. They're all good, but the standouts are: A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, a hypnotic and increasingly disturbing monologue delivered by the great Patricia Routledge; AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD, which tells of a funny and quite sad encounter in Moscow between the Australian Actress Coral Browne (playing herself) and the, by then, seedy, profoundly alcoholic, nearly forgotten fugitive spy Guy Burgess (Alan Bates): the piece ends on an unexpected, gloriously cheerful note; A QUESTION OF ATTRIBUTION, a tense, enthralling drama about Sir Anthony Blunt (James Fox), toff, Cambridge graduate, art historian, Director of the Courtauld Institute, Keeper of the Queen's Pictures and, for decades, a spy in the service of the Soviet Union. It's best moments: a chance encounter and highly freighted conversation in Buckingham Palace's art gallery between Blunt and the Queen (played wonderfully by Prunella Scales). This is all great stuff!

i'm a huge fan, and every selection is worth watching--again and again, for the excellence of the material and the acting!

A wonderful collection of Alan Bennet's work for the BBC. Beautiful observations life. You can see his honing of his TV technique. Such a pussy cat who can suddenly show a lion's paw.