Product Details

• Format: Box set, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: November 1, 2011
• Run Time: 659 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (178 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B005GP7ELW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,843 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Fill a bowl with alpine strawberries, break out the Château Lafite (1899, of course), and bask in this benchmark 1981 British miniseries based on Evelyn Waugh's classic novel. Adapted for the screen by John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey), this impeccable, nearly 11-hour production mesmerized American viewers during the course of its PBS run in 1982. In his breakthrough role, Jeremy Irons stars as Charles Ryder, a disillusioned Army captain who is moved to reflect on his "languid days" in the "enchanted castle" that was Brideshead, home of the aristocratic Marchmain family, whose acquaintance Charles made in the company of an Oxford classmate, the charming wild child Sebastian. Anthony Andrews costars as the doomed Sebastian, whose beauty is "arresting" and "whose eccentricities and behavior seemed to know no bounds." The "entitled and enchanted" Sebastian takes Charles under his wing ("Charles, what a lot you have to learn"), but vows early on that he is "not going to let [Charles] get mixed up with [his] family." But mixed up Charles gets. He becomes a friend and confidante, not to mention a lover, to Sebastian's sister Julia (Diana Quick). Meanwhile, the self-destructive Sebastian's life spirals out of control. Brideshead Revisited boasts a distinguished ensemble, including Laurence Olivier in his Emmy Award-winning role as the exiled Lord Marchmain, Claire Bloom as Lady Marchmain, and the magnificent John Gielgud as Charles's estranged father. Grand locations and a haunting musical score make this a memorable revisit of an irretrievable bygone era. For those who scheduled their weeks around the original Monday-night broadcasts or those visiting Brideshead for the first time, this boxed set release will be, as Charles rhapsodizes at one point while strolling the castle grounds, "very near to heaven." --Donald Liebenson

Product Description

"Flawless performances" --The New York Times
"The best series ever" --The Washington Post
"One of the most remarkable adaptations from literature ever produced for television" --The Associated Press
"Lavish and beautiful" --Time
"Dazzling" --Newsweek

Based on the acclaimed novel by Evelyn Waugh, this epic drama tells of love and loss amid the fading glory of the British aristocracy in the interwar period. The visually ravishing production won 17 international awards and launched the careers of stars Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews, who appear alongside Oscar® winner Sir John Gielgud, Diana Quick, Claire Bloom, and Sir Laurence Olivier in an Emmy®-winning role.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

313 of 329 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The finest film made for television that I have ever seen. November 17, 2001

By Russell Fanelli VINE™ VOICE

Format:VHS Tape

Brideshead Revisited is the finest film made for television that I have ever seen. It is true to Evelyn Waugh's great novel. After watching this movie I bought the book and liked it as much as the videos. For those viewers who like to read, if you enjoyed the film you are almost certain to love the book.

After reading the novel, I viewed the tapes a second time and discovered that the movie was even better than I first thought.

What makes this video series great? The performances by a top flight cast are superb and the story is compelling. Jeremy Irons plays the part of Charles Ryder, an artist in search of his soul. His paintings are technially brilliant, but something is missing from them. An eccentric friend characterizes Ryder's work as full of "charm," and this evaluation is true -- the paintings are stylish, but soulless.

Anthony Andrews brings to life Ryder's Oxford college friend, Lord Sebastian Flyte, a spoiled aristocrat trying to break free from the influence of his dysfunctional family. Claire Bloom is his mother, Lady Marchmain, separated from his father, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Lord Marchmain. Bloom is cool, calculating, and condescending. When young Sebastian becomes an embarassing drunk, she seems pleased to attempt to reclaim him from social and spiritual destruction.

Somewhat later in the film Ryder realizes the destructive nature of Sebastian's relationship with his mother. Ryder subverts her wishes by giving Sebastian money for alcohol and then Ryder makes a break with the family when his gift of money to Sebastian is discovered by Lady Marchmain, who confronts Ryder with her muted, yet terrible anger.

Sir John Gielgud is brilliant as Ryder's disinterested father; we come to understand why Ryder lacks Sebastian's heart. Ryder grew up unloved and uncared for and he spends the rest of his life attempting to overcome his disabilty. His marriage to his first wife ends in divorce and he then falls in love with Lady Julia, Sebastian's sister. In the end Ryder's coldness, aloofness, and disdain for religion, something Julia and Sebastian hold dear, cause their breakup.

Last, but not least, the filmmakers have lavished great expense on all aspects of this production. The sets are superbly created to give us a true feel for the time and place in England at the time between the great wars. The music also deserves special mention. It beautifully supports the story and is worth listening to on its own merits. It stays in the listener's mind long after the drama is finished.

Can film ever stand comparison with great literaure? The Brideshead Revisited video series answers this question with a resounding "yes"!

I have just finished watching the 25th Anniversary Edition of Brideshead Revisited and recommend it highly. The sound is clear and the picture quality is excellent. I also enjoyed the special features included with the set, particularly the interviews with cast and crew.

254 of 278 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Brideshead DVD Box Set is Excellent... May 31, 2002

By A Customer

Format:DVD

Through my own connections, I was able to obtain this item a month before its street date so you all get to know what you're getting.

The Brideshead DVD Box Set, while not perfect, is indeed excellent and I'll explain why.

As is increasingly the case, the actual disc carriages are part of a three leaved slide-out assemblage which folds up and then is stored in a case, just like with the Godfather DVD Box Set.

These case formats are an excellent way to fight piracy and look great but are not the best in in terms of long term box preservation as cardboard and photo-printed cardboard will degrade.

This release of Brideshead is the 660 minute version of the mini-series and I believe this is the longest and most complete version ever released!

The episode menus and scene selection are pretty, functional and fairly rudimentary, nothing exceptional here.

A little booklet with some director's commentary and info on Evelyn Waugh and the episodes is included.

There are no real DVD Special Edition type extras save for a brief but comprehensive written film/DVD production summary, info on Castle Howard, a cast/production team bio (Aloysius has his own entry and a hysterically funny news interview with the director about him), and some photography taken while shooting.

There are regrettably no interviews with the cast or production team, no director's commentary, and no deleted/extended scenes, though since we've all been forced to endure the butchered Home Video verson this as full as full can be version is in a sense full of them. There are no theatrical trailers or television spots.

Image quality is good and one thing that's mentioned in the production report is just how painstaking the video/audio restoration really was and how VERY lucky they -- and we -- were to be able to find the original film master in England and then clean it up.

Once again, and this is becoming a great joke in the film community, a US company picks up the distribution/restoration rights to a foreign country's film treasures and then releases the best version ever made outside the market it originated in. We did it to the Japanese with Macross and we did it to England with Brideshead Revisited.

This version of Brideshead looks better then the original did when it first came out for reasons explained on the DVD.

The video and audio restoration was very good given the age and condition of the original film master. It's a little grainy here and there but that would have been tough to avoid. They should have spread this out over more discs for the most optimal compression ratios and resulting images but you'll not be disappointed with the results.

If this title sells as well as it should, perhaps the American company that obtained and restored it can do a Special Edition version. For now, after all these years, Brideshead is where it belongs, on DVD and in my collection.

107 of 114 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars No Improvement Over 2002 Acorn DVD Release October 30, 2006

By E. S. Altman

Format:DVD

The only difference between this set and the original Acorn DVD release of 2002 (which was beautifully done) is the addition of the "Revisiting Brideshead" documentary and outtakes. The documentary is awful; the kind of thing that trivializes the work by superficial, self-inflated explanation from literary and media "experts" of things perfectly obvious to anyone who watches the series. I don't need a media critique telling me how perfect Anthony Andrews' performance was--I watched the series and saw so myself. I don't need to be instructed about the religious and sexual tension in the story--its there if you watch it. I was hoping the documentary would be conversation from the actors and crew about the filming, but I guess that would have been too simple. In fact, the several screens of text in the original DVD release that tell the story of the filming are much more interesting. This documentary is depressing, condescending and just stupid--I would skip it altogether.

As for the outtakes, not much there. The only real outtakes are Phoebe Nichols (Cordelia) dropping a couple of "f" bombs over missed cues, Anthony Andrews flubbing a line here and there and grainy footage of the cast and crew at horseplay. Again, not worth the purchase, but certainly more engaging than the documentary.

I see no reason for this anniversary edition--stick to the original Acorn release if you can find it. Much nicer packaging too.