Customer Reviews

The Brontes of Haworth

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Discovering the Brontes in my teens in the seventies and subsequently becoming a member of the Bronte Society for over ten years, I remember this series reached an almost mythological status. It originated here in the UK on Yorkshire television from 1974 and though, at Society meetings in London, everyone by reputation praised it, none of us had actually seen it! It had probably never been shown on television outside of the Yorkshire area. Then in the mid-nineties it was released as a plain-wrapped educational two-video set and I then found out the reason for all the praise. But on video and from 20 year-old master tapes it was a prime candidate for DVD treatment so a heart-felt thanks to BFS Video of Canada for having the good taste to do this.
Now I will concede that the pictures manifested in the mind from reading a book are very personal; more so Victorian literature with it's attention to detail on characterisations. Victorian novel fans have probably all at sometime shouted at the TV screen "that's nothing like Heathcliffe -Rochester -Becky Sharpe -Mr Dombey (insert favourite character here)"! but having read just about all there is to read on the Bronte Sisters this dramatisation for me is faultless.
It must be remembered however this is not a big-budget production, with big name actors and a computer-generated Haworth and Yorkshire moors - it resembles the made-for-TV BBC classics from the seventies and eighties, and I mean that as a compliment. These series were known for using superb, restrained stage actors who knew how to convey that minute Victorian detail of character and emotion for close-up TV work. The locations are genuine as well: filmed at the Bronte Parsonage (the later wing added after the Brontes time carefully cropped from view); at the small quarry just above Haworth; and the waterfall and Pennine moors west of Haworth. The interior shots, though I'm sure studio sets, are also spot on.
I can vouch for the accuracy of the Brontes' story as portrayed in this series and there are some points to mention that illustrate the quality of the research and the acting: the too-little mentioned self-deprecating humour of all the Sisters is well portrayed; Mr Bronte is not portrayed as the usual priggish, strict, disciplinarian but is presented as an understanding father who actually gave his daughters an unusual, for the time, amount of freedom and support; Anne Bronte is quite correctly given an equal amount of importance as a sister and author and her worldliness is emphasised as well; Aunt Branwell is nicely presented in a kinder light than usual; Emily Bronte for all her genius and mystique is portrayed here as refreshingly ordinary and out of the all the sisters we see her in domestic situations the most; last but not least Vickery Turner's Charlotte is, for me, just perfect; especially her humour and energy but most important of all at the end when you wonder just how much more tragedy can befall a person her Charlotte doesn't become either a pathetic victim or a cold stoic; under such tragic circumstances she could so easily become distanced from the viewer and indeed, herself, end up like a character from a Victorian melodrama.
As I said earlier, biographical dramatisations are very personal and subjective but for me I can't imagine a more moving, well acted or more accurate portrayal of the most talented family in English literature.

I've loved the story of the Bronte family ever since I read Jane Eyre at age eleven and have since read everything I could about this unusual, talented family. This production follows closely the facts of their lives as I have understood them though the first half especially focuses so much on Branwell that Charlotte, Emily and Anne fall in to the background. As another reviewer wrote Charlotte's time in Belgium could have been expanded especially since it so heavily influenced her writing in both Jane Eyre and Villette. One of the high points of the film is the actresses playing the girls are made up and portray themselves so they closely match the famous portrait Branwell painted of the trio. I loved the little things that were brought out - fiercely intelligent Charlotte so nearsighted that without her spectacles she has to almost put her face to the print as she reads and writes, brilliant eccentric Emily who rises from her death bed to feed the dogs and sweet Anne perhaps the least gifted but the one most likely to have led a conventional life if only circumstances had been different. The actor playing Branwell does a good job as he falls from the bright shining hope of the family to crazed recluse destined to be the first Bronte to die young. We are never sure if it was drink, drugs, depression or just failure to meet his dreams that turned him in to a decrepit heap rarely rising from his bed. Rev. Bronte is portrayed as almost unbelievably passive as he takes the self destruction of his son and the later deaths of his daughters stoically. The only thing that ever really upsets him is when Charlotte's future husband, Arthur, first begins to show a romantic interest in her. Yet after Charlotte's death Arthur is the only one left to care for the old man so he deigns to considers him a "son". But as Rev. Bronte says himself in the final scene he is "eccentric". I do think that many viewers who do not know the story of the Brontes will find this production to be confusing, boring and ultimately depressing but this Bronte lover at least was thrilled to find the Brontes and their parsonage and Yorkshire moors acted out on the small screen.

THE BRONTES OF HAWORTH, AND BRONTE COUNTRY ARE GOOD INVESTMENTS FOR INFORMATION ON THE VICTORIAN DAYS/PERIOD. LIFESTYLES,CULTURE,THE EMPHASIS ON WRITING AND WITH ARTISTIC PENMANSHIP, ARE ALL PART OF THE BRONTE COUNTRY DVD AS WELL AS IN THE BRONTES OF HAWORTH. MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY AUTHORS ABOUT THE BRONTES PERSONAL LIFE AS WELL AS THE SIGNS OF VICTORIAN TIMES. THE BRONTES OF HAWORTH DVD, WAS LIKE ME VIEWING THE LIFE AND TIME OF THE VICTORIAN DAYS OF OLD. IT WAS EASY TO STEP BACK INTO TIME,VIEWING THE ACTORS AS THEY PORTRAYED THE BRONTES, AS WELL AS THE BRONTES FAMILY AND FRIENDS. CHARLOTTE BRONTE, WATCHED WITH HORROR EVERY TIME ONE OF THE FAMILY MEMBERS DIED. SHE STATED, SOMEWHERE IN A BOOK, THAT SHE HELD MOST ALL OF THE FAMILY MEMBERS IN HER ARMS AS THEY PASSED FROM LIFE INTO DEATH AND ETERNITY. MOST DIED FROM TUBERCULOSIS/CONSUMPTION/TYPHOID. GET BOTH DVD'S/VCR TAPES OF THE BRONTES OF HAWORTH AND BRONTE COUNTRY. I'M GOING BACK AND LOOK AT BOTH OF THEM AGAIN.
JERRY W. WATKINS

I managed to watch this 1973 production through a rental site as the price of this DVD set is just too high. Like many others, I've loved the works by the Bronte sisters, especially "Jane Eyre", "Wuthering Heights", and "Vilette". I've also read many biographies of this talented and literary family, and based on my reading, I found this production to be a credible adaptation of the lives of the Brontes. Personally I felt there was too much focus on Branwell initially and the production could also have delved deeper into Charlotte's experiences abroad.

All the actors did a great job in their roles - the viewer gets the sense that these are the actual people, so credibly are they portrayed. How tragic that all of them died young! This production is not for everyone as it is outdated (in terms of production quality) and the subject matter itself can be a tad depressing and dark. But fans of the Brontes will find this a faithful retelling of the lives of a most compelling family.

When it debuted on British television a generation ago, this five-part docudrama on the Brontės was acclaimed by viewers ranging from specialists in the writings of the family to people who had never read a line of their works. Today, the series looks as good as ever (if not better), an impressive fact given the sheer amount of Brontė scholarship published in the last three decades. Even in 1973, however, Christopher Fry in his screenplay could draw on separate biographies of all four Brontė siblings by Winifred Gérin, in addition to Mrs. Gaskell's 1857 life of Charlotte Brontė, which is a touchstone of the series. It seems that Fry resolved to restrict himself to events in the family history that could be documented; this precludes high-flying recreations of Emily's mysticism, Branwell's supposed influence on his sisters' fiction, and Charlotte's alleged destruction of manuscripts bequeathed her by Emily and Ann. Consequently, mounting controversies on such topics have left the screenplay unscathed. Even when Fry improvises dialogue and violates strict chronology, he never strays from the plausible. Not that this concern with verification lacks its penalties. While Emily is often seen writing or reading, the subjects of these activities are scarcely ever divulged. A particular letdown is the failure to acknowledge Emily's six months at Law Hill near Halifax, where (as Gérin argues in an entire chapter of her biography), this great author may have conceived a narrative that evolved into "Wuthering Heights." By contrast, her dissipated brother Branwell gets a lion's share of screen time, recollected as he was by anybody who got drunk with him. More justice is done to Ann, the Cinderella of the family in 1973 but (thanks in part to Christopher Fry) acknowledged today as an important author. The recreation by Fry of Charlotte Brontė should fascinate any reader of her works.

The screenplay comes to life in the film. Haworth Parsonage, where most of these events occurred, is vividly evoked, heightening the immediacy (and poignancy) of what are already inspired performances. Alfred Burke, as the Rev. Patrick Brontė, is so perfect that the good gentleman himself seems to have been resurrected to star in the series. His four children are marvelously impersonated, and Emily, who says relatively little, becomes a focal presence thanks to the speaking silences of Rosemary McHale. Unquestionably, this series will prove most enjoyable to people with some prior knowledge of the subject. But geniuses are human, and the humanity of these portrayals can be felt by any receptive viewer.

This is yet another amazing production that is impossible to find in the UK - I was so thrilled, after years of searching, to find it on DVD in the States. I sat and watched the whole series through in one day from start to finish. They don't make them like this anymore, is a cliche but in this case, true.

The script is by Christopher Fry - so expect the best! Wonderful acting, great locations in the North of England, no intrusive music and a fine performance from the young Michael Kitchen as the deeply troubled Branwell. His descent into hell through drugs and drink and his inability to harness his talents is movingly portrayed. The sisters are given credit and time as complete individuals in their own right and their stories unfold, entwined against the backdrop of the authentic wild moorlands around them. The one steadying influence and the lonely survivor is the father, played with great dignity, restraint and compassion by Alfred Burke.

Absolutely wonderful experience set against the backdrop of Victorian England - unforgettable.

I feel almost guilty in commenting on a television production more than 30 years old, but I continue lest some other unwary admirer of the Brontes wastes money on this video. To the best of my knowledge the lives of the Brontes have been recreated on film only three times: here and in "Devotion" (Warner Brothers, 1946) and "Les Soeurs Bronte" (1979) I grant that "Devotion" is more fiction than fact, but it does capture something of the Bronte myth. This production--titled "The Brontes of Haworth"--gives us precious little of Haworth and an utterly boring version of the Brontes, mythical or otherwise. Papa Bronte is generally benign and genteel, his daughters far less passionate and intelligent than their novels would suggest, and his son a self-pitying fool. Indeed, Emily, Charlotte, and Anne seem like waxwork figures. The text on the box describes their lives as "turbulent," although as presented here, those lives are about as turbulent as clotted cream. Branwell is fawned over, coddled and cuddled, and constantly praised by his family, but the character as acted by an unrecognizable Michael Kitchen is a braggart, a pompous braggart at that, whining, morose, irritating, confused and--to the viewer--confusing. God only knows why Branwell behaves so childishly, and He didn't confide in Christopher Fry--THE Christopher Fry--who wrote the script. Thus, what his family says about Branwell, compared to what we see of him, makes us wonder if his father and sisters were stupid. The fault lies directly with Fry. Perhaps members of The Bronte Society will prefer this video to "Devotion," but the latter at least has some fine acting and good production values. I find absolutely nothing to praise in this turgid biovid. No one seeing it would ever wish to read one of the Brontes's novels, and that is the greatest sin of all.