Product Details

• Actors: Donald Sutherland, Martin Wady, Frances McDevitt, Elliot Levey
• Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: PBS
• DVD Release Date: May 23, 2006
• Run Time: 219 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000EOTELI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,843 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Empires: Queen Victoria's Empire" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Pbs Release Date: 05/06/2009 Run time: 240 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars definitely worth watching, August 31, 2006

By 

K. Hague - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Empires: Queen Victoria's Empire (DVD)

As a professor of Victorian literature, I think this film is quite good. It astutely captures the complexity of Queen Victoria, 19th-century Britain, and empire building. The level of detail is impressive, and it's incredibly informative.

57 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Victoria and Her Times -- A Great Presentation!, June 22, 2009

By 

Charles (RICHMOND, VA, United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Empires: Queen Victoria's Empire (DVD)

This is the best DVD about the Victorian Age that I have ever seen! Part of the show presents the life of Victoria and Albert. Other parts focus on the economic, social, and military aspects of the British Empire.

I particularly enjoyed the following anecdote about civil rights in India.
The British allowed the Indians to keep their religion and most aspects of their native culture. However, they did forbid certain uncivilized practices. For example, they exterminated the cult of Kali which involved murdering people as sacrifices to the goddess of destruction.

But, best of all is the part of the video where an Indian "nativist" stands-up for civil rights. "It's wrong for all you British to come here and tell us what we can do in our religious practices. This is a Hindu funeral. We should run it our way.... Power to the people!" And the British officer replied, "Well, we have some customs of our own in England. We HANG men who burn living women!" You see, the native habit was to burn the widow on the husband's funeral pyre. Isn't it delicious? 21st century morality demands that we view all cultures and religions as equally valid. Imperialism was terrible, etc., etc., etc. But this DVD is honest enough to tell both sides of the story.

In my opinion, QUEEN VICTORIA'S EMPIRE gives the average educated person everything he needs to know about the British Empire in the 1800s.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite informative - well narrated, December 30, 2009

By 

C. Jones "bascelflt" (Tallahassee, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Empires: Queen Victoria's Empire (DVD)

We enjoyed learning the history of England during the long reign of Queen Victoria. I must have been exposed to some of this information in a college world history course but feel after viewing approximately 220 minutes of well narrated and presented material that it all makes sense now. The information is presented with photographs, drawings and re-enactments of major events in British history and included even the brutal events of India and Sudan with a straight forward approach. Donald Sutherland is a GREAT narrator - he was easily understood with just the right timbre and inflection to his voice. We plan to watch this again in about six months to gain even more understanding. A good sequel is "Edward the King" - miniseries by BBC. These two together will really help the viewer gain understanding of the events leading up to World War I. Five Stars for certain.