Product Details

• Actors: Ian Richardson, Susannah Harker, Miles Anderson, Alphonsia Emmanuel, Malcolm Tierney
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: November 1, 1995
• Run Time: 200 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303542352
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,319 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Connoisseurs of political chicanery will relish House of Cards, the mordantly funny story of Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson), a British politician with his eye on the top job. Urquhart is the chief whip of the Conservative Party and his job is to maintain party discipline, or, as he likes to say, "put a bit of stick about." This means that he has intimate knowledge of his colleagues' foibles, knowledge that he uses to further his own political ambitions. Aided by his equally ruthless wife and drawing on a network of accomplices, Urquhart manufactures a crisis that forces the prime minister to resign. He then sets out to discredit each of his rivals for the party leadership, clearing the way for a rapid and apparently inevitable rise to power. The only possible flaw in Urquhart's master plan is his affair with Mattie Storin, a young journalist who is drawn into his web when he decides she might prove useful.

Although it is strongly cast throughout, House of Cards belongs to Ian Richardson. Without his perfectly balanced performance, Urquhart might have become no more than a two-dimensional villain, but Richardson finds exactly the right tone to make his character as attractive as he is wicked. Like his illustrious predecessor Richard III (House of Cards is filled with references to Shakespearean villains), Francis Urquhart is an irresistible bad guy with a nice line in witty asides to the audience. Even when he is calmly committing murder Urquhart is so charming, so much more clever than his rivals, that it's impossible not to root for him. Thanks to Richardson, and a superb script by Andrew Davies, this brilliant political satire is sure to delight anyone who has wondered what might be going on in the darker corners of our democratic institutions. --Simon Leake

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PBS at its best, October 29, 1999

By 

Hofman (Winnetka, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: House of Cards [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The trilogy, House of Cards, To Play the King, and The Final Cut is so good it made me change my mind about throwing my television in the dumpster. Ian Richardson is remarkable, the casting is supurb and the story is engrossing. This is a must see production if contemporary British political intrigue is up your street.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellently Acted, Clever And Humorous Political Thriller, July 8, 2001

By 

Peter Fennessy (Bloomfield Hills, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: House of Cards Trilogy, Vol. 1 - House of Cards [VHS] (VHS Tape)

House of Cards is the first of three BBC productions based on the writings of Michael Dobb's. It introduces the character of Francis Urquhart, a party whip in the House of Parliament who, spurned by the newly elected PM and under the influence of his Lady Macbeth of a wife, aspires to greater things -- a person whose cleverness and urbanity are only outdone by his villainy. Ian Richardson plays the part to perfection, probably his greatest theatrical triumph, which alone makes this show and the whole trilogy worth seeing. In the manner of a Shakespearean villain Richardson speaks asides to the audience, and the charm of his manner draws the viewers into his confidence and onto his side. Even without speaking his slight glances and facial expressions made for our benefit alone make us his accomplices. Only toward the end of the film when we see the extremes to which his ambition has taken him do we begin to want to disassociate ourselves from him, but by that time we are too far gone. It is an excellent production with a good cast of supporting actors and a fine story line. The motif of the ever present rat is perhaps a tad overdone, but this is a fine bit of British drama. Do see it.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FU, The Greatest Villain in Television History, April 10, 2001

By 

Mike (Bound Brook, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: House of Cards [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Because an exceedingly verbose (not to mention obtuse) review of this show has already been written, I'll cut to the chase: Francis Urquhart (referred to as "FU" by friend and foe alike in the show), brilliantly portrayed by Ian Richardson, is the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) bad guy to ever grace the small screen. Never in your life will you loathe a character so much as FU. Never will you cringe as much as you will when FU turns to the camera and explains to you exactly what his dastardly plans are and exactly how he intends to carry them out. Never will you be more horrified as when you see FU's every plot and subplot come to fruition, despite being always on the verge of exposure. And never will you be happier to have witnessed such brilliant performances all the way across the board set within a complex, intriguing storyline. Buy this movie -- it will be the best money you spend for a long, long time.