Customer Reviews

Maggie Smith at the BBC (The Merchant of Venice / The Millionairess / Bed Among the Lentils / Suddenly, Last Summer)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Maggie Smith is one of Britan's national treasures. Every time I am in London, the first thing I do is see if she is performing. I have seen some very incredible performances by this brilliant actress.

This DVD sets contains four of her television performances from 1972 to 1993. I have only seen two of the specials but am anxious to see the other two.

Merchant of Venice (1972) is a Shakespeare comedy. (I never understand this because it has some of the most intense moments of a Shakespeare play.) This is about love and devotion. Maggie Smith plays Portia, whose suitors must get by three boxes to find love and must save her true love's mentor from certain death. (I have not seen this production.)

The Millionairess (1972) is from the social commentarian George Bernard Shaw and this is also available in the George Bernard on BBC box set. (This also

Bed Among the Lentils (1988) was shown in America on Masterpiece Theatre and the first of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads. Each of these specials is a one person monologue. In Bed Among the Lentils, Maggie plays Susan, a pastor's wife whose life is unfullfilling. This is about an hour long and Maggie just mesmerizes you from the get go. And this is very hard as the character is very bored with her life and Maggie makes you feel for her. She won Royal Television Society Best Actress Award and was nominate for a BAFTA (the Emmy nominating commitee was again fast asleep.)

Suddenly Last Summer is a direct filming of the Tennessee Williams play. It was shown at in America on PBS's Great Performances. This is quite different from the movie as it has only one set and no flashbacks and therefore Sebestian Venerable is only referred to in this. Maggie plays Mrs. Venerable who wants her niece institutionalize to hide her family secret. Natasha Richardson, in an early role, plays Catherine Holly. Catherine witnessed the gory death of her cousin Sebastian and has not recovered from this and the events leading up to this. Rob Lowe, yes Rob Lowe plays the psychiatrist,Dr. Cukrowicz, who is here to evaluate in institutionalize Catherine. But what happens is a volatile exploration of the events and the truth behind them. This is an amazing production and is comperable to the Katherine Hepburn movie. Maggie recieved her first Emmy Award for this production. This show runs about 90 minutes - without intermission.

This should be an incredible set showcasing one of the greatest actresses of the 20th century - and still at it! And at this price it is very reasonable for once!

I have seen all of these performances except for The Merchant of Venice. The Talking Heads (Bed Among the Lentils) monologues performance is both subtle and illuminating- a real landmark performance. The Millionairess is a thrilling bit of acting. And the remake of Suddenly Last Summer is quite an interesting counterpart to the famous Hepburn/Taylor film of the late 1950s. What I'd love to see is another set including TV films "Memento Mori" and others from her work on UK television. But this is a good start. Thank you BCC for releasing this in the USA! More please!

To many people, Maggie Smith is a legend as a consummate actress. I am one of these people. Accordingly, I admit to possible bias. Nevertheless.....
Her work in these separate stories, is first rate. Importantly, it shows her at her best in many disparate roles. Because of this, it is possible that one - or other - of the roles might be found less to the viewer's taste than another. In my opinion, this doesn't make Smith's acting any the less brilliant and convincing.
A very good buy for, both, acting aficionados and Maggie Smith devotees.

I ordered this primarily for the TV movie version of "Suddenly Last Summer" with Natasha Richardson. It is a hauntingly beautiful, painful adaptation of the play by Tennessee Williams. Everyone in it is so very good, and right in their parts. But the entire DVD is a look at some of Maggie Smith's fine work as an actress, mostly culled from actual theatrical plays. It is wonderful to find these put together on a DVD for us.

I bought this set because this is the only DVD recording of "Talking Heads: Bed Among The Lentils" which is the most wonderful, touching monologue which was especially written by Alan Bennett for Maggie Smith. See it and love it.

I enjoyed this of the four very much; I was very young when I watched the original with Elizabeth Taylor. I did not understand the adult content, before the time of movie ratings. I thought Rob Lowe was going to be Sebastian Sebastian is not even shown in flashbacks. In some respects I now realize the bound Katherine achieves with the therapist, is because of his similarities to Sebastian in physical beauty. enough said. watch it. I found the lighting odd at times. Pinks in the south, green where the death happens, ecetra.

Got this in great time. Worth every penny!! Too bad they don't let you just write what you want but have a minimum number of words.

IT IS A PITY I WON,T BE ABLE TO ENJOY
THIS DVD WITH MY FAVOURITE ACTRESS
BUT WITH NO SUBTITLE IT IS NOT
POSSIBLE FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND
ALL THE DIALOGUES

I WONDER WHY SO MANY INTE3RESTING
DVDS ARE FEATURES WITHOUT SUBTITUES,
NOT EVEN IN ENGLISH WHICH WILL BE
VERY HELPFUL INDEED

Sometimes, it's best to leave an original masterpiece alone....even if a legendary star (Dame Smith) signs on for a remake.
This uninspired 1993 Richard Eyre for BBC reshoot of the 1959 Tennessee Williams' Katherine Hepburn/Elizabeth Taylor Fag-Hag B#*%ch-fest masterpiece has no sparkle or bite. One can admire Dame Smith for playing Mrs. Venerable very differently from the grand, imperial theatrics of the acid tongued,impeccably groomed Miss Hepburn, but her meek, fragile interpretation has no energy.
The rest of the cast include the effete Dr. Cukrowicz, greedy Mrs.Holly, her even greedier son George and the key eye witness to the scandalous crime, Miss Catherine Holly all seem hellbent on imitating the original stars, word for word, breath for breath.
Miss Richardson does a serviceable job copying all of Miss Taylor's mannerisms (dispite her non existant hourglass figure,which was key to her role in procuring for off screen Sebastian Venerable).I also missed the crisp, funny and cartoonishly efficient secretary Miss fox hill from the original film.
But by far the worst crime is when she identifies her basic (j.c penny's )looking white blouse that she has on for her grand showdown (meltdown/ confession) as being a gift bought for her at a Paris Haute Couture salon....the discerning Sebastian would have never picked such a dull item when making her over....to ready her for his very specific "mission".