Product Details

• Actors: Robert Hardy, Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Julian Glover, Eileen Atkins
• Format: Box set, Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 5
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: BBC Warner
• DVD Release Date: March 31, 2009
• Run Time: 947 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001LPWGHS
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,783 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #43 in	Movies & TV > Television > BBC > Gift Sets
  #94 in	Movies & TV > Boxed Sets > Documentary

• For more information about "Shakespeare's An Age of Kings (Richard II / Henry IV / Henry V / Henry VI / Richard III)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In this fifteen-part inventive series based on William Shakespeare's history plays, the turmoil, power, mystery and frailty of the English crown in the medieval ages is laid bare in epic style. This series originally aired as live broadcasts and was recorded on film. Starring Sean Connery, Julian Glover, Eileen Atkins, Robert Hardy, Angela Baddeley, Judi Dench and John Warner.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unforgettable Experience, March 29, 2009

By	Old 'n' Dazed (Lynchburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews

Our local PBS station ran this series in the early '60s. As I recall, it was shown then on a one-episode-per-day schedule. I looked forward to each new installment. In the nearly fifty years since then, I have never forgotten that experience and, in fact, have kept in my library the small brochure that PBS sent to its viewers. Thanks to the BBC for giving us the opportunity to experience this once again! I am greatly looking forward to it.
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Now that I have received the DVD set and viewed a large portion of it, I must say that the series is not as I remember it; it is far better. For the time and technology, it is a wonder. I doubt that anything comparable could be done today on live TV. Not to belabor the point, I would simply say than anyone with the slightest appreciation of Shakspeare will find great enjoyment in this production.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fifty years later, March 30, 2009

By	J. Targove - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

We were living in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1961 when "Age of Kings" was shown on the local public TV station which, I think, was associated with the University of Nebraska. It was so memorable that I have never forgotten it -- especially Robert Hardy's performance as Prince Hal in Henry IV and as Henry V. He was so young and vigorous that his performance transcended the small screen and the absence of color. I've been a devotee of public TV ever since, but nothing was ever as exciting as those plays at that time. Perhaps it was TV's newness at the time, but since then TV drama has been prettied up and has lost its immediacy.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ageless Age of Kings, March 29, 2009

By	Joe D. Gilliland (Bisbee, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

By any standard I can think of this series stands out in memory as the finest television treatment of Shakespeare that exists. If for nothing else the performances of Connery as Hotspur, Hardy as Hal and Harry in Henry V, and Richard Daneman as Richard III are worth owning this. Robert Hardy's St. Crispin's Day speech rivals Olivier's and Brannagh's, Daneman's Richard III also rivals Olivier's and the great Stratford performance of Antony Sher. At no time in his long career did Sean Connery ever exceed his incomparable interpretation of Hotspur. I have wished for, prayed for, hoped for an opportunity to see this again, and NOW! Thanks to all the gods of drama.