Customer Reviews

Sharpe's Collector's Edition

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have this fantastic set of movies depicting the steady rise of Richard Sharpe from the ranks of the English Army of the early 1800s. Sean Bean plays the role of Richard Sharpe who, as we are first introduced to him, is a sergeant in the British Army in Portugal during the campaign to drive Napoleon's Army out of Spain. He begins his rise from the ranks after saving the Lord Wellington from three French Dragoons single handedly. He then is assigned to the 95th Rifles Regiment as an officer and the adventures begin.
Some of the earlier films are rough looking production wise but still make for great viewing. I love how the troops are shown to be a rough motley looking bunch as the armies of the period truely looked while on campaign. The stories have plenty of action, adventure, romance, and drama. It is definately a worthwhile purchase.

For those of you with region-free DVD players (and to the rest of you what in the world are you waiting for) the complete Sharpe series is available on DVD at amazon's UK site for under $100.

Really, that's a saving of almost $200 and the Region 2 DVDs of course are in the technically superior PAL format. So pick up a region free DVD player and the complete Sharpe series on Region 2 DVD and you'll still be spending less than on this one USA set. Plus, the Sharpe DVDs are readily available to ship in less than 24 hours from Amazon UK.

These series of movies are amazing. I started watching them on ITV in the UK (correction to previous review: this was NOT a BBC production) and then on A&E here in the US. The production values are great, the stories/plots exciting and the acting compelling.

UPDATE: The price on Amazon UK has been increased. The new price (2/21/05) is $129. Still a great deal cheaper than for the US Region 1 release..

Ok, so some of you guys who read the books first, were disapointed with this miniseries. GET OVER IT!

As a person who was introduced to Sharpe via these movies, I have to say they are absolutely FANTASTIC! Sean Bean IS Sharpe! They are a great way to get to know the period, the characters, and the history. The cast is fantastic, the costumes are authentic, and yes the production is low budget, but so what. That "BBC Charm" is part of the over all effect, and adds to that dirty, desperate, rag-tag feel that was authentic of the British army at that time. A big buget "Lord of the Rings" production isn't always the way to go, and would have harmed more then helped in this case. Film brings many pluses, that books can't. For example, the many songs and accents which only a cast of top british, irish, french, spanish, etc can provide.

These movies have produced a fantatical Sharpe fan in me, and if they can do that, then they are definately worthy of the Sharpe name.

"Over the hills and faraway..."

This is a BBC TV mini series based somewhat loosely on Bernard Cornwall's Sharpe's series of Napoleonic war fictional history. This is not a large budget Hollywood production on the lines of Lord of the Rings. If that's understood and you enjoy war fictional history I'm sure you will find it an entertaining series. Perhaps the best way to characterize the series is as a play shot in locations over eastern Europe. Despite the minimal budget, the cast of actors do well in portraying life in Wellington's army. Sean Bean as the main character "Richard Sharpe" makes an especially convincing portrayal.

Expensive? Sure. But if you're not impatient, you'll find a good price. Is the wooden crate important? No, of course not. But you'll probably love it even if it doesn't fit on your DVD shelf.

Price and production values are not what Shape's about. There are heroes and terrible villians, high lords and lowlifes, horseguard and rifemen, buffoons and ballads. It's about the stories! Wonderful stories you'll enjoy seeing again and again. Follow Sharp's climb through the ranks, through dangerous, impossible missions, and you'll end up caring about every ragtag rifleman in his company, even Isaih Tongue. And every time you hear these lyrics, you'll be so glad you bought it:

Ore the Fields, and Ore the Maine
Thru Flanders Portugal, and Spain,
King George commands, and we obey.
Over the hills and far away

There is something special about this series of made for TV movies. Despite the low budget, which forced the producers to move away from move accurately mirroring the original books, the movies are a class act with near perfect characterizations. Sean Bean certainly plays Richard Sharpe to a tee, as does Daragh O'Malley with Sergeant Patrick Harper. I sat down and watched each film at least twice and I'll no doubt watch them again. Even my wife, never a fan of anything remotely to do with this genre, enjoyed them immensely. I rarely buy movies of any kind, especially when they cost a small fortune buying them in a bundled package, but these were worth every penny.

Spielberg or Lucus take note: this would be a fabulous series to take to the big screen with modern digital special effects. This time period, with Lord Wellington and the Napoleonic wars in particular, is a large missing link in historical moving making.

I am a big fan of the entire Napoleonic historical fiction genre, and of the Sharpe's book series in particular. (I actually saw the entire film series before I cracked one of the books.)

These movies are LOW budget TV efforts, but they do allow you to put a face, or a uniform, or a tactic in a new perspective, and to understand a little more about history. Sean Bean is a perfect choice for Sharpe. He manages to convey just the right mix of jaded, seen-it-all expert, with the fish out of water bumpkin, and then layers on a "screw-you-guys,-I'll-do-it-anyway" vibe to top it all off.

The movies deviate significantly and unnecessarily on many of the major plot points. Sharpe's Gold in particular is a dissappointment, doing away with the books plot entirely and substituting something that plays like a bad, back-fitted Star Trek episode.

However, my big complaint is with the pricing point for the series. There are 14 installments (the 15th DVD is apparently a montage-type review of the whole series) of about 9-100 minutes each of low-budget, TV-quality viewing, or only about 23 hours. Plus these movies are already pretty old. I don't think you can name another similar vintage TV offering that is asking for this kind of cash/hour. (Heck, the Monty Python set has older material, twice as much stuff, almost the same number of DVD's and all for only about 60% of the price).

The set fails to even be a bargain compared to buying disks individually. This is a drawback for people who have already purchased just one or two of the movies individually (and most of the fans of the series already have). I don't think I'd be out of line to suggest that this set shouldn't be more than 150-175$US.

I'll put a plug here in opposition to creative packaging. If I can't fit it on my DVD shelves, it gets thrown away. Spare the stupid crate, and save us all $10.00 and some wasted effort.

Still, these movies manage to be worth watching if you are in any way interested or even curious in the era, and I do recommend watching them, but I can't honestly say that they're worth this price.

I actually AM a fan of the British writer Bernard Cornwell's masterful Sharpe book series (note: that's Sharpe with an E - how could an alleged fan of the books misspell the hero's name???) and I think Sean Bean is excellent as Richard Sharpe, the clever, daring soldier who, against all odds, always "lives to march again" during the Napoleonic Wars. Sean Bean truly brings the British character to life.

If I had $300 I would buy this special edition box/crate set immediately, because this really is a classic series. Poirot's Hugh Laurie plays a dignified and fairly amusing Wellington, but the Riflemen, Sharpe's soldiers, are the real comic relief. And listen for the electric guitar riffs in the opening theme - it's hilariously anachronistic.

As an amateur historian whose favourite period is the first half of the 19th Century, I had read all the published Sharpe novels before the BBC started to film them. (Unfortunately, we've moved so often in the past few years, I have been unable to keep the books.) Be that as it may, does it really matter if the programmes do not exactly follow the books? Surely it is FAR more important that the clothes, uniforms, muskets and rifles, and mores of the characters be correct than that some passage has been left out. I'm waiting for my set with bated breath.

I love the series both as the books and the films. Of course, this being BBC, you can tell that they were budget constrained when a regiment now consists of 6 or 7 men. Some of the video transfer quality to Blu-Ray is less than stellar as well. But overall, an enjoyable product and the placement in a mini-ammo crate is a lot of fun and I even use the letter opener. Lots of fun and well worth the money.