Product: Brideshead Revisited [VHS] (1982)
Rating: 5.0
Better than ever
I owned this on VHS and have just purchased the 25th anniversary edition on DVD. It is still superb and beautifully transferred to the new format; the colors are lavish, the photography as if it were filmed yesterday.My only criticism is on one of the DVD features, a narration that includes Jeremy Irons. Whereas on the other narrated episode, Anthony Andrews's comments are engaging, enthusiastic, detailed, and sounding like a labor of love, Irons's comments (along with the director and co-star Diana Quick) are minimal, vague, occasionally mere grunts, and, clearly he couldn't wait for the session to be finished.He had no recall of working with Andrews prior to Brideshead, but I can remember that they worked together on the BBC's Palliser series.A small detail,but illustrative of Irons's complete lack of interest in his commentary. He simply couldn't be bothered. But that's real life.The series is the very best that television has ever produced; the story is of a bygone era, so the passage of 25 years since the filming is irrelevant.The production values were ahead of their time in any case.Don't miss owning this.