North & South |  | Actors: Daniela Denby-Ashe, Richard Armitage, Tim Pigott-Smith, Sinéad Cusack, Brendan Coyle
Studio: BBC Warner
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $18.97
as of 9/9/2010 07:47 CDT details
You Save: $11.01 (37%)
New (36) Used (10) from $18.97
Seller: pm3enterprises
Rating:  474 reviews
Sales Rank: 807
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Languages: English (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Discs: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 233 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 794051245328
ISBN: 1419821008
UPC: 794051245328
EAN: 9781419821004
ASIN: B000AYEL6U
Theatrical Release Date: July 2, 2005
Release Date: November 15, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A young woman is forced leave behind her priviliged rural lifestyle when her father moves the family to a northern working class town.
Amazon.com
North & South is a splendid, four-hour adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's 19th century novel about an unlikely, and somewhat star-crossed, love between a middle-class young woman from England's cultivated south and an intemperate if misunderstood industrialist in a hardscrabble, northern city. Daniela Denby-Ashe plays Margaret Hale, forthright and strong-willed daughter of a former vicar (Tim Pigott-Smith) who relocates his family from a pastoral village outside London to unforgiving, largely illiterate Milton, a factory town where John Thornton (Richard Armitage) and his mother (Sinead Cusack), survivors of poverty, rule their cotton mill with an iron hand. Thornton befriends Margaret's father but incurs her wrath for his severity with his workers. What she doesn't notice is Thornton's core sense of responsibility for his employees' welfare. On the other hand, he misinterprets some of Margaret's own actions and intentions. Equally stubborn, the two drag out their obvious attraction over many painful months and events. North & South's two leads are both very good, though Armitage's brooding, penetrating performance may very well be considered a classic one day. There are other wonders in the cast: Cusack and Pigott-Smith are superb, and Brendan Coyle is memorable as a firebrand union organizer who ultimately becomes an ally to a softening Thornton. The miniseries script by Sandy Welch is a persuasive mix of historical context and character study. Brian Percival's direction is full of moments that linger in the imagination, such as the winter-dream look of a busy cotton mill, with thousands of snowy fibers floating in the air. --Tom Keogh
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 474
A must see September 6, 2010
Mare0622 (CT)
BBC does it again. North & South is a great movie! Acting is flawless, great plot, and it just has everything. It has the Pride and Prejudice theme a bit where the two main characters have misguided judgement about one another. You have to see it yourself and you will be glad you watched it.
One if the best BBC adaptations yet! August 29, 2010
Writer's Block (Illinois)
I had rather low expectations of this miniseries, and was only going to watch the first few minutes to see if I liked it enough to watch the rest. Hours later, at one in the morning, I had somehow managed to watch the entire series!
This is the best miniseries I have seen on the small screen. The production values are top notch and feels close to the quality of a feature film. The cinematography is beautiful at times (e.g., the iconic scene where John Thornton is walking swiftly thru his mill with bits of cotton in the air resembling snow) the sets are wonderful, and the score is haunting. It's too bad the BBC isn't selling it.
The pacing of the plot leaves no areas where you're confused about the direction or point of certain scenes. The acting is wonderful and really tugs at you heart strings. Cusak's proud mother role steals any scene she is in, and Richard Armitage gives a performance that will be remembered along side Colin Firth's Darcy.
The only thing I wish is that we in the States were getting the European version of the DVD. The version released for Europe is widescreen, while state-side, we have to settle for the typical TV 4:3 aspect ratio.
Amazing.... August 29, 2010
Vicki Hopkins (Oregon)
Since I have an English ancestry of family members who came from northern England (Manchester) and were business tradesmen as well, I found this DVD series absolutely fascinating. I don't think I'll ever forget Margaret Hale's words:
"I wish I could tell you how lonely I am. How cold and harsh it is here. Everywhere there is conflict and unkindness. I think God has forsaken this place. I believe I have seen hell and it's white, it's snow-white."
It was an absolutely wonderful series. Richard Armitage was broodingly dreamy! Daniela Denby-Ash was a perfect fit for Margaret. The pair made a great iron-upon-iron relationship, that finally melted together in perfect harmony. The heartache of the poor, the mixture of class, the struggles of life in a time we often wish we could be part of, was done very well.
Needless to say, I loved the series. The ending was heartwarming, and the final relenting kiss of Margaret's lips upon the hand of the man she loved was priceless indeed.
I highly recommend this series. The book is just as good too!
Mr. Darcy Move Over! August 22, 2010
Deaux Anglophile (Donaldsonville, LA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I had read this book years ago and thought it a good book. This year I found the DVD on the list of things Amazon suggested I buy. I loved PRIDE & PREJUDICE, but NORTH & SOUTH is hands down the very best production I have ever seen. I have recommended it to all my friends.
This was so much richer than the book. It filled in the story line so very much, and I think it is better than the book by far. The great choices of Mr. Thorton and Miss Hale were inspired. The cinematograpy was excellent as was everything about this film. Many scenes were so memorable they are forever etched in my mind. One closeup of Mr. Thorton with his failed mill in the background was spectacular as was the one when Miss Hale opens the factory door for the first time, and there were many many more. The music was haunting and beautiful and forewarned you of what was to come.
If anyone is thinking of doing another remake of JANE EYRE, I suggest Richard Armitage for the part of Mr. Rochester--no one can brood like he can. Buy this DVD you won't regret it.
Tough-minded costume drama August 19, 2010
Alan A. Elsner (Washington DC)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This BBC costume drama is like "Pride and Prejudice" with guts and muscle. It tells the story of Margaret Hale, strong-minded daughter of a village vicar and John Thornton, tough northern mill owner. Hale's father refuses to sign a pledge of Church loyalty and is forced to leave his post. His family is uprooted from the beautiful countryside of the south of England, where life meanders on as it always has, to the tough, grimy, polluted northern mill town of Milton where Mr. Thornton and other masters are busy running the engine of the Industrial Revolution.
The author, Mrs Gaskell, who herself lived in both North and South, is unblinking in chronicling the hardship and cruelty of the "dark Satanic mills" including the degradations of child labor, dangerous machines, excessive hours, low wages and air polluted with cotton that coats the workers' lungs and sends them to early graves. She is remarkably fair mediating between workers trying to form a union that will protect some of their rights and ensure a fair wage and the owners engaged in cut-throat competition.
The acting is wonderful, especially by the two principals who have real chemistry. There is a kind of Pride and Prejudice about their affair, which begins as in Austen with a botched proposal and proceeds through a process in which they learn to respect and then to love one another. The secondary roles are also great, especially the redoubtable Sinead Cusack as Thornton's no-nonsense mother. There are moments of excessive melodrama and some of the plotting is clumsy but in general this is superior entertainment and highly recommended.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 474
|
|
|
