No post yet for Parade’s End, so I thought I’d start one. What were your impressions?
Personally, I was quite surprised to see Al Capone in it. 
J.
Nice review in the New York Times (link goes to article for those with quotas).
The series is my favorite since Deadwood; perfectly cast and brilliantly adapted from the novel. Rebecca Hall and Benedict Cumberbatch are absolutely wonderful as Sylvia and Christopher Tietjens.
I just heard about it yesterday and was interested because of Cumberbatch, so I’m DVRing it and will probably watch them this weekend.
I brought a copy of the (very thick) book to re-read last fall when I heard that this was going to be on BBC and, later, HBO. I don’t have HBO, but have put the series in my Netflix queue to watch when it becomes available. I’m curious to know what people who’ve read the book think of it.
I heard about the project summer before last; so I purchased a one volume edition of the tetralogy & devoured it. The beauty of the language & unexpected humor led me through slight initial difficulties with the style; I figured I’d be reading it again. I have–plus more works by & about Ford Madox Ford. (And about the period–in other words “All the interesting stuff Fellowes left out of Downton.”)
So I TunnelBeared my way to seeing it on BBC & bought the UK DVD’s. (Of course I have an all-region player–I’m a *Sherlock *fan!) The show is delightful–serious & witty at the same time, with an amazing cast & beautiful production values.
In his introduction to the script. Tom Stoppard expressed his own love of the book–but stressed the budget limitations. The budget was quite large–but only so much of four books could be fit into five hours. (Stoppard would have gladly written more.) His work is a variation on FMF’s themes–with some scenes straight from the book, others adapted and a few invented. One reviewer was angry that watching the show did not replicate the experience of reading a great modernist masterpiece. Of course not! For that, you* read* that masterpiece–or read it again.
Me, too. Even more with Richard Harrow.
It was shown over here about six months ago (HBO put up a chunk of the money, the BBC the rest and the latter made it).
Hmm, I wish I liked it as much as you sense it likes itself. It grew on me for sure but … well, I do have some issues with director Susanna White. It’s certainly intelligent.
I liked it although I found the dialogue hard to follow. One question I have for those who have read the novels (or maybe caught it in the dialogue) is why was it just taken for granted that Mark Tietjens wasn’t going to marry and have an heir? He didn’t look that old and it seemed that Christopher went from second son/no real prospects to being the obvious next in line for Groby House and Michael after him.
Plot synopsis please?
Wikipedia has an episode summary of the TV series. Also, quite complete synopses of each novel in the tetralogy; start here.
I quite enjoyed it but had a few issues with Tom Stoppard’s script. However, after I actually read the script I realized that he handled those issues a bit better than the version finally screened. For example, he showed us more about Valentine & why she appealed to Tietjens. The actress was quite beautiful & seems a sweet girl; could she not handle aspects of the role as written?
In the promotional material, I heard the director exclaim how Parade’s End is a very, very difficult book. It really isn’t; it’s modernist but Ford didn’t go as far as his pal Jimmy Joyce. Could the director have better visual than verbal intelligence?
Still, I enjoyed the show for the beautiful (or effective in the unbeautiful trenches) production and the mostly excellent performances. I only wish it could have been longer. (In the preface to his script, Tom Stoppard recounts the long, agonizing process of getting funded; he would have gladly written more than five hours.)
Maybe they aren’t mentioned in the series, but there were other sons between Mark and Christopher who died and brought Christopher (the youngest) into sudden and unexpected prominence. Mark has a mistress whom he is very much attached to but has no intention of marrying, but because of her has no intention of marrying anyone else either… I won’t spoil how that turns out.
It’s a good series but just falls flat in the last episode.
Watched the first two eps last night. Cumberbundsandwich is such an odd looking guy, that I find it hard not to keep looking at his mouth. Also, he talks with a mouth full of marbles. Otherwise, it’s not bad.
Cumberbatch wore some kind of appliance in his mouth to make his face fuller (and padding under his clothes). Tietjens is supposed to be fat & he’d just done Sherlock, so he didn’t have time to put on a bunch of weight. He abandoned the “disguise” for the later episodes, perhaps reasoning that his time at the front will have slimmed him down.
Some of us like his mouth. Smiling widely here, after today’s run-through for the next series of Sherlock…
Susanna White, the director, also saw to ‘amend’ Stoppard’s structure on occasion, not just the script but scenes as well.
As above, I do admit to having some issue with this director since Generation Kill.
As I was telling friends over the weekend, I was surprised last fall when I heard that Cumberbatch was playing Christopher Tietjens. Christopher is consistently described along the lines of a “lumpy sack of potatoes”–not the first thing that comes to mind re Cumberbatch’s figure. 
I read Stoppard’s script for Parade’s End. To make four novels fit into the five hours allowed by the budget, he removed some scenes from the book(s), added others & switched around various bits of the story. Alas, some small but important bits of his script did not make it to the screen–mostly, those telling us more about Valentine…
The director has a good eye. But her insistence in the “making of” feature that the book is “very, very difficult” made me wish she’d been more faithful to Stoppard’s version of Ford’s story.
Still, I definitely enjoyed the series. It repays repeated viewing. (And Cumberbatch came across as graceless & somewhat clumsy–especially in the early episodes–even if he wasn’t fat enough!)
It’s more the scenes she - the director - added that suggests a certain … confidence. I’m sure Sir Tom Stoppard was greatly relieved to have his work improved for him.
Agree, it’s an impossible task to represent the books in 5-hours of screen time. I guess you need someone like Stoppard to make sure some of the essence remains in the distillation.