Fortunes of War [VHS]
![Fortunes of War [VHS]](/images/Fortunes-of-War-VHS-6302430763-L.jpg)
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Product details
Actor: Charles Kay, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Drewry, Ronald PickupEdition: VHS Tape
Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 350 minutes
Release Date: 1993-01-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox
VHS Movie Reviews of Fortunes of War [VHS]
Movie Review: All's fair in love and war
Summary: 4 Stars
I had never heard of this movie (or the novels on which it was based) before running across it in my local video store, but fortunately (no pun intended) it provided two solid evenings of entertainment. While populated by unlikely characters who at times border on caricatures and keep turning up under even more unlikely circumstances, its strength is in the depiction of Mr. and Mrs. Pringle and the evolution of their relationship under the pressures of WWII.Branagh is perfect for most of the film as the charismatic and socially promiscuous Guy, of whom one aquaintance jokes, "Two men met in a bar. They didn't know each other, but they both knew Guy Pringle." However, his portrayal becomes a bit shaky once the unflappable Brit Lit professor is finally forced to face the prospect of his greatest conceivable loss.
Thompson is simply excellent as the more reserved Harriet, who finds to her dismay that her husband not only preaches socialism and the love of mankind but also lives it, with the result that he has little time or attention left over for her. He assures her when confronted that he loves her, but it appears to Harriet and the audience that what he loves is her unflagging willingness to understand and accomodate him. Happily, by the end we all appreciate Harriet's other qualities: her humor, spirit, courage, and compassion.
Rupert Graves also stands out as the eager young soldier living in the shadow of his elder brother. The scene in which Guy first visits him in the hospital following a devastating injury is probably my favorite in the film.
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Summary of Fortunes of War [VHS]
"Wherever we are, that will always be the center of things." So professor Guy Pringle reassures his new wife, Harriet. Unfortunately, where they are is Bucharest in 1939, with the Nazis gathering on the border, and fascism casting longer, darker shadows. Thus begins this epic 1987 miniseries based on Olivia Manning's Balkan and Levant trilogies that was originally broadcast in the United States on Masterpiece Theatre. For most Americans, it was an auspicious first look at England's glamorous former First Thespian couple, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, who, as one character notes of Harriet, "lightens the darkness." Fortunes of War suggests what Casablanca might have been like had it followed Victor and Ilsa instead of Rick, who famously didn't want to stick his neck out for anybody. Not Guy. "I want to do something more dramatic than lecturing," he proclaims. "It is our duty to shine a little light to hope someone notices." His activities are enough to put him on a Nazi death list, forcing Guy and Harriet to Greece and Egypt. "It isn't a lark," Guy tells Harriet early on, "but it is an adventure." Fortunes of War is populated by colorful characters, most notably the pitiable and decidedly untrustworthy Prince Yakimov (Ronald Pickup), and the dashing young soldier Simon Boulderstone (Rupert Graves of The Forsythe Saga and A Room with a View). There is plenty of intrigue, betrayals, domestic melodrama, and emotional separations and reunions to propel this nearly seven-hour production to its powerful conclusion. Readers of Manning's books and Branagh and Thompson fans will find the release of War good fortune indeed. --Donald LiebensonMovies most talked about in Video Genres
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