Jul 5, 2023
Disraeli: The Great Game (1.3, ATV, 1978)
"Mary Anne, do not distress yourself; you know that whatever happens, you need never worry."
"I am not thinking about myself, don't you understand? I shall not always be here, my money dies with me. What will you do when I'm gone?"
"I cannot imagine such an empty world."
#disraeli#disraeli: portrait of a romantic#atv#classic tv#claude whatham#david butler#ian mcshane#mary peach#rosemary leach#brewster mason#david de keyser#david wood#john carlisle#jeremy clyde#brett usher#barrie cookson#jeremy longhurst#penelope lee#jane lowe#wendy gifford#patrick drury#peter miles#my chief issue with this series continues to be that it presents an almost unreasonably sanitised picture of the people and the events it#is involved with; if anything it's only going further in that direction (the transition of rule in India to the crown is dealt with in two#minutes as a great idea by Dizzy) but what I can't fault are the scripts. each episode has dazzled with sparkling dialogue and this is no#different‚ and if it were a complete fiction about non existent persons I'd have much less to criticise. in particular the treatment of the#central romance between Dis and Mary‚ foregrounded in this ep as they grow older‚ is genuinely very touching and quite emotional#Rosemary Leach's Victoria hasn't quite the sharpness or insight of other portrayals and we see a different element of Disraeli in his overt#fawning and flattery of the royals (particularly Albert) in the early scenes of the episode. if this series has a villain then it's here he#comes into his own: Gladstone doesn't feature onscreen a whole lot but his vexxing difficulty is felt throughout the play by Dis and co
