The sweeping drama about the ruling and ruled classes of WWII India, trying amidst the turmoil to come to terms with the drastic changes taking place around them, knowing that their lives wi... Read allThe sweeping drama about the ruling and ruled classes of WWII India, trying amidst the turmoil to come to terms with the drastic changes taking place around them, knowing that their lives will never be the same again.The sweeping drama about the ruling and ruled classes of WWII India, trying amidst the turmoil to come to terms with the drastic changes taking place around them, knowing that their lives will never be the same again.
- Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 11 wins & 18 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAll the exteriors of India were shot on location in India, but all the interiors of the Indian buildings were shot some six months later and 5000 miles away in the studios of Granada TV in Manchester, causing continuity problems because some of the cast had put on or lost weight in the meantime.
- Quotes
Capt. Ronald Merrick: Are you one of those people who think that if you teach an Indian the rules of cricket he'll become an English gentleman?
Guy Perron: Hardly sir. I know quite a few English gentlemen who play cricket brilliantly but are absolute shits.
- ConnectionsEdited into Masterpiece: The Jewel in the Crown: Part 1 (1984)
My own views about this series have changed -- from good to better. A few years ago, I rented it and watched it over a couple days. I thought it was very good, a haunting, tragic story very well done. I realize now that I watched it then very literally, very matter-of-fact, and saw it mostly as a straightforward series of events in the lives of these people trying to cope with the turmoil of the last days of the British in India. I viewed it mostly as a sort of soap opera.
Recently I read all four of the books from which this story was taken, and what an illumination! These novels are brilliant, and I'm stunned with admiration for the talent of the writer, Paul Scott. So after turning the last page, I hot-footed it down to my local video store and rented the whole shebang AGAIN -- and this time saw it as a giant allegory, laden with symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony. The acting is top notch across the board -- you won't find better -- and it's visually striking. There are scenes in this movie that I'll never forget, in the same way the characters are haunted by them.
Instead of a meandering and random soap opera, I saw how event built upon event, how characters affected one another, how chance meetings changed lives, how it all slouched inexorably towards the climax -- or anticlimax -- of the devastating conclusion.
I am amazed at the skillfulness of the screenplay -- to compress those four novels and all their layers of complexity into this TV series. It really is astonishing how the *intent* and *spirit* of the story is communicated... it's not bashing you over the head, but it's *implied*.
I love how the story does not spoon-feed you. I love how the characters don't make sense and we must puzzle them out for ourselves. We're left with a hundred questions about why they did what they did, and I will enjoy speculating about that for years to come. (If you like pat answers, steer clear of this one.)
I loved this series, I intend to buy the videos, and I highly recommend it.
- m_white
- Mar 11, 2000
Details
- Runtime56 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1