SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

PodBill Just what I expected

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

pchdream Noble House based on James Clavells novel was a hit mini series way back in the eighties and it still retains all the magic that made it compulsive viewing then. A first rate plot, the fabulous Hong Kong location, a brilliant production team and a cast headed by Pierce Brosnan and John Rhys- Davies. The newly released Blu Ray version is stunning and adds a new dimension altogether to the hugely impressive visual quality, with its vibrant colours and crystal clear focus. I have waited for years for this to be released on DVD and had almost given up hope it would ever happen. I believe that it would attract a whole new generation of fans if re-released and I strongly recommend it.

pekinman Recently I decided I needed to read a mindless potboiler so I picked up James Clavell's Noble House. It's not great literature but he was a good writer and knew what he was talking about with all his experience as an old Asia hand. I got through 1000+pages and then got weary of a plot that was growing more and more predictable. I hopscotched my way through the last 200 or so pages, just for the record, and to find out if my hunches about the ending were correct. They were. Then I decided to get a cheap copy of the mini-series, and I'm glad it was cheap.What I didn't realize was that this televised adaptation was a Dino de Laurentis production. What I found upon watching it was an excruciatingly long Asian version of 'Dallas' or 'Knots Landing'. The casting was pretty well done but as good as some of them were they couldn't do anything with the banal dialogue and the foreshortened story line with many characters omitted entirely. This didn't surprise me as any filmed undertaking of such a long involved novel is probably doomed from the start as far as presenting a complete version of the story.The resulting TV show was like one of those crib books we used to buy in college to get us through tests on books we hadn't read. The skeleton was there, almost, but none of the guts. Another constant irritant was the saccharin and formulaic music of Paul Chihara, which surprised me because he is a fine composer, as a rule. The location shots were repeated over and over and almost none of the glamour and glittering energy of Hong Kong was captured on film. The whole production was more like a grade school travelogue than an adult drama set in one of the most intriguing cities in the world.However, no expense was spared on the set designs, costumes and automobiles, but the rest was pure Hollywood pabulum. On paper Pierce Brosnan might have seemed a good choice for the Tai- pan, Ian Dunross. In actuality he was far too young. The character in the book was low-key, but intense. Brosnan catches that aspect of Dunross well, but the script is so limiting that he, as good an actor as he is, could do little to create a three-dimensional human being. But he looks sensational and that is what really mattered, I suppose.Deborah Raffin is very good as K.C. and she has more success in her role. Ben Masters looks the part of Linc Bartlett but is also hobbled by the script. Of the rest there are some very effective, though futile, performances by Gordon Jackson, Dudley Sutton, John Rhys-Davies and Julia Nickson. Tia Carrere's role as Venus Poon is so hacked about that she is simply left with a prop in the form of a toy poodle to haul around, in lieu of any meaningful part in the story, beyond going to bed with several old men and getting squished, presumably, in the final cataclysmic landslide that neatly kills off several of the leading players.The producers of this sprawling story have reduced it to a boy meets girl love story with an auxiliary boy meets girl love story. They've jettisoned the Tai-pan's wife and kids so that he can be a love interest for K.C. The Russian spy angle is dumped altogether.Basically, then, what we're left with are several bedroom scenes, very tepid they are too, and a big fire on a restaurant boat, a horse race and a mudslide. It is all very tedious.This mini-series was a complete waste of time.

Zorissima The 1980's – when the west still dominated the world, and the broadcast nets dominated television, and we still used word processors and didn't have Blackberries. "Noble House" epitomizes the glorification of the corporate CEO that came in with the Reagan decade, with the concomitant glamor of large, organized criminal activity a la "Miami Vice," plus international espionage intrigue with Mainland China, just across the way. It makes for an excellent television mini-series – very high quality production (that sometimes jarring sound track is typical of that era too), lots of money spent, a talented and handsome cast, gorgeous wardrobes, fascinating locale. 1997, when the Brits would give up Hong Kong, the last of their empire, to China, looms throughout the series. Watching it 11 years after that became fact and history, rather than future potential, all of it involved with banks and corporate finance, it doesn't feel dated, but an excellent historical artifact, as well as excellent winter escape entertainment.

guffman32 We all know the wonderful Pierce Brosnan as agent 007 of her Majesty's Secret Service. Perhaps no actor has grasped Bond as well as Brosnan, excluding the magnificent and underrated George Lazenby.In "Noble House" Brosnan has not fully developed his current brilliant acting "chops" but his performance is a tour de force nonetheless. His portrayal of Ian Dunross, the new "taipan", is nothing short of astouning. Dunross is a formidable character both in and out of the boardroom, and bedroom for that matter as the dazzling Deborah Raffin learns later on (Casey). With an elegant arch of an eyebrow Brosnan conveys more emotion and feeling than most actors dream of in a career. Most impressive is Brosnan's golf swing on the links.Speaking of Links, Linc Bartlett is one of the more enjoyable characters to grace the silver screen as he romances the devishly seductive Claudia Chen. Hong Kong has not seen fireworks like this since the British gained control of the economy.Perhaps the most pleasant surprise is the work of Gordon Armstrong as gruff Superintendent Jackson, a gruff Scotland veteran who has seen too many capers to know that in high stakes market of Hong Kong, a big gain is usually followed by a huge loss in human life.Ooh I almost forgot the magnificent work of the always captivating John Rhys Davies who commands the screen like a Roman General, and I quote "The Ho-Pak, a smaller bank....let me offer you a chance to see how the market works, Casey....."Noble House is an instant classic that ages as well as the incomprehensible Brosnan. KUDOS TO THE ENTIRE CAST!!