VividSimon Simply Perfect

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Console best movie i've ever seen.

emuir-1 The distillation of James Clavell's rich and intricate book into a six hours mini series meant that much of the detail and some minor characters had to be cut, along with at least one major thread, that of the espionage network, which was only touched upon by the exposure of one spy, and the unresolved gun running. The mini series could have used another two hours to fully develop the espionage network involving Britain, Mainland China and Russia planting sleepers, and double agents. Watering down the espionage plot resulted in the intelligence official Crosse being a one-note character. I guess we can be thankful that it was not a two hour movie! The TV version differed from the book in that Ian Dunross was a widower, rather than a happily married man, which allowed him an unnecessary affair with Casey. and it was moved forward from pre-Vietnam 1963 to the 80's, when the cold war was not quite so cold and the fear of what would happen when Hong Kong was returned to China was not quite so acute. I will admit that Deborah Raffin was well cast as the tall loud and brash American woman trying to make it in a man's world, but I could not resist the urge to fast forward her scenes. What became of Philip Chen, last seen threatening to deal with the theft of the half coin in a Chinese Way? We never saw him again. Other than the truncated storyline, my only problem was with the insipid art design. I found the bleached out look of the European homes, hotels, and any scene in which Deborah Raffin appeared very disconcerting. When a blonde woman wearing white or cream is in a room with white or cream furniture, neutral carpets and very pale green walls, with men in cream colored clothing, the whole scene has an anemic look as well as making her merge into the couch. At the first party, Casey Tcholok is described in the book as wearing a deep emerald green dress, not white silk as shown. The emerald dress would have made her stand out, which is what she was meant to do. I have watched both the VHS tape and the vastly superior DVD, and even on the low quality tape found the art design poor.The DVD was brilliantly sharp, to the point where you could see the hair dye and artificial grey streaks. Overall, the sumptuous look, other than the aforementioned, was a feat for the eyes, especially the views of Hong Kong, the race course and the beautiful gardens, and the crowded harbor life.

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.

Collaroy-Beach As I said in the beginning, I think this mini-series is actually quite okay. But pitched against the novel, it doesn't stand a chance since I think the book was Clavell's greatest and I really loved it. But how could a TV-mini-series ever compete with a book that is so complex and has so many important story lines?The producers decided to half-sacrifice the espionage plot, but I thought that's acceptable. The only thing I didn't like was the fact Casey doesn't seem to be in love with Linc (she seems rather concerned about his friendship and the business matters) but goes for Ian instead. This is a huge deviation from the book since that complicated love story between Casey and Linc is just brilliant and explains their characters. Also Ian is being made a widower in order to accommodate Casey without adultery. And why's Peter Marlowe out?Put that aside, you have a really entertaining TV-Mini-Series that's able to go almost the same pace as the book, and actually captures quite well the basic essence of the novel. Shouldn't probably be too surprised at the good outcome since Clavell himself worked closely on the series. I rated it 8 / 10 and think that it's impossible to do any better with a novel like this.