Noble House (1988– )

Ian Struan Dunross is chairman of Struan & Co, the oldest and largest of the British-East Asia trading companies. To the Chinese, that also makes him "Tai-Pan" ("supreme leader") of the "... See full summary »

Stars:

Pierce Brosnan, Deborah Raffin, Ben Masters

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Pierce Brosnan	...	Ian Dunross (4 episodes, 1988)
Deborah Raffin	...	Casey Tcholok (4 episodes, 1988)
Ben Masters	...	Linc Bartlett (4 episodes, 1988)
John Rhys-Davies	...	Quillan Gornt (4 episodes, 1988)
Julia Nickson	...	Orlanda Ramos (4 episodes, 1988)
Khigh Dhiegh	...	Four Finger Wu (4 episodes, 1988)
Gordon Jackson	...	Supt. Armstrong (4 episodes, 1988)
Burt Kwouk	...	Philip Chen (4 episodes, 1988)
Nancy Kwan	...	Claudia Chen (4 episodes, 1988)
John Van Dreelen	...	Jacques DeVille (4 episodes, 1988)
Ping Wu	...	Paul Choy (4 episodes, 1988)
Kay Tong Lim	...	Brian Kwok (4 episodes, 1988)
Lisa Lu	...	Ah Tam (4 episodes, 1988)
Damien Thomas	...	Lando Mata (4 episodes, 1988)
Dudley Sutton	...	Commissioner Roger Crosse (4 episodes, 1988)
Ric Young	...	Tsu-Yan (4 episodes, 1988)
Tia Carrere	...	Venus Poon (4 episodes, 1988)
Steven Vincent Leigh	...	John Chen (4 episodes, 1988)
John Houseman	...	Sir Geoffrey Allison (4 episodes, 1988)
Denholm Elliott	...	Alastair Struan (4 episodes, 1988)
Harris Laskawy		(4 episodes, 1988)
Leon Lissek	...	Christian Toxe (4 episodes, 1988)
Keith Bonnard	...	Tip Tok-Toh (4 episodes, 1988)
Edward Petherbridge	...	Jason Plumm (4 episodes, 1988)
Bennett Ohta	...	Richard Kwang (4 episodes, 1988)
Brian Fong	...	Goodweather Poon (4 episodes, 1988)
Helen Funai	...	Mrs. Kwang (4 episodes, 1988)
Irene Tsu		(4 episodes, 1988)
David Shaughnessy		(4 episodes, 1988)
John Fujioka	...	Baldhead Kin (4 episodes, 1988)
Richard Durden	...	Havergill (4 episodes, 1988)
David Henry	...	Bruce Johnjohn (4 episodes, 1988)
George Innes	...	Travkin (4 episodes, 1988)
Choy-Ling Man	...	Mary Li (4 episodes, 1988)
Pip Miller	...	Inspector Smyth (4 episodes, 1988)
Duncan Preston	...	Pugmire (4 episodes, 1988)
Michael Siberry	...	Linbar Struan (4 episodes, 1988)
Vincent Wong	...	Lim Chu (4 episodes, 1988)
Galen Yuen	...	Smallpox Kin (4 episodes, 1988)

Storyline

Ian Struan Dunross is chairman of Struan & Co, the oldest and largest of the British-East Asia trading companies. To the Chinese, that also makes him "Tai-Pan" ("supreme leader") of the "Noble House". Unfortunately, with his power, he inherits ancient promises, dark secrets and deep financial problems on a small island full of people who want to see Struan's fall so they can become the Noble House. Dunross' worst enemy is the vicious Quillan Gornt, a lesser tai-pan, and he's doing everything in his power to bring the Noble House to ruin. Drawn into the fight between Gornt and Dunross is an upstart American billionaire who tries to gain a foothold on the Hong Kong market and has made a deal to steal something that will give him power, even over the Noble House. Unfortunately, that something has fallen into the hands of a powerful Chinese overlord. "Everybody was watching [and cheating on] everybody." Who will succeed in the end?

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Plot Keywords:

hong kong | tv mini series | china | communist infiltrator | british colonial | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 February 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

James Clavell's Noble House

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company Credits

Production Co:

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

355 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Struans was founded in 1841 and celebrates its 150th anniversary - meaning the miniseries takes place in 1991. Since the mini-series was broadcast in 1989, that makes it a 'future history' story and, by the strict definition, qualifies it as a science fiction film!

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Quotes

Ian Dunross: [speaking to Lim Chu, who had disabled Quillan Gornt's brakes] If I want some foreign devil's brakes buggered, I will order it. The Noble House has always maintained its pre-eminence by holding more honor than its competitors.

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Connections

Follows Tai-Pan (1986)

User Reviews

An excellent version of a classic book, marred by some poor casting

The film (mini-series) ia very creditable attempt to capture the essence of Clavell's masterful book. John Rhys-Davies is the epitomy of Quillan Gornt and Pierce Brosnan doesn't do too badly either, but I can't imagine why he would fall for Deborah Raffin as K C Cholok who is bland, colourless and does not come across as a tough-negotiating business woman. The film sticks closely to the book and only omits non-central to the story items - russian spies etc. Nancy Kwan is still gorgeous and Julia Nickson is lovely (pity her acting lets her down though). The film is well worth a look even with a few failings.