Sword of Honour (TV 2001)

Guy Crouchback,heir to a declining English Roman Catholic family returns to England from Italy at the start of World War Two and joins the Royal Corps of Halberdiers,along with various ... See full summary »

Director:

Bill Anderson

Writers:

William Boyd, Evelyn Waugh (novel)

Stars:

Will Adamsdale, Nick Bartlett, Christopher Benjamin

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Will Adamsdale	...	HOO headquarters officer
Nick Bartlett	...	Popforce soldier
Christopher Benjamin	...	Doctor
Jane Bertish	...	Mme Kanyi
Peter Blythe	...	Gen. Graves
Nicholas Boulton	...	Bertie
Monica Brady	...	Hotel receptionist
Tim Briggs	...	Sgt. Glass
Selina Cadell	...	Angela Crouchback
Rebecca Cardinale	...	Italian woman
Katrin Cartlidge	...	Julia Stitch
Simon Chandler	...	Maj. Irvine
Josh Cole	...	Sapper Capt. Beech
Richard Coyle	...	Trimmer McTavish
Daniel Craig	...	Guy Crouchback

Storyline

Guy Crouchback,heir to a declining English Roman Catholic family returns to England from Italy at the start of World War Two and joins the Royal Corps of Halberdiers,along with various eccentrics though his attempts to get back with his wife Virginia,from whom he is separated,fail. After being implicated in a colleague's death he is sent to train a commando brigade on a Scottish island and ends up on Crete,taking part in its evacuation and escaping to Egypt with fellow officers Ludovic and Ivor Claire. He is returned to England courtesy of Mrs Stitch to possibly prevent him from naming Claire as a deserter. Guy marries Virginia a second time by which timer she has a child by ex-lover Trimmer. Whilst Guy is in Yugoslavia having a confusing time with the partisans Virginia is killed,along with Guy's uncle Peregrine,by a doodlebug bomb. Guy returns to England after getting involved in charitable agencies and eventually remarries.

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Official Sites:

Channel 4 [uk]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 January 2001 (UK)

Also Known As:

En busca del honor

Company Credits

Production Co:

TalkBack Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

191 min 191 min (2 parts)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

Guy's character changes in rank in various scenes. for example he is a Lieutenant when sent on his second two days leave, when he returns early (after falling out with his ex wife) he's on the train clearly wearing the pips of a captain. Then reverts back to being a Lieutenant, until he's a Captain again when off the coast of Africa, reverting to a Lieutenant again when posted back to London (possibly a demotion there), but in the next scene on arrival in Scotland, he's once again a Captain.

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Connections

Version of Sword of Honour (1967)

User Reviews

Much, much better than we'd any right to expect.

'Sword of Honour' can be seen as an update of the Boultings' 'Pilgrim's Progress' - an anachronistic idealist fights in World War Two for reasons of chivalric honour, only to see the world overrun by liars, cheats, murderers, cowards and lunatics; where decency is pointless, even dangerous.

William Boyd's restructuring of Waugh's war trilogy is a miracle of adaptation - his leavening of verbal humour with slapstick; his capturing of Waugh's elliptical tone; his creation of haunting visual patterns acting as counterpoint to the horrific satire that is the war. There is one haunting sequence amid so much disintegration, the false bomb warning during Virginia's post-natal party, that magically hints at forces beyond man's self-defeating endeavour, while also rescuing a character Waugh was rather hard on. In the moral sense.