There was real potential for 'The Forsyte Saga' to be a good film. The casting did sound odd but with performances this talented there was a chance that they could have pulled it off. It was from a studio with so many classics under its belt. It looked incredibly handsome seeing its advertising and stills. The source material is absolutely brilliant, though did worry that because it is so rich it would not lend itself well to merely a feature length film.
Which were my feelings exactly when getting round to seeing 'The Forsyte Saga'. It is watchable and has a number of obvious good things, but with more consistent pacing and more suitable casting it could have been a winner but turned out to be instead an interesting and noble disappointment. Proof too that when it comes to adapting the source material for feature length it is best leaving it alone, and the vastly superior television series from the 60s showed that it works much better adapted as a serial/mini-series.
Good things are quite a few. It is a very handsomely mounted film, especially the quite exquisite photography and the costumes won an Oscar for good reason. The other best thing is Errol Flynn, this was courageous casting for a role he on paper sounded wrong for and would have been quite different for him. He however was one of the few actors that came off well, showing that he can do dramatic and less sympathetic roles and does so in an admirably restrained way. Walter Pidgeon is also charming.
Bronislau Kaper's score is lush and induces a lot of emotions. The main theme is one that is not easy to forget. Greer Garson has some affecting moments.
She also doesn't always look comfortable or like her heart was properly in it, Eleanor Parker would have been a better choice. Janet Leigh does her best and brings some charm but her role is practically a plot device and has nothing to it. Worst of it is a too old and far too cold Robert Young, who has no charm or likeability. The characters seemed underdeveloped, with the one exception being Soames. The direction seemed rather pedestrian.
Much of the script was very stilted and rambled. The film did need a longer length and more of the story elaborated upon and taking longer to unfold. There was no substance to the storytelling either, to me there was very little tension and emotion and it all feels undernourished. A tighter pace was also in order and there are similarly scenes that drag as a result of padding out material that works a lot better in mini-series format.
On the whole, watchable but there was a potentially good film in there somewhere that doesn't materialise. 5/10
