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DrDFox
Reviews
I, Claudius (1976)
Sublime theatre that ages well
This is a television great that has aged extremely well considering it was made nearly forty years ago.
The story is cleverly told as an autobiography of the emperor Claudius neatly covering the social, family and political comings and goings of the five emperor Julio-Claudian dynasty in which our storyteller's life spans: from the late reign of first Roman emperor Augustus to the imminent succession of the corrupt Nero.
Many used to modern productions may be disappointed in the lack of outside scenes, great cinematography or lavish production quality that modern movies give us, but the fact that I soon forgot about this was a testament to the pure theatre this whole series is an excellent example of. Sian Phillips portrayal of Livia Drusilis is chillingly perfect (and sowed the seed for the name of Livia being used for the wife of character Tony Soprano in a television series in later years) It is a great introduction to the social, family and political history of the dynasty. This is obviously from the perspective and bias of the title character, which in the point. Only the profoundly obtuse would see as a criticism.
For historical pedants, there might be some slightly annoying things and in one episode we are insultingly (or comically depending on your mood) treated to modern German accents being used by soldiers from Germanic Tribes. That and the generally weaker performances in the later episodes prevented me giving it a 10.
Moonfleet (2013)
Underwhelming
This recent version reunites Ray Winstone and Phil Daniels who carved out their early careers together in gritty British reality films Scum and Quadraphenia J. Meade Falkner's novel, on which this outing is based, was once a perennial favourite along among such classic family adventures as Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe. The 1956 movie deviated a long way from the original storyline and it took until 1984 for the three hour TV miniseries to do it any justice on screen. This included filming at the genuine castle at Carisbrooke featured in the book.
This latest version has less time to fill out detail, but has no than many feature films have managed to portray novels of similar length. The result is, however, a journey that moves though each part of the plot like a box ticking exercise to moved all too (implausibly) fast. The character development was shallow and, alongside the mediocre performances, left me with no feeling of empathy. Not all of me puts the blame on the acting though. The role taken on by Winstone is easily suited to his type cast manner and Aneurin Barnard is believable. I think the real problem for me was in the screenplay itself and the inane dialogue made available to the players. An underwhelming, but honest, four out of ten for me