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By
NICK ZEGARAC
John Jakes' "North and
South" has been dubbed television's "Gone with the
Wind." Though parallels between the two are
obvious from the Rhett and Scarlett-esque romance
between Orry Main (Patrick Swayze) and Madeline
Fabray LaMotte (Lesley-Anne Down) to the brazen
homage of Hattie McDaniel's Mammy in Olivia Cole's
Maum Sally, "North and South" treads the fine line
between fictionalized cotton fields and cavaliers
and hard core history.
This is a sweeping mini-series (particularly part
one) that follows the exploits of two men,
southerner Orry and northerner George Hazard
(James Read) during a series of consequences in
which each man must endure his opposing way of
life that will ultimately test and rip their
friendship apart. Kirstie Alley is employed to
good effect as abolitionist Virgilia Hazard. After
secretly marrying outside of her race, Virgilia's
downward spiral into madness is rather tragic and
haunting. So too is David Carradine's performance
as the despicable Justin LaMotte. The rest of the
cast reads like a veritable who's who of
celebrities: Gene Kelly as Sen. Charles Edwards,
Elizabeth Taylor as Madam Conti, Robert Mitchum
(Patrick Flynn), Hal Holbrook (playing no less
than Abraham Lincoln himself), Morgan Fairchild
(Burdetta Halloran), Johnny Cash (John Brown),
James Stewart (Miles Colbert) and Olivia
DeHavilland (Mrs. Neal). Basically, it's one heck
of a good show. Parts one and two are particularly
satisfying -- riding the crest of popularity and
rabid public fascination audiences had with the
mini-series following "The Thorn Birds." But by
the time part three came around there was little
interest or budget allocated to the third and
final chapter of this sweeping saga. Now Warner
Home Video delivers a definitive box set of this
TV tour de force.
Warner's transfer quality is particularly
pleasing, if dated. The picture exhibits a solidly
rendered quality with slightly weak colors, deep
blacks and nicely balanced contrast levels. Age
related artifacts exist, as do digital anomalies
but neither terribly distracts. The overriding
image quality is decidedly smooth for a production
of this vintage. The audio is Stereo Surround, but
it should be noted that television productions of
the '80s in general had a cheap and tinny
characteristic that was barely flattering then,
and is anything but complimentary now. Ergo, you
aren't getting this set to give your bass channels
a workout! There are no extras. |
