Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The news that Mr. and Mrs. Benedict Cumberbatch have named their son Christopher made me automatically think "Yay! They named him after Chrissy Tietjens!" Which they probably didn't. But Chrissy is a worthy namesake, a modest, virtuous and capable man who represents everything that the English aristocracy is supposed to stand for-- which is why his fellow aristocrats, especially his sleazy wife Sylvia, resent him with such insane violence. It's also one of Benedict's best screen roles--the quintessential Cumberbatchian eccentric genius, you could say, though really there's no such thing, Benedict being one of those actors who creates a new character each time rather than just doing the same thing in part after part (which he's been accused of doing by people who saw him in "Sherlock" or "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" and just don't see what all the fuss is about.)I've seen this series twice now, once when it was new and again after reading Ford Madox Ford's "Parade's End" cycle of novels, and I think that the only thing that prevented this TV adaptation from being successful was the decision to basically falsify Ford's original conception of Sylvia, changing her from the sadistic personality-disordered monster she is in the novels (among other things, she beats a dog to death, terrorizes her child, and tries to trample her ex-husband's pregnant wife with a horse) to just a poor little rich girl who's sulky and irritable because she doesn't have enough to do. That's how Rebecca Hall plays her, and though her performance is one of the few things people liked about this series, it irritates me so much that I mostly fast-forwarded through her bits the second time through. A friend of mine who loves "Downton Abbey" felt personally insulted by Benedict for a comment he made about "Parade's End" being more serious than that. Well, I avoided "Downton" for the reason that it just looked like more landed gentry porn to me (I didn't tell my friend this) and I like this series because it's so intelligent and authentic and non-pandering (aside from the ponification of Sylvia.)

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (yes, that's his full name) has been busy. Between filming episodes of Sherlock Holmes, he worked elsewhere starring in this interesting and entertaining series entitled Parade's End. The story is based on a series of novels by Ford Maddox Ford.Benedict plays the character of Christopher Tietjens in five episodes. After one indiscretion, his life takes an unexpected turn when he meets a woman on a train. She seduces him, and they end up copulating quite wildly in their private quarters. He deposits his seed into Sylvia on a one-train stand and ends up marrying her after she declares the child in her pregnant womb belongs to him. The entire affair is questionable because of her many lovers, but Christoper does what he does best--the right and proper thing.He is not a man that is necessarily well liked and is socially awkward. The relationship with his family members is poor, he's the object of gossip, and appears to have trouble communicating his feelings. However, he is intelligent, and works at the Imperial Department of Statistics crunching numbers. In his spare time, he reads the encyclopedia and jots down corrections to the content in the sidelines of the book.Sylvia, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. She's not exactly the stellar wife. To her shame she parties, flirts with men, and ends up having an extramarital affair. She blames her motives for living on the wild side on Christopher, who is the picture of perfection. She loathes him and his values, and is determined to destroy him one way or the other. In fact, she seems to treat all her men with disdain. When she leaves Christoper for another man because she's bored, abandoning even her son, Christopher keeps the proverbial stiff upper lip and parades before society, friends, and family that all is well. He refuses to divorce, because he's a good Catholic. You just don't do those things. You bear it. Live with it. And parade onward.However, during his wife's escapades with another man, Christopher meets Valentine Wannop, played by Adelaide Clemens. She is young, intelligent, and a suffragette. It's one of those love at first sight moments for the two of them. Unfortunately, he's too proper to do anything about it even though they keep running into each other exchanging heartfelt glances and having pleasant conversation. When they are not in each other presence, they daydream of being lovers, but Christopher cannot cross that line.Eventually, Sylvia returns to Christopher, after having a spot of remorse. She turns to religion, though you don't believe there's an ounce of purity in her conniving mind.World War I breaks out, and the series takes a diversion toward wartime and life in the trenches. However, during this period of time, Christopher begins to change for the better. He becomes a stronger man who leads, and finally realizes that times are changing. It's no longer necessary to parade around as if life is peachy and all can be handled. The parade has ended, and he needs to do what is right for him as an individual--even if that means making immoral choices in order to find love and happiness.It's a fairly good series, and you'll find that Benedict is not the Sherlock Holmes you know. The portrayal of this character is vastly different, but also extremely convincing and well done. He looks rather dashing in his military uniform with blond hair. You'll also enjoy the Edwardian fashions worn by Sylvia, the manipulating wife.Parade's End is streaming on Amazon Prime for free. You might want to check it out. Only negative point is that I don't seem to be the only one complaining that you cannot understand what is being said about 10% of the time. Sometimes Benedict talks very fast, and it's difficult to catch the words with that thick British accent. On the other hand, it just might be poor sound quality on behalf of the producers of this film.

I'm sure that HBO marketing execs were relieved that, if they were going to get behind a 5-part series based on Ford Madox Ford's complex and not terribly well known 20th-century masterpiece, at least some of it would be set in a stately home in the north of England, like that other show about the downtown abbey. Ford's a great one for interior monologue and multiple points of view and such, but Tom Stoppard's masterly adaptation channels the great muddy river of his prose into a lively, involving narrative—though there's still enough time-shifting and flashbacking, even some Eisenstein-style montage, to do honor to Ford's avant-garde intentions. Considering what difficult material he's dealing with, it's one of the best TV adaptations ever! Benedict Cumberbatch has always done well in period films, and he seems like the only possible choice for Christopher Tietjens, a self-styled 18th-century gentleman (the time period of the series is roughly 1908-19) and omniscient civil servant, but obstinate, brusque and arrogant as well (maybe even a little like Sherlock?). Rebecca Hall is riveting and surprisingly sympathetic as Tietjens's deceitful wife, Sylvia, and Aussie actress Adelaide Clemens is a revelation as Valentine, the virginal suffragette he meets and falls in love with in two of the series's most powerful scenes. (Tietjens and Sylvia, though usually at cross-purposes, are determined not to divorce—it's complicated….)Tietjens is described by one of his wife's admirers as a "bloody great bolster" of a man—BC didn't have time to bulk up for the part, obviously—but he emerges as a poignant, even romantic, figure, with only the memory of the night he falls in love with Valentine to sustain him through six years of frustration, disappointment and danger. Perhaps it's easy to see why some viewers didn't find this storyline or this character very "relatable."Long story short, '"Parade's End" isn't as accessible as an original costume drama devised for a contemporary audience, like "Downton," but it's decidedly worth watching. We didn't have a problem with BC's enunciation, but some of the dialogue, especially in the scenes with excited Welsh soldiers in the trenches, is admittedly not so easy to follow. (Next time we'll try the subtitles.) Great cinematography; kudos to the first-rate British cast, with special mention to Stephen Graham as Tietjens's fair-weather friend Macmasters and Rufus Sewell in a Pythonesque turn as a sex-crazed clergyman. An interview with Stoppard on disc two sheds some light on his process.

I don't like watching series or movies based on the wars but I watched this because of Benedict Cumberbatch and I have fallen in love with this series. I have not read the novels or have any idea about the writer but if the books are even half as good as the TV adaptation, they must be a must- read. Christopher Teijens is a brilliant, very committed and decent gentleman. He has a wife who cheats on him and he is love with a girl. At the backdrop is the world war 1. If you are looking for a story, there is not much of it but the true star of the show is the direction, cinematography, amazingly poetic dialogues and unblemished acting by the whole cast. The music compliments the settings and the backdrop very well. Benedict Cumberbatch has shown the world how talented he is. Flawless acting, deep emotions and superb voice modulations. Rebecca Hall and Adelaide Clemens have made the characters of Sylvia and valentine unforgettable.Don't watch this if you are a fan of fast paced action. This is for patient, connoisseurs of literature and romantics. Watch it for intelligent viewership.