Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Expected more

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I had long heard of this program (never read any reviews) and had also always liked period pieces set in India, so I gave it a shot. The first two episodes were wonderful. Gloriously scripted and acted. It was then followed up by 12 or so episodes of wandering, poorly acted (for the most part) nonsense. I can only compare it to an afternoon soap opera. The dialogue, for the most part goes nowhere. In fact I think a majority of the dialogue consists of the following"care for a drink?" "Can I refresh your drink?" "How about another?" "We are meeting for dinner, would you care to join us?". "When is your train?" honestly...hours and hours and hours of this kind of stuff. Then, after they all sit down for supper and one character actually asks another character a question the view might want answered, the response will be "I prefer not to talk about that at dinner." As with most soap operas, you will also find. 100 different story lines that get started and never go anywhere and never get resolved....ever. Wooden actors...except for Dame Peggy (wonderful) and Charles Dance (who appears to be as frustrated with the storyline as you will be). Note actors in the first two episodes are good. It is as complete a waste of time as I have ever encountered. Note...the story line in the first two episodes basically ends after the first two episodes....it won't get anymore satisfactory than that.

Daphne Manners (Susan Wooldridge) is an orphan, having lost her father and brother in the early going of World War II. She travels to Mayapore, India to work in a local hospital and to visit her aunt who lives in a neighboring community. Unexpectedly, she meets Hari Kumar (Art Malik), an Indian gentleman who was raised in England from the age of two, at the best schools, but whose own father died and left him penniless. Although an alliance is strictly taboo at the time, the two of them fall in love. Soon after, Daphne is raped by hooligans and chief of police Ronald Merrick (Tim Pigott-Smith) wrongly arrests and tortures Kumar. With Gandhi already urging Indians to break away from Britain, the rape and bungled arrest serves as a lightning rod for acute trouble between the Brits and the Indian population. Meanwhile, Merrick becomes a rising star in the British army, two sisters, Sarah and Susan, search for personal happiness in the crumbling empire, a former missionary lady (Peggy Ashcroft) endures the loss of her greatest friend and, subsequently, her mind, because of prejudice, and Guy Perron (Charles Dance) becomes a witness to the lethal personality of Merrick. How will over "three hundred years" of British rule in India end? Did you say badly? This lengthy but outstanding series has really too many happenings to relate in a brief review. Yet, the relationship between Daphne and Hari is the springboard to everything else that occurs in this complex and lovely story. The British had, and still do have, much to offer the world as a civilization but its empire reached too far when it trampled under the basic rights of its conquered people and territories, as seen in this examination of India. All of the actors in this film are beyond compare, with Pigott-Smith a wonder as the evil and misguided police commander. The scenery is likewise breathtaking, the costumes are authentic to the times, and the cinematography is very beautiful. If you have any interest whatsoever in the history of the world, or in the basic struggle of the human race, you should make time for this monumental series, as soon as possible. It is a richly rewarding, touching and truthful look at a pivotal time in the history of mankind.

Saw the TV series first and then read all 4 books of the Raj Quartet. The books and the series are masterful and I have now purchased the DVD. The BBC and Masterpiece Theatre know how to present history. The actors are superb. I recommend the books and the series highly to anyone interested in history. What I found particularly interesting is the relationship between the Indians and the English Colonials and how the relationship changes over the course of the story which spans from 1939 - 1948 roughly. Paul Scott the author lived in India for a number of years and he fairly and painstakingly recreates the nuances, the feelings that flow between the occupier and occupied. It has been a pleasure to discover this series and the books. If you have not read them or seen the series, you are in for a great journey and treat.

This miniseries is compelling, well-told, beautifully filmed, and superbly acted. With a powerfully moving script, it tells the story of the complex relationship between the British and Indian people at the end of British rule of the subcontinent. It has history, romance, action, mystery, and even a mild dose of sex and violence. ;-) It definitely has something for everyone.I cried, laughed, was amazed, and said "Oh my God!" and "I knew it!" several times. I was glued to the screen and later watched my favorite scenes a second or third time.Absolutely its only shortcoming was that there were no subtitles. Being as old as it is and with the many accents, it's sometimes a bit hard to make out the exact lines. But it's so easy to follow (yet never dull) that I was never lost. If A&E ever re-releases this with enhanced sound and subtitles, I'll snag it up in a New York minute! Even my husband (who normally hates British films) really enjoyed this. He hated to miss a minute; by Chapter 3, he was utterly hooked.See this wonderful piece of work if you can. It's well worth every hour.