The Judy Dench Collection (BBC 8-DVD Telefilm Box Set)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Telefilms: B+
James
Bond films and award-winning hit feature films have finally given Dame Judy
Dench her due, but for those who thought her only TV work was the Britcom As Time Goes By, her extensive and
impressive work at the BBC alone in many a telefilm has been collected in the
comprehensive Judy Dench Collection. The nine programs on eight DVDs include:
The Cherry Orchard (1962 + 1981) are two very impressive
versions of the Chekhov play where Dench plays the two different female roles
in what are two different generations of reenactment. She is impressive early on against Peggy
Ashcroft and Ian Holm ’62 production. It
is a plus both are in this set.
Talking To A Stranger, Parts 1-4 (1966) offers four
separate plays by John Hopkins and was a huge hit that brought Dench new
respectability. Prepared for TV all the
way, it is one of the beginnings of the last golden era of British TV.
Keep An Eye On Amelie (1973) is a French farce by
Georges Feydeau co-staring Dench and Patrick Cargill about marriage, love and
money.
Going Gently (1981) was directed by no less
than the great Stephen Frears and adapts the Robert C.S. Downs novel about two
men dying of cancer, stuck in the same hospital room. Dench is a nurse juggling the two men who
really hate each other.
Ghosts (1981) is from Isben’s
ever-controversial book about betrayal, decline, lies and the banality of
societal norms and standards in 1880s Europe.
Michael Gambon, Freddie Jones, Michael Gambon and Natasha Richardson
co-star.
Make & Break (1987) is Michael Frayn’s story
about a secretary and her boss who never notices her until a chance change
reframes the relationship. Note how
Dench underplays certain aspects instinctually that most actresses would have
missed.
Can You Hear Me Thinking? (1990) has Dench and real-life
husband play a married couple who have to endure the nightmare of their
mid-teen son developing schizophrenia. A
sad, powerful piece, still relevant as the illness is far from resolved in real
life.
Absolute Hell (1991) has Dench running a crazy
nightclub in post-WWII London that attracts all kinds of people and speaks to
the despair and pain the world events had on the world, its people and Britain
in particular.
It is
great to get a set of such challenging work together under any circumstances
and it is tragic these works are not dealt with more often. It is embarrassing how unchallenging most of
what we get is, but these are works that make us think of the human condition,
reality and are intelligently written for intelligent adults. Dench is one of the increasingly rare
actresses with the diversity to pull off such an amazingly diverse set of
performances. More than just stuffy
British TV, Dench and her contemporaries brought these works to life and that
is (outside of Dench as star) the biggest reason to get The Judy Dench Collection.
The 1.33
X 1 image varies somewhat throughout, with the earliest works on dated black
and white PAL analog videotape. Even the
earliest programs are mad with some artistic form that embarrasses so many
current HD productions and hold up very well.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 is usually monophonic, but plays back just fine
for its age in just about all cases. Extras
include the radio dramas Amy's View
(2000), Are You Still Awake? (1994) and
With Great Pleasure (1991), Judi
Dench: My Favorite Things featurette, Judi Dench sings "Send In T1he Clowns", Judi Dench
Talks to Richard Eyre piece and a nicely illustrated 20-page booklet inside the
DigiPak book with text info about the telefilms and an essay on Dench.
- Nicholas Sheffo
