eric (02/13/83)
Having enjoyed the novel The Winds of War and its sequel, I was looking forward to its translation to a mini-series, a format that could give it better treatment than a two- or three-hour movie. In general, I haven't been disappointed. The events and character- izations have been true to the book, largelly due, no doubt, to the screenplay by Herman Wouk. The historical events have been well done, with the exception of the North Atlantic scenes, which look too much like a bunch of toy ships in a bathtub. But this is a work that will rise or fall on the strength of its performances; therefore I now offer my own unsolicited review: Robert Mitchum - Fair. Although he tries hard, he ends up substituting silence and non-acting for Victor Henry's calm strength. Also, he is obviously somewhat too old for the part, which makes, for example, his relationship with Pamela less believable. Jan-Michael Vincent - Good. Although he overplays Byron's cool exterior, he shows Byron's youthful enthusiasm well. Ali MacGraw - Awful. Just awful. It's hard to believe she can consistently give such bad delivery to her lines. Her performance in one of the pivotal roles is a major flaw in this production. Polly Bergen - Very good. She has really captured Rhoda's character. John Houseman - Poor. He is Professor Kingsfield in Italy. He shows none of Aaron Jastrow's bumbling, absent-minded professor side. David Dukes - Very good. He successfully relates all of Slote's character: his intellectualism, his cowardice and his unrequited love for Natalie. Victoria Tennant - Good. She is very accurate to the book's Pamela. Peter Graves - Poor. He shows no emotion in a character which requires at least a little. In general, the performances of the lesser characters, Ben Murphy as Warren, Lisa Eilbacher as Madeleine, Tom McFadden as Cleveland, are well acted. The historical personages, Hitler, Churchill, et all, are better than I had expected. The biggest problem with the production is going to be the ending, which will not resolve any of the plot lines. As far as I know, there are no plans to do anything with War and Remembrance, which admittedly would have to be a more ambitious undertaking; ABC's advice is to read the book.
alb (02/14/83)
Well, I was disappointed by the conclusion. For two hours, they seemed to do nothing at all. Then, all of a sudden, Pug's entire world fell apart in five minutes (his wife wants a divorce, he lost his ship, and he thought his son was dead) Wham! Five minutes later, it's all back together again and he's feeling just dandy. Well, it doesn't happen that way all the time (matter of fact, it usually doesn't happen that way) -- things just don't have a way of working themselves out, unfortunately. Down with implie happy endings -- let's get realistic.