Fall of Eagles

When this series ran on WTBS in 1979, I was hooked, & was able to catch every episode, save the LAST ONE! The BBC did a good job with it, but I, too, have been fruitlessly hunting for it for many years. I thought it was very well done. Even though they apparently didn't have a grand budget for much exterior shooting, the writing, as I recall, was fairly accurate and represented just what a "family affair" the royal houses of pre-WW1 were. I was particularly interested in this broadcast, especially the last episode, because I had just finished reading "The Secret File on the Tzar", an examination through all the NKVD and KGB files relating to Nicholas II's arrest and final family reunion in the basement. I consider it a minor classic, and, like several others, would like to find a personal copy.

I haven't seen "Fall of the Eagles" since it was first broadcast in the 1970's. I remember watching the first episode, which I believe featured Curt Jurgens playing Otto von Bismarck. It totally hooked me for the subsequent 12 episodes. I vividly remember Jurgens bellowing "I am Bismarck!!!!" when "The Iron Chancellor" is suddenly put out to pasture.

Another standout is Gayle Hunnicutt as the Tsarina Alexandra. I can still see her fiercely admonishing the clueless and lethargic Nicholas (Charles Kay) to, "Be Ivan the Terrible!!!! Be Peter the Great!!!" It's a real shame this beautiful and talented actress hasn't had a more prominent career.

About 5 years ago, I tried searching for a copy of the program. There was nothing anywhere. I even sent an email to the BBC. I received a very polite response from a BBC researcher who advised me that she was able to locate some documentation related to the program, but had no information about availability either for broadcast or home video. At that point, I sadly concluded that it was lost forever.

Well, I'm happy to discover that other enthusiasts had more perseverance than I did. I just ordered the set from Amazon, and can't wait to watch it once more.

Back in 1974 my father encouraged me to stay up late and watch this mini series, which initially I hated. As I watched I became engrossed in this real life soap opera, that eventually caused more death through two world wars than any Hollywood fiction could. It is a superb recreation of the period 1880-1917, full of atmosphere and a great history lesson. Nowadays this would be considered a factional series as it is all based on fact but with extensive supposition, however it is all believable. The cast is extensive and full of well known actors in their early years. The subject is large and the BBC did well to make everything understandable using realistic sets, but no grandiose outdoor scenes that would been ineffective. For example, Archduke Ferdinand's assassination is referred to rather than portrayed, as the procession would have been too expensive to do realistically.

I long to rewatch this, so I hope a video or DVD will be reissued, if only for schools to use as a history lesson.

Looking back at the old programs from the 70's coming out on DVD, one realises that TV reached a peak at that time and has gone downhill ever since.

This miniseries harks back to the days when Britain only had two TV channels, the BBC and ITV. This meant that not only was there more money to spend on individual programmes, but half the viewing audience would watch them. Along with I Claudius, Fall of Eagles was the best of the best, and I doubt that it could be made today, with the myriad of channels spreading the available money thinly. I grew up with live drama on the BBC ever Sunday night - plays by Shakespeare, Shaw and more controversial writers. Contrast this with the inane reality offerings of today!

This series was the first time I had ever seen Patrick Stewart, who has remained Lenin for me ever since, just as Michael Caine will always be Alfie and Christopher Eccleston has remained the tragic slow witted Derek Bentley. The acting and production values are outstanding throughout, although the actors are noticeably stage actors, and some episodes, especially the final one are very "talky". The series holds up startlingly well compared with big budget films covering the same events, Nicholas and Alexandra and Reds, to name two.

My main complaint is that there is no captioning for the hearing impaired on the US release, which means that impaired people such as myself cannot follow allthe dialog despite the crisp theatrical delivery of the actors. This is a particular handicap in the more "talky" scenes - I was unable to follow any of the last episode where the Kaiser went into exile rather than being hanged as a war criminal. A detailed synopsis of each chapter would have helped, but captions are essential in an aging population. I really hope to see more of these great TV series of the past, but hope that they will add captions.

Many of the BBC's mini-series dealt with Britain's loss of Empire - "Jewel in the Crown" was just one. Here the subject is the end of monarchy and the collapse of major royal houses of Europe: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia.

The history is grand and sweeping, but the focus of these television dramas is not on spectacle, but on the personalities of the participants. On that basis it succeeds wildly. The cast is huge and the acting is splendid.

Patrick Stewart gives the performance of his career as Lenin, and the same goes for Barry Foster's Kaiser Wilhem. An astonishing array of acting talent strides through, often with only a few telling moments on screen: Michael Aldridge, Pamela Brown, Rosalie Crutchley, Marius Goring, Michael Gough, Charles Gray, Freddie Jones, Curt Jurgens and the list goes on.

Plus it's always fun to see major talents near the beginning of their career, such as Tom Conti and John Rhys-Davies. It's also surprising how little overlap there is with the cast of "I, Claudius" which followed only two years later. What a deep bench the BBC had in those days!

The scripts are uniformly intelligent, though the budget often requires major events to be described rather than shown. However the art department does a valiant job of differentiating among the splendid apartments of different countries, so you almost always know where you are before anyone starts speaking.

If you want to see thousands of extras tumbling across the giant screen, watch "Nicholas and Alexandra" or "Dr. Zhivago" instead. But if you want to meet fascinating people in an absorbing story of the decline and fall of the Hapsburgs, the Hohenzollerns, and the Romanov's, this is grand television.