Passions envolées

This DVD IS available on Amazon for those saying they cannot find it. I have had it for almost two years now. We watch it often. This short series is a real gem. The chosen settings are perfect. Dame Wendy is über perfection in this role, as are Maurice Denham (Bucktrout)and Harry Andrews (Fitzgeorge). I particularly liked Maurice as Mr. Bucktrout and his friend Mr. Gosheron, so wonderfully played by David Waller. In fact, what a cast! Every now and again a cast meshes amazingly well and this is one of those times. Not a flaw anywhere. The wisdom and depth of Sackville-West's wonderful book shines through in this adaptation. It is pure joy to watch.

This 3-part production is the most perfect thing I've ever seen on television - the writing, acting, direction, locations, costumes, etc are faultless. Episode two, where Lady Slane learns that Mr Fitzgeorge fell in love with her when they were young, but never revealed his love, is a triumph, and reduces me to tears every time I watch it. Why this series isn't available on commercial release is a mystery, because they just don't get any better than this.

All Passion Spent... A class act!

This 30-year-old masterpiece wears well even (especially?) today (2017) and as another reviewer writes "is the most perfect thing I've ever seen on television"! The haggling over the rent at the end of episode one is a sublime piece of theatre!

WARNING! The action moves at a steady canter but the horses are old... VERY old! However, the pedigree of this harras is drawn from the very highest stock that British acting can offer. Actually, the youthful and beautiful Jane Snowden does a turn as the granddaughter (She reminds me of Koo Stark) but everyone else is a well-worn valuable antique of English social class, manners and propriety!

Set in the London area, between the two world wars, recently widowed Lady Slane frustrates her family by moving to a home on Hampstead Heath to enjoy her remaining years, to reflect on her past and finally learn to 'be herself', after a long life as a devoted and socially correct wife.

Her kids disappoint her but Lady Slane patiently wades through their dreadful behaviour as she seeks to take control of her own life. In the third act, events take over and as in all good telly, the baddies get what's coming to them and the goodies end up rewarded.

There is lots of humour here but it is all to be found in studying the reactions of players as events unfold or dialogue is spoken to them. These subtle, unspoken performance gems elevate this production beyond mere 'drama'. And Genoux (tireless working actress - Eileen Way) is a treat as Lady Slane's French maid and companion, who has served Lady Slane her entire adult life.

This BBC offering is a genuinely 'class act' in every sense of the word!

Seventy years after the young Wendy Hiller starred as Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion," it is stunning to see her act the part of an old woman in "All Passion Spent," a three-episode version of a Vita Sackville-West novel. She was still beautiful, still a splendid actress. I won't attempt to summarize the story but the TV program is filled with English actors whose faces you will recognize even if you don't know their names. Particularly effective is Harry Andrews, as a wealthy elderly eccentric who fell in love with Dame Wendy's character decades earlier, though they met only fleetingly. Also noteworthy is Jane Snowden as the great-granddaughter who is inspired to follow her own path in life by her great-grandmother's example. Although she lived to be 91, Dame Wendy was only in her mid-70's when this series was made; her character is in her mid-80's.

I saw it when it came out in the eighties and I have it in vivid memory as an extraordinary experience. The quiet telling of an intriguing life, and the very way the story unfolds. Wendy Hiller does excellent work here and the gallery around her is the true British tradition of character description. It is one of the very few cases, where I went out and bought the book, and the book disappointed me. It is one of my highest priorities as a DVD and it is crying shame, if this mini series is forgotten. The story begins at the funeral of her husband and her consequent decision to live out the rest of her days according to her own wishes after a long life as the wife of a very successful politician. Prime minister and viceroy of India among his accomplishments. We get retrospective insights in her perception of this life, but the very amusing part is the description of her family's reaction to her buying a house on Hampstead Heath and not wishing visits from anybody below 40! With on exception, a granddaughter, whom the family subsequently tries to bully unto spying! This story is sheer delight, and i sincerely hope to see it on DVD soon