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Product Description ------------------- As an adaptation of a classic, this BBC dramatization of Thomas Hardy's heart-wrenching novel is remarkably loyal to the original. The incomparable Alan Bates (Gosford Park) manages to make the mature Michael Henchard, the flawed protagonist, sympathetic, despite his galling youthful misdeeds. Anna Massey (The Importance of Being Earnest) is his poignant co-star. This literate series captures the melancholy alism that distinguishes Hardy's work from that of his fellow Victorians. 5 hours 50 min. on 3 DVDs. .com ---- Alan Bates gives a fierce, uncompromising performance in The Mayor of Casterbridge, a skillful miniseries adapted from Thomas Hardy's classic novel ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/0141439785/${0} ). The arrogant Michael Henchard (Bates), in a foul drunken mood, sells his long-suffering wife Susan (Anne Stallybrass) and infant daughter Elizabeth-Jane to a sailor at a country fair. Henchard awakens the next morning stricken with remorse; he vows not to drink again for 21 years. Eighteen years later, Susan returns to find him, with Elizabeth-Jane (Janet Maw) in tow; Henchard receives her joyously, eager to lay the acts of his youth behind him, but just as eager to avoid the shame that his past might bring to his current life as mayor of the town of Casterbridge. Thus begins a complex and compelling tragedy of secrets, betrayals, and unexpected turns. In the hands of Dickens, this melodramatic story would have been a romp. Hardy has a sadder but also more intensely emotional bent; he takes his characters' feelings--both their loss and their desire--deeply seriously, and the result is as passionate as it is woeful. The Mayor of Casterbridge starts sluggishly, but becomes increasingly gripping over the course of seven episodes, as the excellent cast makes the characters vivid and sympathetic. Bates and Anna Massey, as a former love of Henchard's who seeks to renew their relationship, are particularly superb. Some critics view Henchard's fall from grace as the result of pride; but this production, written with nuance and care by Dennis Potter (The Singing Detective ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B00007HGIJ/${0} ), Pennies from Heaven ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005JLUL/${0} )), makes clear his emotional clumsiness and how it sabotages his fumbling after happiness. --Bret Fetzer P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); From the Back Cover ------------------- This BBC adaptation of the classic novel by Thomas Hardy stars Alan Bates (Gosford Park) as Michael Henchard. On a drunken impulse, Henchard sells his wife and daughter at a country fair, an outrageous act for which he suffers agonizing remorse. Years later, when he has become a respected and prosperous man, his wife returns to find him. Henchard's attempt to right the long-ago wrong sets in motion a series of events that spell his destruction. Dramatized by Dennis Potter, creator of The Singing Detective, the six-hour miniseries also stars Anna Massey (The Pallisers), Anne Stallybrass (The Six Wives of Henry VIII), Janet Maw (The Barchester Chronicles) and Jack Galloway (Inspector Maigret). DVD BONUS FEATURES include F22cast filmographies and Thomas Hardy materials See more ( javascript:void(0) )