Archive for April, 2012

Downton Abbey Series 1 [Blu-ray][region Free]

Monday, April 30th, 2012 at 3:39 pm

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[IMPORTANT NOTICE: This is a high-definition Blu-ray disc - it will NOT play on a DVD player. It requires a Blu-ray player or Blu-ray drive in a PC.] SYNOPSIS: Sumptuous costume drama Downton Abbey, written and invented by Academy Award winner Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, The Young Victoria) boasts an all-star cast featuring Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Dan Stevens, Penelope Wilton, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Siobhan Finneran, Joanne Froggatt, Rob James-Collier and Brendan Coyle. This honored ensemble brings the world of Downton to life with splendour and passion.Set in England in the years leading up to the First World War, Downton Abbey tells the story of a perplexed community. The house has been home to the Crawley family for numerous generations, but it is likewise where their servants live, and plan, and dream, and they are as fiercely jealous of their rank as anyone. Some of them are truehearted to the family and devoted to Downton as a way of life, others are moving through, on the look out for betterment or love or just adventure. The divergence is that they recognise so galore of the mysteries of the family, while the family know so few of theirs.But for all the passions that rage under the surface, this is a secure world, serene and ordered, and, at original glance, it seems it will last forever. Little do they know, family or staff, that the clouds of the conflict that will change everything are already gathering over their heads. SPECIAL FEATURES: The Making of Downton Abbey * A House in History – Downton Abbey * Deleted Scenes * Audio Commentaries. VERSION NOTE: There are two versions of Downton Abbey – the cut and edited version shown in the U.S. and the primary uncut version shown in the U.K. If this is essential to you, please be sure to check which version is being offered by reading the data to the left of the Add to Cart button on the next page.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #1929 in DVD
Format: Blu-ray
Number of discs: 2

Features

blu-ray
uncut
british
united kingdom
region-free

Reviews

1014 of 1048 people found the following review helpful.
Be Alert….varying editions..
By Songbird
There appears to be two (2) editions of Downton Abbey….in watching the past 3 episodes as presented on my PBS station, I have become increasingly aware that the editing was very “jumpy”….short short sequences to a meaningful story line…..then, I discovered that there is an edition, UK edition, that is full length….meaning there are 7 episodes in total….the edition being shown on my local PBS station, is all of 4 episodes….and the shifty scenes that I am observing on the Sunday night presentation have been edited for USA viewers.
To me, this is ruinous to a finely produced English landscape, pre-world war I.

Just be more alert to this. I am not aware of any information from my PBS station to this effect, that I am indeed viewing a condensed version of Downton Abbey….

I have just purchased DVD, UK edition of Downton Abbey to view in my home….this should be a more in-depth story, without the shifting of scenes that add up to being difficult to the entire story line.

470 of 483 people found the following review helpful.
DO NOT BUY THE DUMBED DOWN PBS VERSION!
By Miles from Home
EDIT: I am revising my post and giving this 5 Stars instead of one as PartlyCloudy has kindly pointed out that my review of the PBS version has ended up under the “UK version”. There is much confusion out there since the infamous Daily Mail article claimed that a full two hours of the original ITV series had been cut by PBS. Many claim the cuts are minor and unnoticeable. I’d venture to guess that about 35 minutes were edited out of the original, but more importantly, it was a hack job and many scenes do not play out as intended. Below is my slightly revised review of the PBS version which you should avoid at all costs:

Do not buy the so-called “dumbed down” PBS version of the outstanding British ITV series Downton Abbey. We watched the entire series with great joy while in the UK last year, and after excitedly telling our American friends to watch Downton Abbey on PBS, my husband and I looked at each other in horror and confusion as we watched one butchered scene after another. Don’t be misled by those who recalculate the running time to account for the removal of commercials (from the ITV version) or the reformatting to shorten the series by increasing episode length (7 episodes in the UK, 4 longer episodes in the US). The fact is, SCENES WERE OMITTED AND OR TRUNCATED because as PBS Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton shamefully admitted, “American audiences demand a `different speed’ to their shows.” She also claimed that American audiences would have trouble understanding the complicated inheritance issues. Wow. This is an extraordinary admission from a PBS executive. Don’t people turn to PBS for an intelligent alternative to the idiocy of American commercial television? I submit it is Rebecca Eaton who is dumb, not the PBS viewership.

There is apparently a Region 2 version of the unedited ITV series on Amazon (EDIT: and now we see there is an “unedited UK” version provided by PBS though I have not seen it and cannot attest that it’s the actual ITV version), so just check your tech specs before buying or search elsewhere. And for the much anticipated season two of Downton Abbey when it premieres later this year, get a UK VPN and stream it from the ITV Player. Each episode remains available for streaming for several weeks after it airs. Note: Many inadvertently refer to this as a BBC series. It is in fact an ITV production.

Shame, shame, shame on Rebecca Eaton and PBS.

560 of 588 people found the following review helpful.
Enjoyable, if a tad flawed, Edwardian series
By Cherchezlafemme
Julian Fellowes has mined his script for Gosford Park, and took a few cues from the beloved 1970s series Upstairs, Downstairs – Collector’s Edition Megaset (The Complete Series plus Thomas and Sarah), to create Downton Abbey, a stunning and colorful drama set around the aristocratic Crawley family and the staff which serves them. Set between 1912 and 1914, Downton Abbey chronicles the conflict of class, gender, and politics, and serves it up with a refreshing dollop of sizzle and scandal. Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, and Dame Maggie Smith (as Robert, Earl of Grantham, Cora, Countess of Grantham, and Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, respectively) are knock outs, but the rest of the cast are no slouches either, with the stunning Michelle Dockery at the forefront as Lady Mary Crawley, who is the selfish, proud, and vindictive eldest daughter you can’t help but like. The actors and the stunning interiors of Highclere Castle, home to the Earls of Carnarvon, give Downton Abbey a glossy, sophisticated sheen, even when the script’s twists and turns can be a bit of a let-down. Nevertheless, the drama is engrossing and invigorating, and a worthy addition to the collection of any period drama aficionado–and anyone who likes good drama, period!