One of the beneficial side-effects of the British class system has
been its tendency to spawn a virtual library of interesting
literature (and movies), from classics like "Sons and Lovers" to
virtual soap operas like "Upstairs, Downstairs". My first reaction to
the arrival of "Sorrell and Son", a 2-disk DVD now available from
Koch-Lorber, was to heave it in the waste basket since it had all the
trappings of "Upstairs, Downstairs". In fact this 1984 British TV
miniseries, based on the 1925 novel by Warwick Deeping, did air on
PBS in 1987. The cover art on the DVD package showed men and women at
leisure in vintage costumes, just the sort of thing that the
Masterpiece Theater (sometimes referred to as Master Race Theater) dotes on.
However, after taking a minute to look at the plot summary on the
back cover, I decided to give it a shot since it was described as the
story of a decorated British officer "who returns home after the
First World War to face unemployment, poverty and his wife's
desertion. Determined to educate his son as a gentleman, Sorrell is
forced to accept exhausting and demeaning jobs in order to provide
him with the best possibilities for a brighter future."
After watching a few minutes, I got hooked. If there is one thing you
can say about British mass market novels, it is that they are usually
superbly plotted–a function no doubt of being heirs to the tradition
of Dickens, who was after all a master of pulp fiction. Indeed, the
story is a classic rags-to-riches story straight out of Dickens, but
with the added interest of having characters who reflect the
insecurities of the British middle class as it loses its moorings in
the post-WWI period as the Empire begins its decline.
full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/sorrell-and-son/
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