The Jewel in the Crown (1984)

The Jewel in the Crown, adapted from Paul Scott's Raj Quartet novels, tells the story of the final years before India gained independence in 1947. It is rare for a filmed adaptation to successfully preserve the richness and complexity of a great novel, but this epic miniseries succeeds both as personal drama and historical panorama.

In 1942 Daphne Manners, a naive young woman newly arrived in the town of Mayapore, befriends Hari Kumar, an Indian-born journalist who has spent most of his life in England. With his dark skin and educated English accent, Hari feels like an outsider wherever he goes, but Daphne understands his plight and they become romantically involved. Their developing relationship is jealously observed by local police chief Ronald Merrick, a man haunted by his own demons. When the lovers are attacked in the gardens of the ruined Bibighar palace and Daphne is raped, Merrick seizes his opportunity, pins the crime on Hari, and has the young man jailed. Distraught, Daphne flees to her aunt's home in Kashmir, where she dies giving birth to a half-caste child. The focus then shifts to Sarah Layton, a young Englishwoman who becomes fascinated by the story of Daphne and Hari, and who will have her own encounter with Ronald Merrick.

The events in the Bibighar gardens become a symbol of the violent struggle for Indian independence, and other symbols--Daphne's bicycle, a length of butterfly lace, a picture of Queen Victoria on an Indian throne--appear and reappear, linking people and events. This helps to give coherence to the plot even as it spans five years and expands to include many characters whose lives intersect in complex and unexpected ways.

With a huge cast and breathtaking location photography, The Jewel in the Crown was an enormous undertaking when it was made in the early 1980s. Twenty years later it has lost none of its power, and it remains one of the best films ever made for television. --Simon Leake Amazon.com

A Jewel of a Series!

If there was ever evidence of perfection on the small screen it's here in "The Jewel In The Crown". It's been 24 years since I last saw the show and I'm here to report that time has polished this jewel to a magnificent shine. Don't deprive yourself of experiencing drama at its finest. The DVD transfer may not be up to today's standards but the acting is beyond reproach and Tim Pigott-Smith gives a performance of a lifetime. Quite simply, it doesn't get better than this. September 21, 2008

Old VHS quality, unfocused story w/too many characters

Yes, I agree that this transfer is terrible at best. I was shocked with the old VHS quality of this, there wasn't much effort to clean it up.

The second point I have is that only the first 3 hours based on the first book in the series seems focused and comprehensible to me. After that I found myself seeing too many characters that come and go and it not really continuing the story after that, what happened to the baby or the main heroines Indian lover? I think devoting 14 hours to just the first book would have been a better route.

I admit I have only watched the first disk so far but I almost completely have lost interest due to all the many forgettable and numerous characters with no real central story, who are these people and will any of this carry into the next episodes? It seems to be some mishmash about Indian independence in general after the first 3 hours.

Again I have not watched the whole series so it could be better and based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews it probably will come back to a coherent narrative, but I think they could have cut a lot of the characters and subplots and made this even better or more clearly delineated which novel each saga is based on. August 28, 2008

A mere two cents............

A few years ago, seeing an advertisement for a low cost tour package of London and a number of other locations in UK, I very nearly took advantage of its great price.

While I was mulling over the idea, one of the things that came into my head was how much I would enjoy a side trip to visit Sarah Layton, whose location is revealed in "Staying On", another DVD people who loved the Jewel should find and watch. It was only some hours later that I remembered that Sarah was a fictional character, so real did those people who lived in the Jewel In The Crown become to me, through the genius of Paul Scott's Raj Quartet and the superlative production of the film on these disks.

I didn't take the trip, sadly, and, somehow, it would probably have left me somewhat unfulfilled, without Sarah there.

For me, there never has been nor ever will be a production to match this true Jewel. Would that American films could be one tenth so great! February 28, 2008

Deep, Dramatic History

The Jewel in the Crown depicts the last few years of the Raj, Britain's Indian Empire, through the lives of a few characters and families. Central to the story is the fate of Hari Kumar, a British-educated Indian who has the temerity to fall in love with Daphne Manners, a British girl who is new to India and doesn't understand or accept the racial mores of the Raj. Although Daphne and Hari virtually disappear after the first couple of episodes, their story has a huge impact on the other main characters: Ronald Merrick, the policeman who thought he loved Daphne, the Leyton family, with whom Merrick took up, Ahmed Kasim the secular Muslim, and countless others.

The story can be a bit confusing if you aren't too familiar with the story of India's move towards independence, but the main love story and its attendant sub-connections are pretty clear, and the ending is quite satisfying. Above all, the scenery and the background music are entrancing. February 13, 2008

It's the "unfulfilled promise."

Watch it and have a good laugh with the acting... Judy Parfitt is always in her classic mood. Peggy Ashcroft is such a camp and a half. And everyone is an alcoholic, practically. No wonder, it's not drag-ing. But could you PLEASE explain to me the meaning of the Jewel in the Crown (for the billionth time)??? All kidding aside, it's extremely entertaining and informative, "indeed." August 27, 2007

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