Country Matters (1972)

Painful!!!!!!

I almost never stop watching something I have started no matter how much I dislike it. I abandoned this steaming pile after 90 of the most painful minutes of my life. My partner was lucky: He lost consciousness halfway through the first story.

The first story features Ian McKellen as an art teacher who is courting three young women all at the same time. Each of the woman is more vapid and uninteresting than the next. The plot was that the art teacher was the most interested in the woman who was the least interested in him. This was one of the most tedious hours I have ever spent watching anything.

I decided to watch the second story hoping things would get beter. Foolish, foolish, foolish. The second story was about an ignorant dolt of a girl whose doltish parents seemed to have little interest in her. She was sent to work for a man and a woman. The woman was an invalid. The man took sexual advantage of the girl. The girl didn't seem to care. At this point I didn't care either so I gave up.

The characters in both episodes were of no interest at all, and the pacing of the stories was deadly. I can't imagine any one deriving any kind of enjoyment from watching these.

Frank Caesar Branchini
Edgewater, MD
May 25, 2008

McKellen is always worth watching!

Ian McKellen is an actor that shines in everything he is in. I wish all his filmed work were released on DVD like this Masterpiece Theatre series. Excellent as always. May 19, 2008

"Anthology presented on Masterpiece Theatre ... Country Matters (1972) ... Koch Vision (2008)"

Koch Vision and BBC presents "COUNTRY MATTERS" (1972) (411 mins/Color) (Dolby Digital) --- Country Matters was an anthology of H. E Bates and A. E. Coppard adaptations that aired on Masterpiece Theatre throughout the '70s, and the dramatizations are of the Masterpiece cliché, including starched acting, longing glances, endless rain --- The DVD collects eight randomly selected episodes from both seasons --- Stories are so sparse that sometimes a single sentence can give away the entire hour, but they all boil down to the same plot --- Boy meets girl, romance ensues, things end badly but this was BBC television at its finest in the early '70s.

Under the production staff of:
Donald McWhinnie - Director
Barry Davis - Director
John McKenzie - Director
Richard Martin - Director
Silvio Narizzano - Director
Derek Granger - Producer
A.E. Coppoard - Writer
H.E. Bates - Writer
Hugh Leonard - Adapted
James Saunders - Adapted
Julian Mitchell - Adapted

"COUNTRY MATTERS" (1972) - Season, Episode and Original Date Aired:
DISC ONE (1)
Season 1, Episode 1: Craven Arms (Original Air Date: 20 August 1972)
Season 1, Episode 2: The Mill (Original Air Date: 27 August 1972)
Season 1, Episode 3: The Sullens Sisters (Original Air Date: 3 September 1972)
Season 1, Episode 5: The Watercress Girl (Original Air Date: 17 September 1972)

DISC TWO (2)
Season 2, Episode 1: The Little Farm (Original Air Date: 28 January 1973)
Season 2, Episode 2: The Black Dog (Original Air Date: 4 February 1973)
Season 2, Episode 3: The Higgler (Original Air Date: 11 February 1973)
Season 2, Episode 6: The Ring of Truth (Original Air Date: 4 March 1973)

the cast includes:
Ian McKellen ... David Masterman
Susan Penhaligon ... Ianthe Forrest
Prunella Ransome ... Katherine Forrest
Rosalind Ayres
Robert Keegan
Peter Firth ... Tommy Adams
Penelope Wilton ... Rachel Sullens
Susan Fleetwood ... Mary McDowall
Gareth Thomas ... Frank Oppidan
Brian Marshall ... Tom Richards
Jane Lapotaire ... Orianda
Stephan Chase ... Gerald
Keith Drinkel ... Harvey Whitlow
Mary Weinbark
Prunella Scales
Nicholas Hoyte

Great job by Koch Vision --- looking forward to more high quality titles from the BBC Collection film market --- order your copy now from Amazon or Koch Vision where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch releases --- where they are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector.

Total Time: 411 mins on DVD ~ Koch Vision KOCV-6485 ~ (4/01/2008) May 2, 2008

Missing the most historic episode :-(

I'd been waiting years to find this series because I wanted one historic episode starring Peter Firth: THE SIMPLE LIFE - one of the very first gay-themed "romances" shown on national TV. I was truly let down to find that this 2 disc set did not contain that episode (even though it does contain another episode with Peter Firth).

When I ordered it, I saw Firth listed as one of the stars so I had no idea the set lacked the only episode I actually wanted. I hope this missing episode will be forthcoming at some point April 19, 2008

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