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The
production is shot on videotape and is in colour.
In fact it was the very first BBC drama to be made in colour and
was originally broadcast on BBC2 in 1967 although most people who saw it
back then would have still been watching on black and white sets.
Colours are very vivid and show off the sumptuous costumes and
bright red of the soldiers' uniforms to great effect.
Although shot primarily on tape there is an interesting contrast
in episode 3 where a long ballroom scene is shot on location using film
stock - same actors, same costumes, but it makes it look like an
expensive feature film for the duration of that scene.
That is not a criticism of the rest of the production since flat
videotape invokes a far closer and immediate feel to proceedings that
has its own special charm, but it does serve to show what a huge
difference it can make.
The
box cover tells us that the serial has been "Digitally
Restored". That
"digital" word is unfortunately too often adverbed to various
processes as if it's magic or something.
So really it has just been "restored" using the latest
techniques which happen to be digitally based.
Inevitably though, if the exercise proves successful, it is hard
to tell if they have done a really fantastic job or if not all that much
fixing was actually required. Because
it seems fine - the only episode where any noticeable picture fault
presents itself is a few short patches during episode 3 which evidently
even the digital magic couldn't cure.
And congratulations (I suppose) must go to the BBC for actually
keeping this one.
Watching
the television techniques of 1967 is interesting - scenes often end very
abruptly as soon as a character has uttered the final word of that scene
and then the next scene begins just as abruptly without any pre-amble.
When you start watching episode 1 it seems at first a bit clunky
because there are numerous very very short scenes like they are in some
huge rush and you think "Oh dear, am I going to like this".
But after about 10 minutes it settles down and the scenes become
much longer and more involving and the remaining episodes retain this
pace. Each episode is about
44 minutes long except episode 1 which is slightly shorter at just 41
minutes.
ANY
SPECIAL FEATURES?
Extras
are perfunctory and nothing you'd really miss if purchasing the video
tape version:- there are a few production photos and the rest of the
extras are text-based pages to read:- filmographies of the lead actors;
biography and bibliography of William Makepeace Thackeray's (the novel's
author); and some background to the Battle of Waterloo.
And why was it called Vanity Fair? - no idea - I
didn't get that at all. But
it's an enjoyable piece of British television history with Susan Hampshire at her
stunning best.
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