Sharpe's Justice

Starring:Sean Bean, Daragh O'Malley, Abigail Cruttenden, Caroline Langrishe, Philip Glenister, John Tams, Douglas Henshall, Alexis Denisof, Tony Haygarth, Karen Meagher, Philip Anthony (III), Philip Martin Brown, Sean O'Kane (II), Henry Moxon, Rita May, Richard Bremmer, Tony Aitken, Nick Conway
Director: Tom Clegg
Studio: Bfs Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Otto Preminger made four films noirs at Fox, all terrific. If we set aside the peerless Laura as more psychological mystery-romance than noir, there's plenty of evidence for judging Where the Sidewalk Ends the best of the lot (the other two being Fallen Angel, a study in small-town perversity, and Whirlpool, a delicious exercise in creepy psychology, slippery mise-en-scène, and daringly complicated point-of-view). It's a hard-edged tale of a borderline-vicious New York police detective, Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews), with tortuous personal reasons for overzealousness in going after the bad guys. Much of the film unreels in one night, when the murder of a high-roller from out of town precipitates a string of events that lead to Dixon's becoming an accidental killer. Preminger's direction is taut, forceful, and fluid, especially when Dixon sets about creating an alibi for himself. Unfortunately, an innocent man gets implicated, with Dixon looking on, and the guilty cop's moral and psychological torment increases with each turn of the screw.

Tightly scripted by Ben Hecht, Preminger's film lacks the anguished poetry of Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground, another 1950 noir centered on a cop (Robert Ryan) addicted to ultraviolence, but its grip is relentless. Preminger had a shrewd instinct for tapping a certain thuggish strain in Andrews, whose performance here is arguably his best. They're reunited with Gene Tierney, as a woman caught in the sidewash of sordid goings-on, and Laura cameraman Joseph La Shelle, whose work has a luster beyond the accustomed semidocumentary look of Fox noirs. Gary Merrill, usually a bland nice-guy, relishes the chance to play nasty as Dixon's gangland bête noire Tommy Scalise, a homoerotic villain in the Tommy Udo vein with a menthol inhaler as fetish object. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

Standard Film Noir.......2007-06-19

Not the greatest film noir, nor from Preminger, but very professionally made, very enjoyable, except for the last five minutes where the censor steps in. The quality of the film was excellent, as good as when I saw it 56 years ago. Well worth an entry into my film noir collection.

...is where the gutter begins.......2007-03-17

Dana Andrews needed a director like Otto Preminger to bring out his best qualities: here, as a police detective who is haunted by his father's criminal past and enjoys roughing up suspects, he gets one of the best roles of his career. In this unusually well written film noir from Fox, Andrews accidentally kills a murderer he was sent to question and must cover up his crime; he falls in love with the murderer's widow (Gene Tierney), and then must scramble when her adoring father is blamed for the murder. The sense of atmosphere here is very fine, and the direction is stunning: there are some great shots in a car elevator, for example, and also in a steam room. Preminger de-emphasizes Andrews's handsomeness and brings out his more weary tough qualities; unfortunately, he can't seem to do much with poor Gene Tierney, who as always seems far too beautiful for the part she's playing. (Things are not helped by the stunning outfits designed for her by her husband Oleg Cassini, who has a small role in the film. Her fabulous plaid coat, for example, has a scarf made exactly to match it, which are both so eye-catching you are distracted by them in every scene they're in.) Gary Merrill, Bette Davis's husband, has a great unusual role as a very insinuating mobster that Andrews's detective can't stand; Karl Malden has a duller role as Andrews's by-the-book rival.

One of the best detective films of the Fifties!.......2007-01-17

Perhaps the most gripping and intelligent of crooked cop movies is Otto Preminger's 'Where the Sidewalks Ends,' from a really excellent script by Ben Hecht based on the novel 'Night Cry' by Frank Rosenberg...

Dana Andrews is the honest, tough New York policeman, always in trouble with his superiors because he likes his own strong-arm methods as much as he detests crooks... When he hit someone, his knuckles hurt... And the man he wants to hit is a smooth villain (Gary Merrill) who points up the title. 'Why are you always trying to push me in the gutter?' he asks Andrews. 'I have as much right on the sidewalk as you.'

Dana Andrew's obsession and neurosis are implanted in his hidden, painful discovery that he is the son of a thief... His deep hatred of criminals led him to use their own illegal methods to destroy them, and the pursuit of justice became spoiled in private vendetta...

By a twist of irony unique to the film itself, Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney of 'Laura' are united once more, and Andrews now seems to be playing the same detective a few years later, but no longer the romantic, beaten down by his job, by the cheap crooks... This time, he goes too far, and accidentally kills a suspect... The killing is accidental, the victim worthless, yet it is a crime that he knows can break him or send him to jail...

Using his knowledge of police procedure, he covers up his part in the crime, plants false clues, and tries to implicate a gang leader, but cannot avoid investigating the case himself... The double tension of following the larger case through to its conclusion without implicating himself in the murder, is beautifully maintained and the final solution is both logical, satisfying, and in no way a compromise...

The film is one of the best detective films of the 50's, with curious moral values, also one of Preminger's best...

Preminger uses a powerful storytelling technique, projecting pretentious camera angles and peculiar touches of the bizarre in order to externalize his suspense in realism...

A solid noir, thanks to Otto Preminger's direction and Joseph LaShelle's cinematography.......2006-11-09

There's a hole as big as Carlsbad Caverns right in the middle of the plot. What is so surprising is that, thanks to Otto Preminger's skill and that of his cinematographer, Joseph LaShelle, how the story is told more than makes up for it. Here's the set-up. A police detective with a well-earned reputation for beating up low-lifes tracks down a suspect in a murder. The guy is drunk and the cop is impatient. One thing leads to another and the guy stands up and smacks the cop on the chin. While the cop is picking himself up, the guy reaches for a whiskey bottle and starts to bring it down on the cop's head. The cop blocks that swing, then punches the guy hard, and I mean hard, right in the chest, then connects just as hard with the guy's chin. The guy goes down and doesn't get up. He's dead. So now we're off on a plot-line where the cop's hatred of crooks, which is based on some family issues, suddenly has him hiding the corpse. Wouldn't you know it, the corpse is found...and an aggressive young precinct head decides that the man responsible is the father of a girl the detective starts to fall for. And while this is going on, the detective hasn't stopped his obsessive search for the crook he thinks is really behind the original murder, a sneering mobster with a fondness for nasal inhalers.

Wait, now. Any cop who hit and accidently killed a guy in self defense would instantly have a wall of blue thrown protectively around him, no matter how hard a case he might be. Every resource would be used to see that the cop was exonerated. I know, I know, this is a movie, but Detective Mark Dixon's (Dana Andrews) reaction is so excessive that it becomes nothing more than a glaring plot device. And, in my view, that undermines the tension of the movie.

Another thing that doesn't help is that both Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney (as Margaret Taylor, who becomes Dixon's love interest) are, in my opinion, not compelling actors. Andrews had a great voice but, to my way of thinking, a somewhat wooden face and a stolid acting style. Sometimes he was effective, sometimes not. Tierney is, as usual, gorgeous to look at, but she is no actress. She seems to spend all her time in this movie either being noble toward the man Dixon accidently killed, or noble and loving toward her father, or noble and loving toward Dixon. I'm fairly well convinced that her performance in Leave Her to Heaven, a first-rate acting job, was some mysterious and happy accident.

Some critics have made much of the apparent moral ambiguity in Mark Dixon's character. I don't quite see it that way. Yes, he hates crooks for reasons a psychoanalyst could help him deal with. When given a semi-legal chance to rough them up, he does. But there is no moral ambiguity in his character. He may be an angry man, but he has friends. He doesn't need to agonize about spending his savings to help another person; he just does it. Dixon is a man with problems, but moral ambiguity isn't one of them.

Because of all this, what's important in this movie is how Preminger and LaShelle go about telling the story, not the story itself. They do terrific jobs. The feel of the movie captures Dixon's anger, his short fuse, his loneliness. The movie looks gritty, dark and authentic. Small details add a lot to the sense of reality. When we walk into Dixon's small apartment we can see just a quick glimpse of an icebox behind a screen. Even in 1950 there were a lot of iceboxes still around. The bar where Dixon's partner orders a scotch and water looks like any number of old, dark downtown bars. Margaret Taylor's apartment is tiny. There's no bedroom, just a single bed next to the wall as you walk in. And the movie has faces, actors you sort of recognize who look right for their parts...Tom Tully as Margaret's father, Bert Freed as his partner, Ruth Donnelly as Gladys, the owner of a small Italian restaurant, Karl Malden as the new precinct captain, Neville Brand as one of the goons; even Gary Merrill who overacts a little looks the part as Tommy Scalise, the mobster. Brand, in particular, looks like a man you never want to irritate.

I enjoyed the movie because it was so well put together. That hole in the plot, however, kept me from getting very involved with the story-line. The DVD transfer looks just fine. The major extra is a commentary by Eddie Muller, identified as a film noir historian. I didn't listen to the commentary but Muller has gotten good notices for his noir work.

SUPERB NOIR -- INVOLVING, COMPLEX MORAL DRAMA.......2006-09-18

Otto Preminger's WHERE THER SIDEWALK ENDS (1950) is another color noir, this one's about a troubled, brutal cop already on probation who accidentally kills a murder suspect. Desperate to protect himself, he pins the whack on a hated shark who's committed similar kills. When the cop falls in love with the stiff's widow, he remains mum when her father is charged with the murder. Oh what webs we weave when we first deceive...

This complex and involving moral drama about a guy who puts off doing what's right until it's almost too late will keep you involved and guessing until the final fade out.

Average customer rating:

Hangmen Also Die
Hangmen Also Die: The Lesson is Evil Exists
A tribute to the oppressed who dared to fight Nazi brutality...
Bert and Fritz together at last!
why the end titles are ironic, etc.

Hangmen Also Die
Starring: Hans Heinrich von Twardowski , Brian Donlevy , Walter Brennan , Anna Lee , and Nana Bryant
Director: Fritz Lang
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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The Blue Gardenia
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Railroaded
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Where the Sidewalk Ends (Fox Film Noir)

ASIN: 630568393X
Release Date: 2000-01-18

Amazon.com

Because it's been little seen, and because people tend to shrug off contemporaneous World War II films as "propaganda," Hangmen Also Die has never received its due. It's a brilliant, riveting movie, made in response to the atrocities committed against the Czech people following the assassination of Reichsprotektor Heydrich, Hitler's personal "hangman." Under Fritz Lang's ferociously stylized direction, the duel of wits between the Nazi occupiers and the Prague underground--"a ghost army sworn to haunt them till their blood runs cold"--becomes the stuff of legend: virtually another installment of Die Nibelungen, and a dynamic variation on the urban phantasmagoria of the Mabuse films and Spione and M.

There is propaganda--but when the blood-curdling rhetoric comes from Bertolt Brecht, no less, in his only movie script for an American producer, who's to complain? Lang was Brecht's full collaborator, however, and the narrative is a steel trap closing on everyone. Every act of charity may potentially doom an entire family, and the resistance fighters--especially Brian Donlevy's doctor-assassin--agonize over their culpability in jeopardizing hundreds of innocents taken hostage in reprisal for Heydrich's shooting. The moral-ethical duality extends to the casting, and our response to it. Apart from Walter Brennan, astonishingly "Brechtian" as a Czech professor of history, the "good guys" are ho-hum Central Casting types while the Nazis--evil incarnate--are juicily portrayed by a passel of German-Jewish émigrés (Alexander Granach, Reinhold Schünzel, Ludwig Donath, et al.), all savoring the opportunity to skewer their own oppressors and to act up a German Expressionist storm in their Hollywood exile. Superbly photographed by James Wong Howe. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

Hangmen Also Die.......2007-06-22

One of the finest anti-Nazi thrillers to emerge from the WWII period, Lang's noirish approach to the propaganda film involves cloak-and-dagger intrigue, sinister interrogations, and plenty of light-and-shadow atmospherics, courtesy of camera great James Wong Howe. Such elements were second nature to German ex-pat Lang, director of "M" and "The Big Heat," and his impeccable direction of numerous character actors--a cab driver (Lionel Stander) and a fruit merchant (Sarah Padden), in particular--adds to the visceral power of this story of resistance. Brennan is also excellent playing against type as a radical patriot. See "Hangmen" or die trying.

Hangmen Also Die: The Lesson is Evil Exists.......2007-02-05

When Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated by Czech patriots in 1942, the immediate result was the liquidation of the entire village of Lidice. Every citizen was murdered and the town itself reduced to rubble. The enormity of this crime was not made apparent at the time, but in HANGMEN ALSO DIE, director Fritz Lang and screenwriter Bertold Brecht created a film that dramatises the essential events in a manner that suffers from some deliberately heavy acting but in no way subtracts from its incredible power.

Brian Donlevy in surely the flattest of his career sleepwalks through his role as Dr. Svoboda, the assassin. One would think that the ethical issues of deciding whether to give himself up for execution or allowing innocent hostages to be shot should have occupied more of Donlevy's interpretation of the assassin. Donlevy does little more than allow others to debate the need to weigh one life against hundreds of others when there are larger issues at stake. To director Lang's credit, he allows the film to address the tricky issue of whether there can even be larger issues than human lives. Lang comes firmly down on the side that in the larger horror of war some issues of right and justice must trump the lives of those who pay for the right of others to debate these ethical dilemmas. Walter Brennan as Professor Novotny shows the same lack of dramatic fire that afflicts Donlevy. In fact, it becomes clear that the only characters who show any pizzazz are the Nazis. Some critics have suggested that this disparity was the deliberate intent of Lang, whom they saw as interested more in the underlying themes of justice versus retribution than in character glorification. The Nazis are so over the top that this gap cannot be by accident. Alexander Granach as Gestapo Inspector Gruner and Gene Lockhart as turncoat Czaca positively revel in their nefarious machinations. I see this discrepancy more as revelatory of Lang's wish to present the Czech hostages as internal mirrors of their pacific exteriors. And on those rare occasions when the hostages show a more direct attitude about their lot, they are quite capable of evincing a believable straightforwardness.

When the film was released in 1943, audiences knew the Nazis were evil, but evil more in the Al Capone sense than in any genocidal one. The ending in which the duplicitous Czaca is framed for Heydrich's murder implies that as bad as the Germans were their word about releasing hostages could be trusted. History has proven otherwise. HANGMEN ALSO DIE is a life-affirming film that shows that even during the horrors of genocide, men and women of courage could yet find the dignity to retain their humanity even as their hammy tormentors could lose theirs.

A tribute to the oppressed who dared to fight Nazi brutality..........2007-01-02

'Hangmen Also Die' takes as its story, the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a German Nazi official, head of the security police, chief deputy to the head of the Schutzstaffel, Heinrich Himmler, who organized mass exterminations of European Jews during the opening years of World War II... and also the subsequent retaliatory devastation of Lidice, a Czech mining village...

With his usual skill, Lang weaves a tale of gripping suspense: the Gestapo's efforts to find the assassin; the workings of the Czech resistance fighters; and the traitor who is finally hoisted on his own petard...

The film is an indictment of Nazi brutality and a tribute to the oppressed who dared to fight it...

Bert and Fritz together at last!.......2006-12-12

This is a relatively straightforward propaganda melodrama, with nothing
particularly compelling to recommend it, but for one notable exception.

Bertold Brecht's villains and miscreants are all so full of gusto. They share kinship with the ones in Threepenny Opera and Mahagonny after all. It seems Brecht could not create a scoundrel he couldn't admire on a certain, mischievous level. The ones in this film are no exception, and lift it out of the "ordinary" into the realm of the "oddity".

why the end titles are ironic, etc........2006-06-15

Classic Expressionist images and sly situations by Fritz Lang; cinematography by James Wong Howe; propaganda poetry by Bertolt Brecht (so nice they recite it twice in succession, in case we've missed the point)--HANGMEN ALSO DIE is irresistable!

The story was inspired by the actual assassination of Reinhard Heydrick, who had earlier appeared as himself in Riefenstahl's TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. It's interesting to note that Heydrick continued to have a successful film career for another fifty years, for he also appears posthumously in at least eleven more motion pictures!

Some reviews complain about Brian Donleavy's alleged "lethargic" performance, though I found it consistent with his other straightforward work and quite acceptable. It's peculiar, however, to witness the Czech underground played with so many extremely American faces and mannerisms--Donleavy and O'Keefe in particular. I've never been a fan of Walter Brennan, between the geezer impersonations and his politics; but he does do very well in what elsewhere would be the "Walter Huston" role (NORTH STAR, DRAGON SEED, and others). If any non-German actor's performance seems weaker than others, it's Anna Lee's. But this entire topic only arises because the performances by German actors are so excellent.

In writings of Hollywood (notably Gore Vidal's SCREENING HISTORY and Waugh's THE LOVED ONE), much has been made of the British colony of actors and writers whose films before and during WW2 consciously endeavored to increase American sympathy and support for their homeland. But there's an unusual fascination in watching German actors (not to mention Fritz Lang and "Bert" Brecht) pulling out all the stops in this project.

Much is justifiably made of Hans Heinrich Twardowski's dazzling impersonation of Reinhard Heydrick at the beginning of the movie, which makes the "Nazis" of Otto Preminger, Conrad Veidt, and Erich von Stroheim look like Gandhi, but my "favorite" Nazi in the film is the satirical limning of a Gestapo officer in charge of "questioning" a couple key female suspects. Priceless! As is the performance of the old-lady grocer who refuses to rat out Anna Lee. She, the girl's gossipy aunt, and the Nazi in charge of the investigation have all stepped out of earlier Lang films (M, FURY, etc.) and bring tremendous Old World authenticity to their roles.

The final irony lies in the film's end-title. As Amazon notes, after the plot's presumed climax the end-title challenges whether this is REALLY the end of the story. In truth, the original film was several minutes longer, and included the execution of the hostages. Too grim for war propaganda of 1943? (Some suggest it was excised perhaps before its release in Europe; and it's known that HUAC banned the movie as possibly pro-Communist, and that the American public was "protected" from it for decades.) Or perhaps the studio said Genug already, for a film that's well over two hours long even WITH the snipping?

Doubtless that lopping contributed to Brecht's dissatisfaction with the final product. Meanwhile, the German-speaker who was hired to help him with the project, John Wexley, was indeed a Communist and, like Brecht, was later brought before HUAC--though with more dire consequences.

Average customer rating:

Dreadful and substandard--A disappointment
Great film with anoying evil characters
What did Sharpe do during the break in the Napoleon Wars?
COOL
Sharpe's not the same

Sharpe's Justice
Starring: Sean Bean , Daragh O'Malley , Abigail Cruttenden , Caroline Langrishe , and Philip Glenister
Director: Tom Clegg
Manufacturer: Bfs Entertainment
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ASIN: B00005BGRU
Release Date: 2001-05-01

Description

Sharpe is back in England with his reputation fully restored. He is ordered to the north where he is to command the local militia in a troubled town. It is here that Sharpe faces an agonizing decision - whether to side with the town's corrupt gentry or to support his own kind, the rough and tough of the world who are abused by their superiors.

Customer Reviews:

Dreadful and substandard--A disappointment.......2006-08-28

As an insight into the exploited class conflict of the pre-Industrial Revolution and hypocrisy of the Crown, this is useful; as a DVD and as a Sharpe "adventure", this is best rented or better yet obtained without charge from a public library. It is overly long, often a bore and trite and on the whole a disappointing waste of otherwise superb talent.

Great film with anoying evil characters.......2005-05-17

The film is worthy to be included with the other Sharpe's collections. What I noticed the most about this film and the ones after this one in the series are that the bad guys are starting to be anoying characters. What I mean is that they tend to be wimps, cowards, and scheming all the time. It hardly matches that of the bad guys in the other films where they fight for the wrong side but atleast they contain some sort of solder's honor.
I would consider this film the epiloge of the whole colection. The Waterloo episode spikes up in action again but this one feels more like an ending to all of the episodes. The plot is a bit old fashioned where he goes and looks for his mom's indentity and ends up being involved in a conflict between landowners and peasants.
The customes in all of these series are always a plus and seems to come straight from the theaters themselves. The details are rich as well as the plot. This episode wasn't my most favorite and it isn't my least favorite but it falls nicely in between and lenghtens your love for the Sharpe series.
I recomend this one as long as you've seen the other ones first.

What did Sharpe do during the break in the Napoleon Wars?.......2004-10-07

If there is one thing that I have learned from the first dozen adventures of Major Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean), maverick British officer from the Napoleonic Wars, it is that the only time our hero takes direct and final action against an enemy is when the script is not based on one of Bernard Cornwell's novels, which is the case with "Sharpe's Justice." In the previous outing, "Sharpe's Revenge," his target was the French spymaster Major Ducos, who had framed Sharpe for stealing Napoleon's treasure. But as Sergeant Harper (Daragh O'Malley) pointed out, Ducos was only the first half of Sharpe's revenge. Waiting fearfully in their bed back in England are Sharpe's errant wife, Jane (Abigail Cruttenden), and her lover, the impoverished Lord Rossendale (Alexis Denisof). However, even though Napoleon has been defeated and is mulling his fate on the island of Elba, Sharpe is still a serving office in His Majesty's Army and is posted to Yorkshire where the Mill workers are about to revolt.

This thirteenth of the fourteen Sharpe films is a strange one, and not just because Sharpe is in England and away from Wellington and the War. While it does touch on the wretched conditions that Hagman (John Tams) and the other soldiers of Wellington's army were confronted with when they returned home, it has a lot of soap opera elements. It turns out that Sharpe is from Yorkshire and the orphanage where he was raised is still in operation and Sally Bunting (Karen Meagher) who took care of him when he was a wee lad has some rather important news to relate about Sharpe's family. Then there is Truman (Philip Glenister), who was Sharpe's friend when they were in the orphanage, if you count fighting all the time as friendship.

Of course it would not be a Sharpe story if there was not some friction between our hero and some idiot officer, and this time around it is young Wickham (Douglas Henshall), who fancies himself quite a swordsman, a skill he developed safe in England. We all know that there is a difference between dueling in front of lords and ladies versus swordplay to kill or be killed, but Wickham will have to learn that on his own. There is intrigue going on with the mills to complicate everything, especially after the troops Sharpe commands disobey his orders and start slaughtering mill workers, and it is up to Sharpe, Harper and Hagman to help set things to rights.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of "Sharpe's Justice" is that the script by Patrick Harbinson (with additional material by John Tams) stripes away the last thoughts of affection we might have towards Jane Sharpe. It was not bad enough that she was persuaded to abandon her husband on the Continent, clean out his bank account, and be seduced by a penniless nobleman, this time around she decides to add insult to injury by being repentant about her actions. Ironically, Rossendale thinks more highly of Sharpe than does his own wife, so I think it is clear that the bed she had made is going to be a lonely one for her in the end. But the way she is presented in this penultimate film of the Sharpe series that is far less than she deserves.

There is only the last adventure, "Sharpe's Waterloo" to come in this fine series. It makes sense that the makers of this series would see a need to give more of a sense of the brief peace that existed while Napoleon was exiled on Elba. Next time around Wellington will face Napoleon for the final time and I have no doubt that Sharpe and Rossendale will somehow end up crossing paths on the battlefield. I will be sad to see the series end, but I know there are all those Cornwell novels out there to enjoy.

COOL.......2003-08-22

I love Sharpe and i love the books to so buy the dvd's and books

lov Strawberry

Sharpe's not the same.......2002-09-01

The formula for Sharpe's success is fairly straightforward: a good dose of military mayhem, strong (and often quirky) supporting characters, beautiful ladies (preferably a new one each episode), period locales and costumes, and - most importantly - a gorgeous hero, and you're almost guaranteed success. We all know Sharpe is brilliant as a swashbuckling Napoleonic soldier, out on the front lines (of the battlefield or the bedroom, it really doesn't matter...)

But 'Justice' tampers with this formula, and the film suffers for it. It's one of the two Sharpe films (made in the 1990s for British ITV) that is based on an original script, not a Cornwell novel.

Instead of his usual stomping-ground, the Peninsular Wars, Sharpe is at home in Yorkshire in 'Justice'. Here we have an innate problem: we feel most at home with Sharpe when he's out capturing Eagles or laying siege to French castles. Here, the military element is missing, so Sharpe must instead find enemies in the local robber-baron aristocracy (and his unprintable word of a wife, the harridan Jane, who ran off with a foppish aristocrat but unfortunately inherited a house right next door to where Sharpe is stationed).

Customer Reviews:

Excellent entertainment!.......2007-03-09

In spite of a lifelong fascination with history, I have never had much interest in the Napoleanic era, or the Napoleanic Wars--until I started watching this series. Now we own the entire set, and are acquiring the books on which it is based as rapidly as we can. That alone should indicate how high my opinion of these films is.

If you've read the books, you will find that the timeline has been altered for the movies--but I doubt you will be disappointed. In my opinion, this entire series is one of the best adaptations of book to movie that has ever been done. Both mediums remain emminently enjoyable, and I cannot say that "the books are better than the movies" or "the movie is better than the books." They are entirely complimentary

If you liked Horatio Hornblower and Master and Commander, you will almost certainly enjoy these. Highly recommended!

British TV series continues apace with "Sharpe's Honour".......2007-02-17

Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe novels are among the most beloved stories in historical fiction. Cornwell, a Brit living in America, has captivated fans in his native and adopted homelands with the heroic tales of Sharpe, gutter trash raised from the ranks by Wellington to become a critical officer during the Napoleonic Wars.

The TV adaptations are slightly askew from the novels, but that's no surprise. By the outset of "Sharpe's Honour," Sharpe's beloved wife Teresa, the "Needle" who killed so many Frenchmen, is dead. Sharpe (Sean Bean) grieves, even as Sergeant Harper looks to become a father for the first time.

The French care not for Sharpe's woes, and Major Ducos - Sharpe's sworn enemy - thirsts for revenge. (Napoleon himself wants to see Sharpe ruined!) Ducos convinces the beautiful wife of a Spanish colonel to write a false letter accusing Sharpe of rape, hoping to simultaneously ruin Sharpe and also drive a wedge between Wellington and his Spanish allies.

The letter apparently succeeds, as Sharpe is accused of the murder of the Spanish colonel following their duel. Thanks to the representation by the worst lawyer to ever serve in the English bar, Sharpe is sentenced to death by hanging.

For anyone who has paid attention to the fact that this is the fifth installment in a fourteen DVD pack, it should come as no surprise that Sharpe is not killed. What ensues following his "hanging," however, is a rollicking tale of vengeance, rescue, derring-do, and even a wee bit of honor. Again, there is no electric guitar on the soundtrack to sully the waters, so this is one well-executed if low-budget adventure story. And without giving too much away, even the most cynical Sharpe fan will laugh uproariously as Sharpe does battle with a bunch of protesting Spanish nuns, brandishing a chicken like a battleaxe and taking a few cabbages upside the head.

For fans of the series, this is a must-see. If you're not a fan, grab a copy of Cornwell's first book in the series, "Sharpe's Tiger," and get reading. (It helps to watch the movies if you've already read the novels.)

Sharpe's Honor.......2006-02-05

Being enthralled with the Sharpe series, I have really nothing negative to say about any of the installments. Sharpe's Honour is no different. Following the tragic "Sharpe's Enemey", "..Honor finds Sharpe further put upon by having to restore his tarnished reputation, thanks to a frame-up by his nemesis, Ducos. It's a rousing story, told well, filmed well. The two amusing things of notice is Sharpe's chosen men start to dwindle ridiculously low and This epsiode marks the beginning of the "Love interest of the week" scenerio that will continue in the following stories. Nevertheless, it's a great poignant episode in the series and a must have for any Sharpe collector.

Sharpe has to go undercover to restore his lost honour.......2004-09-02

At the beginning of "Sharpe's Honour," the fifth in the series of television films adapted from the novels of Bernard Cornwell about the maverick officer raised from the ranks by the Duke of Wellington, we discover that Napoleon (Ron Cook) himself is looking forward to our hero's demise. It is 1813 and Bonaparte is retreating from Russia and trying to hold on to Spain, currently ruled by his brother Joseph. Wellington's successes are putting things at risk and the wily Major Ducos (Féodor Atkine) has come up with a plan that will not only result in Sharpe's death, but keep Spain allied with France. The plot hinges on a letter written by the beautiful La Marquesa (Alice Krige) accusing Sharpe (Sean Bean) of rape. Because keeping their potential allies happy might mean more than either Sharpe's honor or life, the truth of the matter might not matter to Wellington (Hugh Fraser) and his own spy master, Major Narin (Michael Byrne).

"Sharpe's Honour" combines a little bit of courtroom drama with a whole bunch of sneaky around behind enemy lines. The plan Ducos has put together is rather complex, trying to put all several pieces into position to solidify the French position in Spain (apparently at this point in time it still pays to expect the Spanish Inquisition), and making doubly sure that Sharpe swings at the end of a rope. Meanwhile, Sergeant Harper (Daragh O'Malley) has to worry not only about Major Sharpe's neck but the impending birth of a child by his wife. Still, for those who like it when Sharpe and Harper are thrown together at every opportunity this Sharpe movie does more than its fair share. There is a classic exchange in this one where Sharpe spies the sergeant and says, "Drunk again, Harper?" Without batting an eye Harper replies, "Oh, me too, sir."

This is a solid offering in the series even if it is not part of the top rank. One of the things I have learned from "Sharpe's Honour" and the previous film, "Sharpe's Enemy," is that Cornwell's stories tend to violate the conventional expectations of such dramas. There are a lot of people that I expect Sharpe to kill in these stories, but he never seems to get to most of them, although they tend to meet their richly deserved fates. But then you know that for our dashing hero being accused of assault by a woman is no reason not for sparks to fly between them. We can only wonder what Napoleon will have in store for Sharpe next on their way to getting together on the field at Waterloo down the road in the fourteenth and final adventure in the series.

Sharp's Honor.......2003-02-02

I was disappointed in the screen play of this great book. I found the book much richer in story. In the book Sharp and the (golden Whore) had known each other in a biblical way from a previous book (Sharps Sword) wherein he also slaughters her evil brother(Colonel Leroux ). In the screen play they do not know each other at all. Also Harper did not accompany Sharp on this Mission to capture La Marquesa,this role was better served by the Spanish boy Angel.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

New York Minute (Full Screen Edition)

The Mallen Curse

Gangster: The Yards, Brother, Ghost Dog

DVD: Puss in Boots

Robbie Williams - Nobody Someday