The Buccaneers- 1995

The Buccaneers 1995

The Buccaneers is a BBC miniseries based on Edith Wharton's last, unfinished novel. I count it as one of my favourite miniseries in my DVD collection. After perusing reviews on both Amazon and IMDb, apparently most viewers agree with me but a significant number do not. If you have not yet seen this miniseries, I will try to help you decide whether you will love it or whether you should skip this one.

Laura Testvalley and Nan St. George in The Buccaneers

The story, adapted from Edith Wharton's novel, follows four spirited girls from the Americas, ostracized by New York high society as nouveau riche, who decide to venture to London for “the season” to improve their chances of acceptance and marriage when they get back to America.  What happens, of course, is that they all end up making matches in England and mayhem ensues...

Carla Gugino as Annabelle St. George (Nan) in The Buccaneers

Let's just say for starters that this is NOT Jane Austen.  Although the girls start out as fresh naive teenagers out to conquer the English aristocracy, what they encounter when they cross the pond comes as a bit of a shock to them. Rather in the manner of Lady Diana, these girls thought they were marrying for love, and all but one of them found out too late that it wasn't that simple.

The Buccaneers in front of Castle Howard (or Longlands, the seat of the Duke of Trevennick)

So prepare yourself for a Victorian soap opera (and I love a good melodrama I must say) including adultery, homosexuality, syphilis, domestic violence and all manner of bad behavior.  This story is a pretty good taste of what was actually happening in England in the late Victorian age, portraying marriages of convenience with American money meeting English titles and estates.  Some of these marriages ended happily but many did not and there was no shortage of scandal.  If you are interested in the history of this time period, the marriages of Consuelo Vanderbilt/Duke of Marlborough and Jenny Jerome/Randolph Churchill were the models for Edith Wharton's characters.

The Duke and Duchess of Trevennick- The Buccaneers

So if you like your period drama a bit less gritty, then give this one a pass. If you are interested in how many of the upper classes on both sides of the Atlantic really lived in the Victorian era, then you will be transfixed. Plus the scenery and the costumes are heavenly. Castle Howard is used for the country home of the Duke and Duchess of Trevennick and it looks like they had full use of the house when filming.

Nan and Guy- The Buccaneers

As a personal note, I gave this miniseries to my sister a year ago and she still has yet to watch the entire thing. So this is really an appeal to her to watch it, or pass it on to one of her period drama loving friends who will adore it as I do! Perhaps when she watches it she will leave a comment below to tell my readers how she liked it?

By the by, does not Greg Wise look quite heavenly in the white tie and tails and the magnificent mustachio above? (Michael Kitchen is pretty easy on the eyes as his father too if you like your men a little older). And if you can't picture yourself swishing around in one of those amazing dresses, then you are on the wrong blog!

P.S. If you would like to watch this online (although it is well worth owning), the website Enchanted Serenity of Period Films has a list of period dramas online here and it's under YouTube Playlist 1. The whole website is a treasure trove of period drama and although Cheryl is no longer updating it, she's keeping it online for us. Thanks Cheryl!

The Buccaneers Trailer

The Buccanneers

The Buccaneers is another one of my favourite adaptations and as I am trying to think of why, I am smiling to myself.  It is just awesome!  Ok, I will try to be a little more specific for you.

First of all, for those unfamiliar with this one, it is based on the unfinished last novel of American author Edith Wharton (more famous for her novels The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence).  It was written in 1938, but it is set in late Victorian America and England.  It chronicles the story of four spirited American girls, ostracized by New York high society as nouveau riche, who decide to venture to London for “the season” to improve their chances of acceptance and marriage when they get back to America.  What happens, of course, is that they all end up making matches in England and mayhem ensues....

The fact that Edith Wharton based this story on real girls who had gone to England and married “well” but not always prudently (Conseulo Vanderbilt to the Duke of Marlborough and Jennie Jerome to Lord Randolph Churchill) , makes this very compelling. The adaptation is beautiful to look at first of all, filmed all on location and with gorgeous costumes.  The late Victorian period is absolutely over the top with bustles and flounces and ribbons and.....well, you get the idea.

The casting was brilliant as well, with the main character of Nan St. George, played brilliantly by a young and delightfully plump Carla Gugino. You can really feel her emotions as she goes from a teenager trying to keep up with her beautiful sister Virginia (also well done by Alison Elliot) to a Duchess (whoops, plot spoiler).  I won’t tell you how her marriage works out as that makes up a good part of the adaptation. Virginia’s marriage and those of her friends Conchita (Mira Sorvino having the time of her life) and Lizzy (Rya Kihlstedt) give this sweeping and enthralling miniseries lots of meaty plot.

I love the locations too, with the ever lovely Castle Howard in Yorkshire seen in all it’s glory as the country home of the Duke and Duchess of Trevenick.  There are some gorgeous scenes in Newport, Rhode Island as well as the lovely Stanway House in Gloucestershire as Honourslove, the home of the dreamy Guy Thwaite.  Mmmmm.....

As a warning to those with preteen girls, there are a few scenes which more protective parents may not want them to see.  They actually may be appreciated for parents of older or more worldly teens as promoting some interesting discussions of sexual orientation and of venereal disease.  Like I said, lots of juicy plot.

Many people posting to the Buccaneers IMDb page seem to have a lot of sympathy for the character of Julius (the Duke of Trevenick), and that the marriage may have turned out better if there had been better communication on both sides, as there was genuine affection in the beginning.  Well, watch it and see if you feel this way, or see if he just creeps you out.  These days, Julius would probably be diagnosed as having Asperger’s syndrome with his lack of people reading skills and his love of clocks.  He is one of the most fascinating characters you will come across in any of these adaptations.

The five hour-long episodes give lots of play to the minor characters too, with Cherie Lunghi as the world weary governess Laura Testvalley, Michael Kitchen as a rather intriguing Sir Helmsley Thwaite and best of all James Frain as the uber complex Julius.

In any case, you should find Nan delightful and I hope you will agree that the role of Guy Thwaite was wonderfully played by a young Greg Wise. I haven’t read the novel and so I don’t know how much of the ending was added or changed from what Edith Wharton intended.  I rather think that the ending is happier than she would have written, judging by her other works.  This is probably good for me as I prefer the happily ever after.

There have been some critical comments about the melodrama of the production (more to do with the script than the production I think) and of some of the acting, but I am inclined to disagree on both counts.  I like to think of the plot as chockablock full of great stuff rather than melodramatic, and there are very few moments where the acting is less than great.

Anyhow, I think you get the idea of what this production is like and if it sounds like one you want to see, then you are my kindred spirit.  In any case, you will not be bored with this production as it pulls you along at a great pace, almost to the point of being hard to follow if you get distracted at a key moment.  So have fun with this one if you haven’t yet seen it.

Oh and one more thing.  If any BBC producers are reading this, I would like to suggest a dramatization of the life of Jennie Jerome, Lady Randolph Churchill and the mother of Winston Churchill.  A real life Buccaneer, she was a gorgeous, smart, rich American girl who led an absolutely astoundingly interesting life and charmed the aristocracy of England.  Any takers for this?