Noble House - 2-Disc Set ( James Clavell's Noble House ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, Blu-Ray, Reg.B Import - Denmark ]

This is a good show which I lost in the divorce so will have to order another one some day

When this aired back in 1988, I recorded it on the new-fangled VCR we had just gotten. The miniseries aired over four nights and was based on the novel by James Clavell, who also wrote Shogun and Tai Pan. Noble House starred a young, handsome Pierce Brosnan as Ian Dunross, the current "Tai Pan" (Supreme Leader) of Struan & Company, an old and storied Hong Kong-based firm also known at The Noble House.There's a lot the current Tai Pan needs to deal with. He has a potential takeover on his plate at the hands of an American Company named Par-Con, he has to deal with granting ancient "favors" to the bearer of special coins, kidnapping, horse racing, business rivals, Chinese spies and on and on and on. The fun never seems to end.For many years, I would, on occasion, pull out the VHS tapes and play the series, commercials and all (those were kind of fun to watch, honestly) and then in the 2000s, I was considering throwing out the deteriorating tapes but then someone gave me their old Magnavox VHS/DVD writer combo and I got the bright idea to finally transfer the tapes onto DVD. That was okay but the quality was as poor as the source tapes. About a year ago, I watched the DVD and knew it was time to let it go - into the rubbish it went. Then I looked on Amazon just on a lark and there it was. It had been out for a while, in fact, so of course I purchased it and I'm still doing the happy dance. I wish I had known about the DVD sooner.Personally, I love the fact that it takes place in the 1980s as opposed to the 1960s backdrop in which the book was written. But since it was only a 20ish-year difference, it still worked.The cast included other notable names such as John Houseman, John Rhys-Davies (I think he was in the Harry Potter films recently), Ben Masters, Deborah Raffin, Julia Nickson, Tia Carrere and my favorite villain actor of all time – Khigh Dhiegh – who played the evil Wo Fat in the original Hawaii Five-O series and Four Finger Wu in Noble House. But an even bigger villain than Four Finger Wu is Quillan Gornt (played excellently by John Rhys-Davies), the Tai Pan of the Rothwell-Gornt, the sworn enemy of the Noble House.When I first viewed this in the 1980s, it was a drama. But when I view it now almost 30 years later, there's a campiness to it from perhaps the passage of time. There are some very funny scenes that feature Four Finger Wu and his young Mistress, Venus Poon (Tia Carrere), and her little rat dog. There are also some overly melodramatic scenes between Lincoln Bartlett (Ben Masters) and Orlanda Ramos (Julia Nickson) that make me cringe when I view them in modern times – seriously cringe-worthy from a female perspective. Thank heavens for Casey Tcholok (Debra Raffin) for portraying a woman with some power and a mind of her own.The really interesting thing about this series is the portrayal of life in Hong Kong under British rule before it was turned back to the Chinese. That the country would return to Chinese rule in less than a decade is also mentioned a couple of times as it was paramount in the minds of business leaders from the U.K. and in the case of this series, the U.S. (Par-Con).The series managed to balance the many converging story lines that were going on simultaneously (though they all were connected in multiple ways). James Clavell didn't write the script. The book was adapted by screenwriter, Eric Bercovici, who also wrote many episodes of the original Hawaii Five-O series, the miniseries, Shogun and one of my favorite films, A Change of Habit, starring Mary Tyler Moore and Elvis Presley.Just remember, this originally aired in the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" era and it has that feel to it in abundance. The main thing is that despite some goofy 80s moments, this film holds up over time. And that's good writing.

Produced and aired at the end of the 1980s, Noble House would be one of the last in a line of lengthy and epic miniseries. Based on James Clavell's thousand plus page novel (and move forward two decades in time to the then present day), Noble House features a wealth of location filming, dozens of characters and multiple plot lines across four parts and more than six hours of screen time. So how does it hold up a quarter of a century later?The performances hold up well. Pierce Brosnan is fascinating as Ian Dunross, Tai-Pan of the Hong Kong company Struan's, the Noble House of the title. Brosnan is convincing as the man in charge of a 150 year old company who struggles to deal not just with the crises of today but with the weight of legacy of the Noble House upon his shoulders as well. While Dunross is not above perhaps less than savory at times, Brosnan nevertheless makes clear that is a likeable man with a strong sense of honor and duty no matter the cost. It is Brosnan as Dunross that ultimately ties in the various diverse plots together and, if his performance was anything less than what it is, I'm not sure Noble House would work as well as it does.Moving on from Brosnan, there's a strong cast behind him. There's John Rhys-Davies as Quillan Gornt, the head of Struan's biggest rival and a man who seems to live for nothing but bringing it down. There's Deborah Raffin and Ben Masters as the heads of the American company Par-Con whose motives and actions are questionable throughout the entire miniseries. From there the cast of characters ranges from police Superintendent Robert Armstrong (Gordon Jackson) to Struan employees such as John Van Dreelen as Jacques DeVille, Michael Siberry as Linbar Struan and fellow Hong Kong businessmen such as Damien Thomas as Lando Mata. Rounding off the cast in two cameo roles are Denholm Elliott as outgoing Tai-Pan Alastair Struan in the first part and John Houseman as Hong Kong governor Sir Geoffrey Allison in the last part.Where the cast, and indeed both the writing and the miniseries as a whole, runs into trouble is with its native characters. The writing (and as a result the performances) mean that they are often walking and talking clichés, especially Khigh Dhiegh as Four Finger Wu and Tia Carrere as Venus Poon as well as the less savory characters who figure in its first half. Even characters such as Burt Kwouk's Phillip Chen, the compradore of Struan's, fall into moments of cringe worthy dialogue that undermine them considerably. Somehow it seems a shame that the script couldn't treat these characters with the same respect, though how much of that is down to the original source material I'm not sure.Despite that problem, Noble House otherwise makes excellent use of Hong Kong itself throughout. In fact the city and its surrounding areas (including Macao) are as much as a player in events as Brosnan's Dunross or anyone else. The large amount of location filming gives the various storylines a strong sense of verisimilitude.The miniseries is also blessed both with a large amount of screen time and a script that makes the most use of it. Based on the massive novel by James Clavell, Noble House makes the most use of its six plus hours and four parts. There's everything from business dealings ranging from a deal between the Noble House and Par-Con to Gornt's trying bankrupt the Noble House, kidnapping, murder, romances, concerns over Hong Kong's return to China (which was still a few years off when the miniseries was made) and international intrigues as well. Behind all that is the characters and how they change and develop (or don't) as they face not just those events but disasters natural and manmade. As a result there's much going on as there are not only multiple plotlines but ones that intersect, often in the most unexpected ways. Whatever else can be said then, this miniseries is definitely not lacking in incident.Across more than six hours, Noble House lays out a tale filled with business dealings, murder, romance, intrigues and much more. It is carried by its performances and a fascinating portrait of late 1980s Hong Kong and the people who inhabit it (despite some clichéd writing and performances). If nothing else, Noble House is a sprawling epic that makes for fascinating viewing a quarter century on.

Absolutely fantastic mini series. Stumbled across this. Having been to Hong Kong many times in my life this show gives you a real sense of the place. The cast is fantastic and the budget, cinematography and special effects were all of a higher quality than I was expecting. Looking forward to putting it away now and watching again in a few years.

A real treasure of a series dedicated to demonstrate the power and fragility of the trading society in Hong Kong during the '50s. I liked the acting and ambience of this film series which will not be everyones taste. If you are interested in the Far East and the trading empires set up there by the British then buy this movie.

Pierce Brosnan's best ever role as Ian Dunross, the Tai-Pan of Noble House. Sensational chemistry with Deborah Raffin and brilliant casting from top to bottom. Gary Nelson, the director also directed Washington: Behind Closed Doors and that's all you need to say really.

Loved the book and an interesting snapshot. The series is in the 80s while the book was in the 60s, great story and the setting is interesting as the handover was known about but a long way off.

Excellent. Just as I remember the mini series except without the constant advertising breaks. Binge watched it as soon as it arrived, which was, by the way, just as promised.