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Rating:  - A mere two cents............
A few years ago, seeing an advertisement for a low cost tour package of London and a number of other locations in UK, I very nearly took advantage of its great price.
While I was mulling over the idea, one of the things that came into my head was how much I would enjoy a side trip to visit Sarah Layton, whose location is revealed in "Staying On", another DVD people who loved the Jewel should find and watch. It was only some hours later that I remembered that Sarah was a fictional character, so real did those people who lived in the Jewel In The Crown become to me, through the genius of Paul Scott's Raj Quartet and the superlative production of the film on these disks.
I didn't take the trip, sadly, and, somehow, it would probably have left me somewhat unfulfilled, without Sarah there.
For me, there never has been nor ever will be a production to match this true Jewel. Would that American films could be one tenth so great!
Rating: - Deep, Dramatic History
The Jewel in the Crown depicts the last few years of the Raj, Britain's Indian Empire, through the lives of a few characters and families. Central to the story is the fate of Hari Kumar, a British-educated Indian who has the temerity to fall in love with Daphne Manners, a British girl who is new to India and doesn't understand or accept the racial mores of the Raj. Although Daphne and Hari virtually disappear after the first couple of episodes, their story has a huge impact on the other main characters: Ronald Merrick, the policeman who thought he loved Daphne, the Leyton family, with whom Merrick took up, Ahmed Kasim the secular Muslim, and countless others.
The story can be a bit confusing if you aren't too familiar with the story of India's move towards independence, but the main love story and its attendant sub-connections are pretty clear, and the ending is quite satisfying. Above all, the scenery and the background music are entrancing.
Rating: - A new perspective
Admittedly, I'm not a history buff and probably, like most Americans, what I do know about WWII is solely from the American perspective. The Jewel in the Crown was highly recommended, but I honestly wasn't enthused about getting a history lesson of the British occupation in India. I'm happy to report, however, that this series had me hooked. Not only was it brilliantly written and acted, but I came away with such respect for Paul Scott, the author of The Raj Quartet on which this series was based. A virtual lifetime of work went into this project, all gained from his experiences in India. There is so much detail, so many interesting, fully developed characters and intriguing, interwining plots, it's absolutely unbelievable how all of it blended so well. After watching 12 hours of these DVD's I had to read all four novels of The Raj Quartet. The DVDs were wonderfully satisfying, but getting more character background from the books was a treat. Like most A&E & BBC productions, there's always a wealth of remarkably trained British actors in this series. We get to see a very young Charles Dance-who was recently in "Bleak House" as the unmerciful Mr. Tulkinghorn. I do have to say though that I was most impressed with Tim Pigot-Smith as Ronald Merrick and Eric Porter as Count Bronowsky. Smith gives a very layered performance of Merrick who is so intensly disturbing. The payoff is finally understanding what makes him tick. This doesn't happen till the end, but all the pieces fall into place. Count Bronowsky is a very interesting character. He seems to be a delightful man and oddly seems to know everything about anybody. I've watched the series in full a few times and each time I hear or see something new from Bronowsky. Fortunately he's played by an actor who doesn't squander the time he's given. After reading the novels and viewing the DVD's I'm glad I finally have a general understanding of the British and Indian experiences during WWII. It's interesting to watch these cultures interact, their general distrust of one another, and how vastly different they can view a single, shared incident. It's heartbreaking, too, to see the damage that was done to India, not only from the War, but the toll British (and some Indian) extravagance had on the land, it's animals, the subjugation of the Indians and it's lasting effects on their government and justice system.
P.S. Try and avoid reading Amazon's product description for this DVD series. It reveals way too much of the plot. Also, there's several complaints about the sound & picture quality. True, it's not the quality that that I'm used to, but it didn't interfere with my enjoyment. When I'm watching a story this good, the picture quality is the least of my cares.
Rating: - Bad Sound; Cheap DVD; but Great Story
I have read "The Raj Quartet" (i.e. "Jewel in the Crown) twice -- all 2,000 pages of it -- and I love the story. The novel and this DVD paint a fascinating and exhaustive look of the English in the last days of their rule of India.
The story is circular. It centers around the rape of an English girl in the Biribigar gardens in 1942. Seen through the lens of that event we go on to a picture of the British in India during World War II, the growing movement toward independence, and finally the consequences of Muslim-Hindu animosity aroused by independence. Most of the cast is superb and the number of characters is enormous: a tortured, lower-class policeman of chilling efficiency, a sensible English girl with a malevolent mother and a madly incompetent sister, several admirable but ineffective missionaries, befuddled soldiers, a Cambridge scholar, a demented but appealing Russian political advisor, Muslim and Indian politicians, and Hari Kumar -- the Indian boy who was English at heart and served as the scapegoat for all the English failings in India.
It's long, slow-moving, majestic, educational, sometimes a bit unlikely, inconclusive, but compelling -- a soap opera in the exotic and explosive setting of the British Raj. There are elements of Kipling here, and "Passage to India" and Mother Teresa -- a whole melange of not-so-original ideas and scenes. But nobody has ever taken such a meticulously close look at British India in its death throes as has author Paul Scott in the novel and this DVD.
"The Raj Quartet" in my opinion is one of the very greatest novels of the 20th century and "Jewel in the Crown" one of the very greatest of television dramas. That being said neither the color nor the sound of this DVD is of even average quality. The story deserves better.
Smallchief
Rating:  - Fascinating, complex story
I knew the Jewel in the Crown was about India, but somehow I always assumed it was 19th century India, not WWII. So this was a complete surprise to me. I also had no idea how dark this series was, so I was shocked as worse and worse things kept happening to the characters. Nonetheless, I couldn't stop watching because I had to know what was going to happen next. The story is very complex, and the ending not as satisfying as I would have liked, but now that it's over I can't stop thinking about it. As painful as some parts were, it was very worthwhile and really made me think. I don't know much about the DVD quality as some people mentioned, but it would have been nice to have some commentary or bonus features.
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