The Essential Dennis Potter Collection - 13-DVD Box Set ( Stand Up, Nigel Barton / Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton / Casanova / The Mayor of Casterbridge / Pennies from Heaven / Blue Remembered Hills / The Singing Detective / Brimstone and Treacle )

The Essential Dennis Potter Collection - 13-DVD Box Set (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: Stand Up, Nigel Barton / Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton / Casanova / The Mayor of Casterbridge / Pennies from Heaven / Blue Remembered Hills / The Singing Detective / Brimstone and Treacle
Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
1829 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Box Set
Interactive Menu
Multi-DVD Set
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1965 - 2003 and produced in:
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Gareth Davies
Mark Cullingham
John Glenister
David Giles
Herbert Ross
Brian Gibson
Keith Gordon
Barry Davis

Written By:
Dennis Potter
Thomas Hardy

Actors:
Keith Barron ..... Nigel Barton
Jack Woolgar ..... Harry Barton
Katherine Parr ..... Mrs. Barton
Vickery Turner ..... Jill Blakeney
Robert Mill ..... Adrian
Janet Henfrey ..... Miss Tillings
P.J. Kavanagh ..... Reporter
Johnnie Wade ..... Georgie
Godfrey James ..... Bert
Llewellyn Rees ..... Senior Proctor
Brian Badcoe ..... Junior Proctor
Brian Hankins ..... Conrad
Terence Soall ..... Scout
Barbara Keogh ..... Mrs. Taylor
Peter Madden ..... Jordan
Valerie Gearon ..... Anne Barton
John Bailey ..... Jack Hay
Cyril Luckham ..... Hugh Archibald-Lake
Barbara Atkinson ..... 1st Hunting Woman
Agatha Carroll ..... 2nd Hunting Woman
Donald Hewlett ..... 1st Hunting Man
Russell Forehead ..... Sir Harry Blakerswood
Huw Thomas ..... Newsreader
Betty Bowden ..... Lady Chairman
Margaret Diamond ..... Lady Secretary
Madge Brindley ..... Mrs. Thompson
Michael Segal ..... 1st Questioner
Raymond Witch ..... 2nd Questioner
Charles Rea ..... Pedestrian
Frank Finlay ..... Casanova
Norman Rossington ..... Lorenzo
Zienia Merton ..... Cristina (6 episodes, 1971)
Christine Noonan ..... Barberina (6 episodes, 1971)
Patrick Newell ..... Schalon (4 episodes, 1971)
Ania Marson ..... Anne Roman-Coupier (4 episodes, 1971)
Lyn Yeldham ..... Genoveffa (4 episodes, 1971)
Julia Cornelius ..... Rose (4 episodes, 1971)
Brigid Erin Bates ..... Manon (4 episodes, 1971)
Alfred Hoffman ..... Constable (4 episodes, 1971)
Caroline Dowdeswell ..... Anna (4 episodes, 1971)
Ray Marioni ..... Constable (4 episodes, 1971)
Elaine Donnelly ..... Helena (3 episodes, 1971)
Alan Bates ..... Michael Henchard
Janet Maw ..... Elizabeth-Jane
Jack Galloway ..... Donald Farfrae
Anna Massey ..... Lucetta Farfrae
Ronald Lacey ..... Jopp
Peter Bourke ..... Abel Whittle
Jeffrey Holland ..... Carter (4 episodes, 1978)
Alan Rowe ..... Mr. Joyce (4 episodes, 1978)
Gillian Brown ..... Lucetta's Maid
Clifford Parrish ..... Longways
Avis Bunnage ..... Mrs. Goodenough (3 episodes, 1978)
Richard Owens ..... Newson
Douglas Milvain ..... Coney (3 episodes, 1978)
Steve Martin ..... Arthur
Bernadette Peters ..... Eileen
Jessica Harper ..... Joan
Vernel Bagneris ..... The Accordion Man
John McMartin ..... Mr. Warner
John Karlen ..... The Detective
Jay Garner ..... The Banker
Robert Fitch ..... Al
Tommy Rall ..... Ed
Eliska Krupka ..... The Blind Girl
Christopher Walken ..... Tom
Francis X. McCarthy ..... The Bartender
Raleigh Bond ..... Mr. Barrett
Gloria LeRoy ..... A Prostitute
Nancy Parsons ..... The Old Whore
Colin Welland ..... Willie
Michael Elphick ..... Peter
Robin Ellis ..... John
John Bird ..... Raymond
Helen Mirren ..... Angela
Janine Duvitski ..... Audrey
Colin Jeavons ..... Donald Duck
Robert Downey Jr. ..... Dan Dark
Robin Wright ..... Nicola
Nina ..... Dr. Gibbon
Mel Gibson ..... Mark Binney
Jeremy Northam ..... Nurse Mills
Katie Holmes ..... First Hood
Adrien Brody ..... Second Hood
Jon Polito ..... Betty Dark
Carla Gugino ..... Skin Specialist
Saul Rubinek ..... Chief of Staff
Alfre Woodard ..... Nurse Nozhki
Amy Aquino ..... Young Dan Dark
David Dorfman ..... Moonglow Bartender
Eddie Jones ..... Woman Physiotherapist
Lily Knight ..... Visiting Japanese Doctor
Clyde Kusatsu
Denholm Elliott ..... Mr. Tom Bates
Michael Kitchen ..... Martin Taylor
Patricia Lawrence ..... Mrs. Amy Bates
Michelle Newell ..... Pattie Bates
Paul Williamson ..... Businessman
Esmond Webb ..... Man with dog
Patricia Quayle ..... Woman in street
James Greene ..... Man in street

Synopsis:

Stand Up, Nigel Barton (1965)
Nigel is very clever lad and desperately eager to succeed. He's aware of the fashionable potency of being both brilliant and working class. New glamorous experiences aren't enough, maybe politics is the answer.
Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton (1965)
Candidate Nigel Barton goes from idealism to cynicism as he becomes disillusioned and suspicious of hollow campaign promises.
Casanova (1971)
A serious take on the Casanova story from the ever-reliable Dennis Potter.
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1978)
Thomas Hardy's powerful tale of a rich and respectable man who drunkenly auctions his wife and child at a West Country fair.
Pennies from Heaven (1981)
During the Great Depression, a sheet music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent school teacher.
Blue Remembered Hills (1979)
Dennis Potter's play is set in the Forest of Dean, on a summer day in 1943. Seven children go out to play.
The Singing Detective (2003)
From his hospital bed, a writer suffering from a skin disease hallucinates musical numbers and paranoid plots.
Brimstone and Treacle (1987)
The Bates sadly care for their severely disabled daughter Pattie. Martin arrives at their door claiming to be her college friend. He charms them into accepting him as a lodger and carer for Pattie. But Martin is not all he seems.

This mammoth box set features eight works of Dennis Potter spread over eleven discs.
The Singing Detective:Slowly recovering from a terrible skin disease in a busy National Health hospital, cynical thriller writer Phillip Marlow continues to unravel the traumas of his wartime boyhood while working through the plot of his greatest detective story - with himself as a crooning '40s detective on the trail of murderous Nazi plotters. But what is real and what is imagined? As childhood memories return - to the evocative accompaniment of hits like "It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow", "After You've Gone" and "The Teddy Bear's Picnic", the clues to his own past and the plot of his book slowly begin to slot together...
Pennies From Heaven:In Dennis Potter's Pennies From Heaven, Bob Hoskins plays Arthur, a salesman dealing in sheet music who falls in love with a school teacher called Eileen (Cheryl Campbell). When Eileen discovers that she is pregnant and that Arthur is already married to Joan (Gemma Craven) she runs away. Arthur is determined to give up everything to find her again... he believes in happy endings, just like in the songs he loves so much.
Casanova:The Italian adventurer and libertine Giovanni Jacopo Casanova lived from 1725 to 1798, but in this six-part series Dennis Potter attempted to find a contemporary relevance through his central themes of sex and religion. He commented that Casanova "was concerned with religious and sexual freedom, and these are the things we have to address ourselves to now." Casanova was imprisoned in Venice in 1755, and Potter used that event as a central device, constantly inter-cutting to contrast Casanova's amorous escapades, radiant, joyful and brightly lit, with his oppressive solitary confinement in the gloom of a half-darkened cell.
Brimstone And Treacle:In Dennis Potter's Brimstone And Treacle, Sting delivers one of his finest performances as Martin Taylor, a mysterious stranger who arrives on the doorstep of the Bates household, and soon worms his way into their lives. Mr and Mrs Bates (Denholm Elliott and Joan Plowright) soon grow to trust Martin, but his intentions are less than honourable when it soon becomes clear that he is lusting after their comatose daughter...
Stand Up Nigel Barton:The first part of Dennis Potter's semi-autobiographical double bill taken from the 'Wednesday Play' series of BBC films. Nigel is very clever lad and desperately eager to succeed. He's aware of the fashionable potency of being both brilliant and working class. New glamorous experiences aren't enough, maybe politics is the answer.
Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton:The concluding part of Dennis Potter's semi-autobiographical double bill. After a successful Oxford education, Nigel is a successful journalist. An important by-election looms, which could put him on road to Cabinet post. Front page publicity causes problems.
Blue Remembered Hills:Dennis Potter's play is set in the Forest of Dean, on a summer day in 1943. Seven children go out to play. The seven children are all played by adult actors to act as a 'magnifying glass to show what it's like to be a child'.
The Mayor Of Casterbridge:Thomas Hardy's powerful tale of a rich and respectable man who drunkenly auctions his wife and child at a West Country fair. The remorse of the Mayor of Casterbridge finally destroys him.

Stand Up, Nigel Barton (1965)
Semi-autobiographical TV play by Dennis Potter, from the BBC's 'Wednesday Play' series. It deals with the experiences of Nigel Barton, a young man from a poor mining community who wins a scholarship to Oxford University. The villagers accuse him of snobbery, while the rich University students treat him like a peasant. Uncertain of which sphere he should be moving in, Nigel tries to reconcile himself with his proud but stubborn father, and also succeed at University, despite its pretentions which apall him.
Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton (1965)
After a successful Oxford education, Nigel is a successful journalist. An important by-election looms, which could put him on road to Cabinet post. Front page publicity causes problems.
Casanova (1971)
The Italian adventurer and libertine Giovanni Jacopo Casanova lived from 1725 to 1798, but in this six-part series Dennis Potter attempted to find a contemporary relevance through his central themes of sex and religion. He commented that Casanova "was concerned with religious and sexual freedom, and these are the things we have to address ourselves to now." Casanova was imprisoned in Venice in 1755, and Potter used that event as a central device, constantly inter-cutting to contrast Casanova's amorous escapades, radiant, joyful and brightly lit, with his oppressive solitary confinement in the gloom of a half-darkened cell.
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1978)
In a drunken and disheartened state, Michael Henchard sells his wife at a fair. When he becomes sober again he realises what he has done, and though unable to find his wife and child, changes his ways. He becomes the Mayor of the town. Nearly twenty years later his past comes back to haunt him.
Pennies from Heaven (1981)
In Dennis Potter's Pennies From Heaven, Bob Hoskins plays Arthur, a salesman dealing in sheet music who falls in love with a school teacher called Eileen (Cheryl Campbell). When Eileen discovers that she is pregnant and that Arthur is already married to Joan (Gemma Craven) she runs away. Arthur is determined to give up everything to find her again... he believes in happy endings, just like in the songs he loves so much.
Blue Remembered Hills (1979)
The title is taken from A.E. Housman's 1896 poem: "Into my heart an air that kills; From yon far country blows; What are those blue remembered hills..." It's 1943 on a summer's afternoon and 7 children play in the fields & woods of old England. The children's roles are all played by adults to act as "A magnifying glass to show what it's like to be a child."
The Singing Detective (2003)
Slowly recovering from a terrible skin disease in a busy National Health hospital, cynical thriller writer Phillip Marlow continues to unravel the traumas of his wartime boyhood while working through the plot of his greatest detective story - with himself as a crooning '40s detective on the trail of murderous Nazi plotters. But what is real and what is imagined? As childhood memories return - to the evocative accompaniment of hits like "It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow", "After You've Gone" and "The Teddy Bear's Picnic", the clues to his own past and the plot of his book slowly begin to slot together...
Brimstone and Treacle (1987)
Dennis Potter's controversial black-morality play is a major work from his early years, challenging established concepts of good and evil. A curious youth enveigles his way into a couple's home, and turns out to be the very devil himself.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 13 March, 2014.