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Seriously
– I first heard about The Hollow Crown,
high-quality adaptations of Shakespeare’s Richard
II, the two Henry IV plays, and Henry V, in the summer of 2012. It was going to be airing in Britain later
that summer, for people disinterested in the London Olympics, with the understanding
that PBS would quickly follow suit on the other side of the pond. All it took was a cursory glance through the
cast list, and I was salivating with nerdish glee. I sprang into action; the rest of my summer
reading focused on getting through all four plays. I tore through them and waited eagerly for the
stateside release.
And
waited. And waited. Try as I might, I couldn’t find so much as a
whisper – no news, no joy. I resisted
the temptation to acquire the series through “other means,” because it looked
gorgeous and I wanted to see it at television quality on a good-sized screen. Fast-forward to the fall of 2013; yep, more
than a year after it aired in the
U.K., PBS finally gave us The Hollow
Crown. Way to reward people for
watching stuff legally, PBS. Jerks.
Truth
be told, these four films are so exquisite that I tended to forget the
injustice while I was actually watching them (only when the end credits rolled
did I remember how I could’ve been enjoying them for the past year, at which
point my anger returned in full force.)
At any rate, it was only a matter of time before they ended up
here. Well, that time has come. Once more unto the blog, dear friends! First review to follow.
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