Britain's granting of independence to India after World War II was a glorious failure, presided over in pomp and Imperial style by the Last Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten.
Glorious because Mountbatten achieved a transition which, though certainly bloody, managed to avoid the total wholesale carnage which could have ensued between Hindus and Moslems. Failure because independence came at the price of partition of India and Pakistan - a terrible event the worst results of which are undoubtedly still ahead of us.
This television drama traces only the events of a few hectic months, from when Mountbatten was appointed Viceroy of India following the Labour Government's Post-war victory, to the granting of independence to India in August 1947.
Such was the high regard he was held in, that Pandit Nehru asked Mountbatten to stay on as Governor of the new independent nation. This 1986 mini-series halts at this high-point. It avoids the 1979 postscript when the man who helped bring independence to one of world's most populous nations was murdered by the IRA in a bomb attack which also saw the slaughter of his 14-year-old grandson and a 15-year-old local youth.
Production values are high in this evocation of the dying days of the British Empire. Most of the actors are reasonably well cast, with acting honours taken by Ian Richardson as Nehru - in fact, he is the only actor who seems to have been able to crawl within the skin of the historical actor he depicts, and give him real and passionate flesh and blood.
The worst aspect - and this is, for me, enough to flaw the production irretrievably - is the casting of the dreadful Nicol Williamson as Mountbatten. The best one can say is that Williamson gives a terrific impression of a mobile stuffed-shirt. He walks about tight and hunched-up as if perpetually constipated; director Tom Clegg should have stepped up supply of bran at breakfast to try to induce a bit of looseness.
The quality is acceptable for a television series of this period. The picture is generally quite soft, and although the opening credits seem too muted, the quality during the actual program is acceptable, though not approaching today's television or film standards.
As a quick comparison, the image is slightly better quality than the restoration job we've seen on the classic Brideshead Revisited, and represents average television quality of the period.
The standard two-channel stereo is not exceptional in any way. But it does its job of delivering a dialogue-heavy drama without distortion, and with good clarity throughout. There are no special dynamics to exploit in either music or special effects.
It's historically worthwhile and tells a pretty absorbing story of India's path to independence, but it is flawed by the impossibly bad casting of the central character, Mountbatten. Definitely still worth acquiring if you are a student of the history of that era though.
