The House of Cards Trilogy - To Play The King (Disk 4 of 6) (1993) [DVD (iso)] DW Staff Approved

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"To Play The King"




Paul Seed, BBC TV, 1990

No-one captures elegant evil like Ian Richardson, and with House of Cards he distills the phenomena to create Francis

Urquhart, the arch-manipulator at the heart of this political thriller. Naturally, he defines menace and cold cunning

with his portrayal of the statesman who will stop at nothing and no-one in order to achieve the office of Prime

Minister, but Richardson's brilliance lies in his ability to make Urquhart simultaneously loathsome and likeable. The

audience may be repelled by his ruthlessness, but his wit, coolness, preening intelligence and conspiratorial asides to

camera combine to make this minister a strangely charismatic monster.

Richardson based his character on Richard III and won the Best Actor Bafta for his depiction. He is assisted by an

Emmy-winning screenplay by Andrew Davies, based on the novel of the same name by Michael Dobbs. The latter's career

provided more than enough experience to create Urquhart's world with icy accuracy as he worked as a political reporter

in the US during the Watergate scandal before rising to become Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party under John

Major. Asked if the ministers and minions inhabiting his fictitious universe were based on actual figures, he once

replied with one of Urquhart's own aphorisms that, "You might well think that; I couldn't possibly comment".

It's Dobbs's mixing of melodrama and plausibility which gives his drama such a compelling edge.

Other strengths include the critically acclaimed score by Jim Parker, and an excellent supporting cast. Susannah

Harker, for instance, is perfect as the innocent journalist trapped in Urquhart's political labyrinth. But ultimately

House of Cards is chez Richardson, with his wit, acerbity and slyness making this an ideal political thriller, even for

those left cold by politics.

PLOT

The serial opens with the coronation of the new monarch upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II and revolves around

Francis Urquhart's political battles with the newly-crowned King, portrayed by Michael Kitchen. Although his name is

never mentioned, the King bears a strong resemblance to Prince Charles.

Urquhart is also preoccupied with attempts to cover up evidence of his earlier crimes.

The series portrays a Conservative government (after the downfall of Margaret Thatcher) continuing to dominate the

Labour Opposition. The King is disenchanted with the Conservative agenda and becomes involved in politics in a way that

the Prime Minister finds unacceptable for a constitutional monarch.

At their first meeting The King expresses concern about Urquhart's social policies which he argues have led to greater

social deprivation and social exclusion in urban areas. This tension becomes exacerbated when Urquhart moves his

progressive Environment Secretary to a job in Brussels and rejects his proposals to assist poorer pensioners. The King's

Assistant Press Secretary, Chloe Carmichael, leaks the outcome of the meeting to the press, which rankles Urquhart.







Episode 3 - Duration 54 minutes






Episode 4 - Duration 55 minutesFile Info:

This torrent contains a complete and uncompressed copy of the original DVD including chapter structure, etc, and will

produce a perfect clone when burned to DVD5.

ISO'd using DVD Decrypter & UltraISO

Source: PAL DVD, 25 fps


Audio: English 2chn


Region: 4


Res: 720 x 576


AR: 4:3

Disc 2 - File Information

File Name: The House of Cards Trilogy - To Play The King (1993) [DVD (iso)] Disc 2 DW Staff

Approved


Duration (hh:mm:ss): 1:50:50


File Size (in bytes): 4,437,377,024

--- Video Information ---

Video Codec Name: MPEG-2


Video Bitrate (kbps): 5343


frame Width (pixels): 720


frame Height (pixels): 576


frames Per Second: 25.000

--- Audio Information ---


Audio Codec: AC3


Audio Bitrate(kbps): 192


Audio BitRate Type CBR


Audio Sample Rate 48000 Hz




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