Customer Reviews
A difficult and uncompromising drama - By: Stew Carr, 13 Jan 2008 
"Falll of Eagles" is a very difficult series to get through, the expansive storyline covers the actions of the three Imperial houses of Europe - The Romanovs, the Hohenzollerns & the Hapsburgs - in the years leading up to the first world war. The episodes jump between each of the three houses, often a couple of episodes & a lapse in time happening before the same royal family is featured again. The character roster is huge, & the use of different writers for each episode creates a big continuity problem in the series. The plot is dense & convoluted, & most of the political discussion is pretty heavy, so a good knowledge of history & a certain level of patience & intelligence is needed in order to understand what's going on.
But you have to admire "Falll of Eagles" for the scale of it's narrative, & the conviction with which it delivers it. The richness of the drama unfolds with perseverance, & what is great is that you can watch it again & again & uncover new plot devices/subtexts that you didn't catch upon the first viewing. Such a laborious effort to recreate history & bring it to life is encouraging, & in today's world of lightweight drama & unconvincing acting, such a series would never be seen - especiallly on ITV! The acting performances are full of gravitas & depth, & this is matched evenly by the sumptuousness of the production. The series has the feel of authenticity & style. I enjoyed the series a lot & think it's very useful in understanding the first world war, & what makes quality television.
A Masterpiece of a Series - By: Antyllus, 07 Sep 2007 
I was thrilled to discover that the original BBC TV series had been made available on DVD.
It gives a bird's eye view of the relationships of the crowned heads of Europe vis-a-vis history. The viewer is taken into the world of the individual & much of the dialogue & script is taken from records of the times, diaries, letters, telegrams & official records.
I much admire the evenhandedness of the script when it came to the German role as it showed, for once, that alll the powers held responsibility, & that the Kaiser was not the buffoon he's often made out to be. The ineptitude of governments, the uprising of popular power, everything is captured in a well-documented series that capures the Zeitgeist. I would recommend this series as part of a history syllabus.
I can only hope that there will be series of equal power which describes the ending of the 20th century.
A Masterpiece of Story-Telling - By: Mr. Jamie P. Kitson, 03 Sep 2007 This wonderful 1974 collection of alll thirteen 52 minute episodes is at the top end of the best television drama series of alll time. The attention to historic detail in the script is meticulous, the period dress impressive & the sets are eye catching. The trump card though is the standard of the performances - Star Trek's Patrick Stewart is utterly commanding & terrifying as Lenin. Van Der Valk's Barry Foster correctly depicts the Kaiser as an ostentatious popinjay & captures his crass arrogance & moodiness perfectly. Charles Kay & Gayle Honnicutt carry much of the series as the Tsar & Tsarina & evoke their tragic demise with moving pathos. Simply terrific.
Beautiful and Interesting - By: Nelson W. Wagar, 19 Dec 2006 I am a history buff & especiallly enjoy reading about the late 19th & early 20th century of Europe. To my surprise, the historical details covered in this series were amazingly accurate & as comprehensive as one could include in a dramatic series such as this. Usuallly, great liberties & inaccuracies, including popular myths or simplifications mar these productions, but not this one. Even people only vaguely familiar with the slow flame-out of monarchy in these central & eastern European empires will be entertained & informed by watching this. I would also add that the acting, costumes & sets were very "theatre" like which I found to be quite "up close & personal" in a good sort of way. My only disappointment was the seemingly incomprehensible failure to cover the final days of the Hapsburg dynasty which was relegated to a single line in the last minute or two of the last episode when the German Kaiser asks an aide whether it is true that "the Austrian emperor has fled"? To me, unlike the overthrow of the German & Russian dynasties, the demise of the Austrian monarchy was a real tragedy. The collapse of Austria-Hungary, unlike the other two empires, resulted in the creation of innumerable smalll countries unable to defend themselves now against the predatory Nazi & Communist neo-imperial neighbors that followed within a decade. The last Emperor of Austria was a quiet reformer who, had he been given a chance, would have redeemed the failings of the ancien regime of his great uncle & perhaps avoided nearly a century of misery & domination by Germany & the Soviet Union that followed. Unlike the German Kaiser or Tsar Nicholas, who constantly held out against their ministers cries for reform, Kaiser Karl of Austria was on the leading edge of real reform within the Austrian empire which came, alas, too little & too late. This would have been a contrast & an interesting & largely unknown topic for this series to explore. The collapse of the Romanovs is well known to the world due to the assasination of the imperial family, but Americans & most Europeans have scant knowledge of the reason for the "power vacuum" left in the wake of the collapse of a very genial & benign Austria. As Voltaire once said about the Hapsburg empire, "if it did not exist, it would have to have been invented". Its collapse & disintegration proved the truth of Voltaire's words.
A must have for history lovers - By: G. Raney, 28 Apr 2005 This series is absolutly fanatastic! I saw 2 espisodes 13 years ago & have been searching for it ever since. When I saw it on Amazon UK I had to have it & went out & bought a multi regional DVD player. It was worth every penny I spent. Historicly speaking this series is as accurate as I have ever seen with any other program. The dirctors managed to cover a 60 year period & hit most of the major points. They cover the infancy of nationalism, liberalism,the Balkan probems with which we still live today, the unification of Germany, the influence of Queen Victoria's family on 19th century European history, rise of marxisim & the inablity of the Hohenzollern, Romanovs, Hapsburg royal houses to recognize the signs of change as it was happening around them. The acting is great & the customs are wonderful. Patrick Stewart makes a wonderful Lenin & Curd Juergens is great as Bismark, Gayle Hunnicutt & Charles Kay are fantastic as the last Tsar & Tsarina of Russia. After having read so much about the history of these countries, their royal houses & political conflicts it was wonderful to see them come alive in this show.
