Fortunes of War - The Balkans: September 1939 E1 - Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh

The Balkans: September 1939

[@algie-t2w]

The splendid Ronald Pickup has always been so underrated as an actor.

[@Psilanderfan1884]

I loved watching this series when it first aired on PBS! The first time I became acquainted with Kenneth Branagh ⭐️ and Emma Thompson 🌺. Thank You! 😉

[@LyonsKevin]

Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branaugh at their best. Good show, thanks for posting.

[@crucialpdenislea1963]

Yes , they were man and wife in real life back then

[@bodnica]

Emma Thompson never fails to impress with her talent

[@damiensullivan741]

I remember this series when I was 16 . Fantastic programme. Thankyou for posting !!!

[@ljohnson3564]

What luck to have this great series on youtube. Thanks much!

[@cacampbell3654]

I first saw this series when it was posted on KZbin years ago! It inspired me to read all of Olivia Manning’s writing that I could get my hands on! Now my appreciation of the series is more rich and nuanced ... Thanks for offering us the chance to watch and learn some more! 🌟🎉🤗👍🏿

[@YaleinPrague]

I have watched this series four or five times. I lived in Cairo and Damascus. I recognize Groppi in Cairo, and I stayed many times in the Cecil in Alexandria. Although the scenes in Damascus were filmed elsewhere, I can find no fault whatsoever in this brilliant adaptation of Manning’s novels. Bravo.

[@joannajennings3899]

I had never watched this, being British but having been educated abroad. I love it! Thank you for posting.

[@dinacox1971]

This movie makes me appreciate the sound editors. The balance seems off as to ensure that you can hear the dialog the remaining sound is far too loud. There is additionally the occasion of a flute on movie score that is positively ear piercing.

[@Philbert-s2c]

I haven't seen this series since it premiered on PBS decades ago. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Thanks for uploading it.

[@arosencrantz18]

Thank you for taking the time to upload all of these great series about World War 2!

[@lesyeager1483]

Superb series, PBS always delivers. Thank You for the amazing journey with Fortunes of War - The Balkans.

[@shaneoconnell3843]

They definitely don’t make them like this anymore , truly magnificent !

[@davidjames9626]

Atmosphere..a lot of it, good camera work..seen like a cross between expresionism and impressionism but a moving painting..music real unlike a certain town in California...

[@hannadr]

thank for this pleasure, my parents often spoke about these times and events, and thanks to u, I see it in , even if in movies

[@joanfordham1305]

Watching again with unabated pleasureLove Ronald Pickup in this as well as Branagh /Thompson who are brilliant as a lovely couple who should never have married each other !

[@lesleymcshanemitchell9651]

Bet it was wonderful when they started down the PATH Of LOVE

[@jennyhirschowitz1999]

Mismatched in every way from the start……. Her character unlikeable….. he barely puts up with her.

[@lesleymcshanemitchell9651]

@@jennyhirschowitz1999 He is such A Self centered wanker.She needed right at the beginning to put her foot down.I guess she was a producted of the era

[@karenmichelleevans7965]

Excellent Series..thank you for sharing

[@rukeyser]

Thank you so much! Recommended by friend & so grateful to find it here.

[@princeandrey]

Just read all three novels. Manning is a terrific novel. Lots of characters, a propulsive narrative, and extremely literate writing. I'm interested to see what BBC makes of it!

[@joanfordham1305]

I loved this series so much I bought it on the old tapes and would still buy it on disc if ever I saw it on sale .

[@dominaevillae28]

Wiki about the novel Fortunes of War “the novels describe the experiences of a young married couple, Harriet and Guy Pringle, early in World War II. A lecturer and passionate Communist, Guy is attached to a British Council educational establishment in Bucharest (Romania) when war breaks out, and the couple are forced to leave the country, passing through Athens and ending up in Cairo, Egypt. Harriet is persuaded to return home by ship, but changes her mind at the last minute and goes to Damascus with friends. Guy, hearing that the ship has been torpedoed, for a time believes her to be dead, but they are eventually reunited. The cycle also chronicles the pre-war and wartime experiences of the surrounding group of English expatriates who also find themselves on the move and the changes in Romanian society as the corrupt regime of King Carol II fails to keep Romania out of the war. It goes on to chronicle the British retreat from Greece to Egypt as the Axis forces advance in terms of its impact on the everyday lives of the expatriate community. The defence of Egypt and conditions in wartime Palestine are then described in later novels.”

[@cacampbell3654]

Fabulously informative comment!

[@rogerkenyon6209]

Thank you

[@lesleymcshanemitchell9651]

Thanks loved It

[@johnroff1941]

Love it. Superb actors. Lovely music.

[@peterelsdon7601]

I used to watch this.Staggered that it was 32 years ago!

[@valeria-militiamessalina5672]

3 decades, a mere crease in time.

[@lechat8533]

As far as I could observe, some scenes that were supposed to take place in Romania, were filmed in Ljubljana/Slovenia :)

[@lindypatterson3482]

Great Thank you

[@stephanebelizaire3627]

It was a time of Friendship, Solidarity Courage and Hope, also, Despair, Suffering and Death . May God Protect and Bless the World . :)

[@MOGGS1942]

I do so hate it when someone brings their invisible friend into the public arena. Please keep it for the religious outlets.

[@cacampbell3654]

moggs 😄😊

[@corneliuscapitalinus845]

A user posts about goodwill and blessing to the world, and the self righteous atheists high on their conceptions of "vengeful" "egotistical" "invisible friends" and their clearly superior moral and social sensibilities seek to direct conversation towards cliche'd pettiness. It's always these unremarkable regurgitations accompanied by a Marie Antoinette air, as if "hurrr but WHICH god, you know there's different religions Right!" Or 'flying spaghetti Monster' or whatever else are at all impressive remarks. I'm sure the Jehovah's witness at ones doorstep is a situation that you'd find irksome, and yet most of this atheistic conduct is really of a similar calibre

[@stephanebelizaire3627]

@@corneliuscapitalinus845 Hello Dear Friend Cornelius, how do you do, in your kind notice, you talk about which God . I will answer, the God of Goodwill, Solidarity, Democracy, Liberty, Friendship, and Love, for everyone.

[@alexbalea6404]

@@corneliuscapitalinus845 bravo! Well said!!

[@corneliuscapitalinus845]

Nice to see an anglophone series that ventures Into Romania and central/sth easterne Europe during these eras.

[@alexbalea6404]

It s a teleplay of a volume of novels written by Olivia Manning called The Balak Trilogy.. Even though superb and highlights the nuances, the series dosen t make justice to the original novel wich comes with much more details and a ton of descriptive passages

[@alexbalea6404]

*excuse my typos

[@cacampbell3654]

@@alexbalea6404You can fix them you know! 😊😄

[@alexbalea6404]

@cacampbell3654 it s much more fashionable to write an *excuse rather than editing a text 😉

[@henrymiller1378]

At around 28:00, it appears that Pringle is reading a very authentic Penguin edition of Huxley's Crome Yellow.

[@ameagher2]

+Henry Miller. Henry, old boy, the Penguin can't appear to be "very authentic." Sorry. Also, Merle H. is dead. Sorry. Cheers.

[@henrymiller1378]

+ameagher2 Touche! I am "very" of the mind that Internet commenting is not exempt from rules of usage and general good form. Your high standards are appreciated.

[@ameagher2]

Henry Miller High praise indeed from such a distinguished author, thanks.

[@princeandrey]

But Henry was far from distinguished, an epithet he himself would have shunned.

[@cacampbell3654]

I remember being a very young and ill educated beatnik in the mid 1960s, a high school dropout and runaway. The artist who loaned me his copy of Crome Yellow!

[@maxrostedt9047]

I love this theme music! Any knowledge about it?

[@tango6nf477]

It really grieves me that the BBC can no longer produce such masterpieces owing to reduced funding. It used to be known world wide for quality productions like this.

[@ldv1452]

Reduced funding? They decided to go woke and hopefully, they will go broke.

[@rogerkenyon6209]

The fault of our outgoing government ! I so agree.

[@TheTeach56]

Not reduced funding, wokeism is the problem. No POC, no money.

[@patriciaathome6094]

the very best thank you

[@alanberry1318]

Emma Thompson is brilliant as always, but whatever plot there was somehow went over my head.

[@autodidact2499]

It's about being married to a Stalinist shit.

[@cacampbell3654]

Autodidact2 : Somehow I missed his being a “Stalinist”! So that explains his constant reassurance that the Soviet Union will protect Romania 🇷🇴 from the Nazis, for one thing!

[@Philbert-s2c]

@@autodidact2499 He's hardly a "shit." Naïve and ignorant of Stalin's excesses perhaps but a lot of people were at the time. And as much I despise Stalin, I'd take the Stalinists over the fucking NAZIS any day of the week...

[@autodidact2499]

@@Philbert-s2c Would you describe the Soviet invasion of Poland merely as one of "Stalin's excesses"? Many people who were fellow travelers dumped Stalin after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in 1939. Would you have, tovarich?

[@johnhickman2033]

There doesn't always have to be a plot! It's a narrative; you know - story telling...

[@dinacox1971]

Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson didn't marry until 2 years later. I understand that they met on this project.

[@bodnica]

She deserved a better man than him ugh

[@dinacox1971]

@@bodnica It seems happily that she has the man she deserves now and they have been together for over 20 years. He appears to be equal parts intelligent, kind, and handsome.

[@patriciaathome6094]

I loved all the books

[@michaelboylan5308]

The production values and acting are superb,,the high water mark of English TV series production, The location shooting,,the music the nuances of character all excellent, And yet the major characters are so flawed so venal so selfish it is impossible to conceive how England won the war,,or even to conceive why it was worth fighting

[@cacampbell3654]

I find your perspective extreme, harsh, and odd. Did learn what venal means though! Lol

[@jennyhirschowitz1999]

Russia won the war…….. 27million young Russians died to stop the Germans on the Eastern front.

[@bernadetteoneill7014]

Is this a full movie? 🎬 🎞 Thanks.

[@granskare]

when do we see episode 2.

[@elizabethbower2168]

Love the theme music and would love to know the title of the song that Monica sings in the nightclub

[@louiseoliver3453]

Check out the music of Maria Tanase who was a singer from the period. Today, if you listen to most Romanian folk music it's terribly bland and all sounds the same but they have really caputred the fire which musicians had back then

[@maloosecat123]

18:34 that music...can anyone comment what it is and who the singer is?

[@keithm257]

yes amazing

[@thehumancanary131]

Why...why did they upload thhis excellent series at 240p - everything is blurry!!

[@Philbert-s2c]

Because it was 10 years ago?

[@סילביקשת-כ1ס]

read the 3 volume book called "the balkan trilogy," ages ago . loved it.somehow, it wasn't very known. i was bewitched by it, although the book is better than the serie which isn't bad at all.

[@alexbalea6404]

True! I ve already watched 2 episodes, and the series dosen t make justice to the noveles at all. Even though the series is splendid also - if you haven t read the book beforehand..

[@adgw1423]

Pringle has quite the hard-on for the Russians, especially considering the circumstances of this exact moment when Stalin was cosying up to Hitler and shafting Britain.

[@butterballs9206]

Those 30s leftists had a notorious blind spot about Stalin. The modern equivalent has a similar blind spot about Islam.

[@autodidact2499]

"Those 30s [sic] leftists" weren't all Stalinists; some opposed his regime. Some were followers of Trotsky and some were socialists.

[@nancyhey1012]

In fact I think most Russians did not support Stalin at all. But it is easy to feel empathy for what the Russian people suffered in WWII.

[@davidjordan9759]

Pringle, like most people, just didn't know the horrible truth about Stalin.

[@s.casasola6736]

Where can i find it with subtitles?

[@Countdown70s]

have not heard of this one b4..

[@tulinpostacoglu644]

Bana şans dile dizisini Türkçe yayınlayamazmısınız?

[@granskare]

yes, this is super!!!

[@joanfordham1305]

I am amazed that Guy left his wife for hours in the hotel room and apparently,she was still there hours later .In a country and a beautiful city unknown to her .one cannot but sympathise with her craven dependence

[@ejjohnstone1984]

Yeah harkens back to a time when families were a unit with respect for the roles, where there was a stable place for children to be raised,with little to no threat of divorce, and having a role model of both a father and mother. Instead of string up disharmony how about rejocing in a system that mostly worked for hundreds of years.

[@joanfordham1305]

@Chaim Mendel yes,because she asked « Are WE going out? » and Guy said he was »just popping over to the university »She was unpacking NOT resting and HE said that he would not be more than an hour .However keen you are to defend this insouciant,charming man. you must admit that he just forgot her ! I would have said”Well,I shall go out to explore,whoever is back first can pick up the key!” I did not say it was all his fault-just that they were not suited .

[@joanfordham1305]

@@ejjohnstone1984 But they were NOT a family He had taken her to a place he knew well and she did not know at all. A different character would have gone out to explore and if he knew it was too dangerous to do so he could have told her-and taken her with him or at least,returned within the time HE had said he would return Harriet was a feisty woman-think of the hat pin He loved her in his way but that marriage was doomed.He virtually ignored her Was she supposed to wait,like an obedient dog?

[@joanfordham1305]

@@ejjohnstone1984 Worked for hundreds of years ……When women did not do outside work but plenty to do in the house.Harriet was in an hotel room Mr Johnstone-I assume you are male”

[@resculptit]

IF you like the 1946 version of "Sherlock Holmes" - - - watch "Terror By Night" in which a character named Vivian Vedder played by an actress born in NYCity named Renee Godfrey. Godfrey died in 1964. But her resemblance to Emma Thompson is almost fantastic.

[@romandecaesar4782]

Renee Godfrey was a great actress and very beautiful. Comparing her Thompson? You must be joking!

[@mislavzakman648]

Can someone tell me when was this recorded? I used to live in Bucharest and I recognise some places, however a lot of places I don't recognize or they no longer exist.

[@cacampbell3654]

Mislav Zakman : Originally broadcast from October to November 1987.

[@michaelholowka2361]

Hi the series was filmed in a country once called Yugoslavia, most eastern Europe was Communist as well Romania under the dictator Ceausescu, cheers

[@louiseoliver3453]

@@michaelholowka2361 More specifically in Ljubljana in Slovenia. I had to laugh when I watched it as it looks nothing like Bucharest! They did get Romanian actors though

[@alexbalea6404]

It was filmed in the former Yugoslavia not in romania!

[@alexbalea6404]

@@louiseoliver3453 just one actress was romanian. Despina, the servant. Other 'romanians' were english actors

[@livethink1625]

A British couple living in Romania try to survive as Europe is engulfed in World War II. - imdb

[@BernardGoldstein-d4v]

Thank you 7/26/24

[@patriciaathome6094]

til the next episode

[@dzelaNS]

E sada sam sve videla i da Snežana Savić peva vlaške pesme :-)

[@whoknows2054]

the music is too loud, Very annoying.

[@kmvenezia4337]

While I'm pretty sure after only 4 minutes of watching that I'm going to enjoy this. That said I'm equally sure that they weren't feathering men's hairstyles in 1939

[@fiorellafenati5395]

i loved the book!

[@meeeka]

The Buceresti dancing in the nightclub looked decidedly modern.

[@terinunes604]

Thank you 2024❤

[@sinker0]

I laughed out loud when "do you think the nazis are funny"..."started out alright...overdid it a bit though...no one likes them now"

[@absolutetruthgirl]

Tsar Nicholas ll makes an appearance! Fall of Eagles.

[@romanclay1913]

Ronald Pickup in DAY OF THE JACKAL.

[@mariopinot9884]

Nice

[@juliastephenson173]

The Kenneth Branagh character was insufferable, imagine being married to him 😱so selfish

[@mariellegrass-singing4718]

We're those beastly Nazis already in the Balkans in 1939?

[@davidprocter3578]

dull as ditch water, cast do their best but really struggle against a very thin plot. There is not a character in this that I would not personally like to kick up the arse. Very very dull indeed.

[@reginawilkes5100]

Shakespearean plot.

[@reginawilkes5100]

Troilus and Cressida, specifically.

[@claudiozuniga913]

Branagh what happen with tour hair?

[@meeeka]

"We grew apart."

[@cacampbell3654]

Noticing more sexism and ableism this time round ....

[@absolutetruthgirl]

So far it's a travel show about silly brits in Romania. This better improve.

[@rm6763]

Kenneth Branagh is insufferably smug.

[@cameliaturda6472]

România a rămas aceeași primitivă țară , din nenorocire 🖤 .

[@GIONYM3]

d0nkeys brits

[@davidjordan9759]

Coming from someone who can't get his capital letters in the right place, we'll take that as a compliment.

[@GYKY62]

Romania is in Central Europe and never been a Balkans country.....like Vlad TEPES -who was a king of Walahia in the same Central Europe NOT DRACULA -such things exist in the mind of poor educated peoples!!!!

[@rjschneid47]

GjOvE66 Romania, part of the Balkan Peninsula, has always been a Balkan nation.

[@princeandrey]

Geographically a Balkan but cultarally not.

[@MungoSmee]

I think you mean 'poorly educated people.'

[@bongofrenzy303]

shut up Egor and bring me fresh bodies.

[@Countdown70s]

I'd call it Balkans ...I'd call Czech/Slovak and Hungary and maybe Austria 'Central Europe"...to me, Ro/umania and Bulgaria always 'Balkans"..

[@agnieszkaagath9517]

"... the Russians entered Vilnius to protect Poland from the Germans... " hahahahahahahah!!!!!!