Search - The Mallens on DVD

Samuel K. (Solvanda)
Reviewed on 11/26/2018...

I actually don't have this particular title. What I own is a Region 2 collection which has 24 discs, and encompasses all the Granada productions of Catherine Cookson's stories. Unfortunately, these have all been divided up into sets and single disc titles in the U.S. That being said, every single one of these tales are incredible and rewarding to track down, and crammed with acclaimed actors. This set contains all the dark Mallen tales.

Catherine did not have it the easiest, was raised in poverty, thought her mother was her sister, and many of these stories were probably things she observed throughout her life, if not unlike her own. Writing novels ended up being cathartic and healing for her. And brought in loads of money. These tales are mostly lower and middle class, turn of century. Every episode is riveting, convoluted, takes a dark turn or two, and somehow people end up being resilient and rising above their unfortunate occurrences. There is some very severe and mature subject matter here, as it is humanly honest. These elements are never handled in a gratuitous way though. Complete list of the productions:

The Moth, The Black Velvet Gown, The Black Candle, The Secret, The Mallen Streak, The Mallen Girls, The Mallen Secret, The Mallen Curse, The Girl, The Fifteen Streets, The Rag Nymph, The Wingless Bird, The Dwelling Place, The Glass Virgin, Tilly Trotter, The Cinder Path, The Man Who Cried, The Round Tower, The Tide of Life, Colour Blind, A Dinner of Herbs Part 1, Dinner of Herbs Part 2, The Gambling Man, The Storyteller

Surprisingly good, but dark

E. Eccher | Boston, MA | 10/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I tracked down this mini-series solely because I wanted to see other work by John Duttine, who was so outstanding in "To Serve Them All My Days." Based on the little I knew about "The Mallens," I wasn't expecting much, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it held the melodrama in check and featured very fine acting. It has that "Masterpiece Theater" tempo of being slow enough to give you a sense of what life in rural 1860s North England probably was like, without being so slow that it bores. The characters, while very different in their assumptions and motivations than we expect in contemporary fiction, struck me as believable and understandable. One warning though: the material is very dark.

** SPOILER **

People die in ways or under circumstances that are very foreign to 21st century life, i.e., consumption, accidents. But that's part of what I found rather fascinating about it -- the sense of fatalism is palpable. Worth a look if you appreciate well-made period melodrama.
"

The Mallens saga

Barbara S. Catron | South Florida | 06/27/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Bought this DVD box set after watching the Forsyte Saga. I have always been a fan of Cookson's books and the adaptation of this one was done very well. It is set in nineteenth-century England and has all the things you need in a movie, scandals, love and violence. The Mallens are a cursed family and from one generation to the next they can't escape."

I laughed, I cried, I was bored

A. J Terry | 11/07/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I laughed at the tragedy. I cried at the quality. And in the end, I was bored.

The problem with the _The Mallens_ isn't just that it's a melodrama. A considerable amount of real Victorian melodrama was written-and popular. It isn't just that it's unremittingly depressing. Thomas Hardy is unremittingly depressing.

It isn't just that _The Mallens_ features lovers doomed by the "immoral" quality of their relationships, plus cruel parents and guardians keeping them apart. What about _Wuthering Heights_? It isn't just that the characters include a governess who spends her life longing to penetrate the upper crust (what about _Jane Eyre_?); a villainous, lecherous, long-pedigreed aristocrat; a consumptive (or two; but many real and fictional Victorians died of consumption); an alcoholic (but ever-faithful) family servant; a sternly religious, ever-disapproving father; incredibly over-possessive mothers and guardians; and overall deeply dysfunctional families. It's not that it includes a gloomy, but impressive castle; a family curse; a (possible) ghost; a gypsy with dire predictions; several suicides; a (possible) murder-suicide; a death by dueling; a mysterious inheritance that everyone wants and may even be entitled to; a bankruptcy; some thefts; an amputation; incest; two rapes; numerous adulteries; and a case of intermittent insanity.

The problem with _The Mallens_ is that it includes _all_ these things. None of the characters ever do anything normal or show any promise of doing so. There's no scene that I can think of where the characters are not at some emotional extreme-no quiet BBC teas in this film! And some scenes are really over the top-like the one where the wealthy (for the time being) aristocrat and his upper-crust friends take all the ladies (respectable women of their own class) on their backs to ride horsie as a normal evening entertainment. And it doesn't help that most of the male characters sport not only late 20th-century hairstyles, but absurdly wiggy "big hair."

Skip this film. As the governess constantly tells everyone, it's for your own good."