I would definitely suggest that "Noble House" certainly surpasses its

original literary text. It was a very long novel and at times it felt tiring to read through all of the subplots and to go into detail about minor characters. I started to read the novel first but kept postponing to

continue with it, yet when I finally saw the mini-series I was completely

captivated and watched the first five hours in one night.



Besides the additions and changes which enhanced the story to a

better level, I loved the cinematography of the scenes, particularly those

of Pierce (the use of panning and tracking shots in camera movement

seemed to gracefully glide with Ian which is symbolic of his character).

The musical themes were especially self-reflexive in the cinematic

medium; I loved how it depicted the grandeur of the role of Tai-pan of

the Noble House as well as the romance of the setting and the couples.



Love the cliffhangers at the end of each episode, they always leave you

wanting to know what will happen next. In terms of storytelling, the

main and subplots keep twisting and turning; either truly satisfying or

better than you would expect. The trick is that sometimes the acting as

well as the cinematography work together to deceive the audience i.e.

when there is a high angle shot of Ian's car driving through traffic, the

camera pulls back to reveal it is from Gornt's point of view, he smirks

which may imply he is involved with John's kidnapping.



A rather brilliant restoration for such an epic mini-series! The visual quality is nearly flawless, sharper and more stunning than I had anticipated (especially to see Pierce's blue eyes). The sound is great: I love the grand Tai-pan theme playing on the main menu as well as

Casey's romantic theme played during the scene selection

menus. Otherwise, the clarity of sound effects, voices, and

instruments is wonderful. Although I would've preferred

moving images from the film on the main menu. Anyway, the

mini-series is divided up into four episodes, two on each disc.



This is such a personal reward to me--I've been looking forward

to viewing this on DVD ever since I wrote the film analysis

article a few months back in honor of the 20th anniversary of its

broadcast on NBC. It was my very first critique intended for

publication since I graduated from Rider University. Actually,

I decided to write the analysis right after I realized there were

plans for this official release. Perhaps it was joss after all!