It is difficult to put the entire story of a legend of History on any screen. Television makes it even more difficult with the size & time & budget constrictions put upon that production. This is a good effort to do it, but only a piece of the story.
Jaclyn Smith is an appropriate person to play Florence Nightingale here in a story which brings across a story of her not often told. It gets past the legend and presents one facet of her own inner conflict. That story is of Nightingale choosing the path she believed God intended for her over the other path of becoming a rich married woman with a family. God intends for her to be a healer as this story goes. Considering actual events, she chose wisely putting others before herself.
She spurns the love and marriage of Timothy Dalton's nobleman, and winds up in the British-Russian war of 1855 becoming a Saint. She is presented here as one of the early women pushing women's rights more than a century before a modern movement in the 1960's & 70's would finally breach that wall, more than 50 years before women ever could even vote in the US.
The performance of Jeremy Brett & Claire Bloom which are more intrinsic than Dalton after the first half of the film are grand and the scenery is well done. The one reflection that you get it was made for television is you can sense where the commercial breaks are when watching the DVD. Glad it was brought to this version, as this is too long & commercials would take away some of the wallop. It is a little weak in the second half after Dalton is gone, but still a good effort overall.
Jaclyn Smith is an appropriate person to play Florence Nightingale here in a story which brings across a story of her not often told. It gets past the legend and presents one facet of her own inner conflict. That story is of Nightingale choosing the path she believed God intended for her over the other path of becoming a rich married woman with a family. God intends for her to be a healer as this story goes. Considering actual events, she chose wisely putting others before herself.
She spurns the love and marriage of Timothy Dalton's nobleman, and winds up in the British-Russian war of 1855 becoming a Saint. She is presented here as one of the early women pushing women's rights more than a century before a modern movement in the 1960's & 70's would finally breach that wall, more than 50 years before women ever could even vote in the US.
The performance of Jeremy Brett & Claire Bloom which are more intrinsic than Dalton after the first half of the film are grand and the scenery is well done. The one reflection that you get it was made for television is you can sense where the commercial breaks are when watching the DVD. Glad it was brought to this version, as this is too long & commercials would take away some of the wallop. It is a little weak in the second half after Dalton is gone, but still a good effort overall.