The Thorn Birds

I looooved the taboo trope, but felt emotionally dissatisfied by the ending and the female protagonist, by the end, felt just disgusting to me. Which, I guess, was the original author's whole purpose. Also, considering this was set in Australia, there was only one actor with an authentic Aussie dialect which wasn't too distracting, but amusing nonetheless. But Barbara Stanwyck! My goodness what a gem of sass!

I guess Plummer keeps the cardinal cassock for when the Nazi uniform is in the washing? Barbara Stanwyck beat Jean Simmons, much to my surprise, in the battle of the grand dames. I had forgotten how good Stanwyck could be - some of those sudden turn and emoptional monologues were dramatic indeed. When it came to power money and sex she was beating those a quarter of her age. Epic and with a parade of the beautiful (Rachel Ward) or roguish (Bryan Brown) but occasionally laboured script.

At least 3 hours too long!

I found it difficult to get beyond Chamberlain's mispronunciation of 'Drogheda'. It was clear he had never been there.