Kane & Abel The Complete Series   Starring: Peter Strauss and Sam Neill Mediumrare Entertainment RRP: £24.99 FHED2772 Certificate: PG Available 18 October 2010

Born on the same day two children are born worlds apart, not only geographically, but also their station in life. William Kane (Sam Neill) is born into a wealthy Bostonian banking family, with all the power and privilege that this entails, Abel Rosnovski (Peter Strauss) is an abandoned orphan, adopted by poor polish trappers. What both men have in common is a drive to succeed. When Abel moves to America following World War One, the two men’s destinies become entwined and their lifelong feud begins over a misunderstanding...

Kane and Abel (1985) is a mini-series directed by Buzz Kulik, from a Robert W. Lenski script, which itself was based on a novel by Jeffrey Archer. The show was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe. The mini-series is presented over two DVDs. The show is presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio, with a stereo audio track

Oddly enough for a story which entwines the destinies of two men born on the same day who would have a profoundly negative effect on each other lives, the two characters hardly ever meet. Disc one hold the feature length first chapter, In the Beginning (2 hr, 15 min, 36 sec), the picture is a little soft, presumably due to the transfer from the American format into PAL that said the picture has held up remarkably well, with no obvious print damage or artefacts.

Kane is born into a wealthy family, but even this does not shield him from life. Having lost his father in the sinking of the Titanic he grows to young manhood, with a dream to merge his father’s bank with that of his friend. When his mother meets and marries Henry Osborne, Kane disapproves, believing that the man is a charlatan - a fact which is proven when Osborne wastes all his mother's money, before she finally dies during a miscarriage, whilst Osborne is with his mistress.

Abel meanwhile is taken in by the local Baron as a friend for his son, but when war arrives the baron dies and with no surviving child, the baron passes the title onto Abel. After the war Abel moves to New York and starts working as a waiter, but his exceptional skills are noticed by the hotel's owner, who elevates him to the position of manager of one of his failing hotels. Whilst working as a waiter Abel first meets Kane by serving him, the first of many casual meetings. When the depression hits the Hotels go under allowing Abel to take over with a loan from an anonymous benefactor. Unknown to Abel his benefactor is Kane the man he blames for ruining the hotels in the first place, Abel vows vendetta on this misunderstanding and so the feud, which will last both men’s life times begins.

Disc two has the remaining two chapters of the story, An Eye for an Eye (1 hr, 27 min, 22 sec) and Days of Reckoning (1 hr, 26 min, 42 sec), which contains the main bulk of the feud and its bittersweet resolution.

Disc one does have an extra in the form of Jeffrey Archer The Writers View (19 min, 44 sec) where he discusses the genesis of the book and what he thought of the adaptation, his views of the show are generally positive. It’s a nice piece as the original writer doesn’t often get a chance to discuss his own work once it’s been turned into a television series.

Both Sam Neil and Peter Strauss put in impressive performances and I was surprised how well the story had held up as a drama. For purists of the book, there have been some omissions and changes for dramatic effect, but even this criticism is moot now that Archer has himself returned to rewrite the book.

This is an example of the sort of big sweeping drama that is not often made anymore, outside of HBO, and a good example of the genre in the eighties.

8

Charles Packer