Fortunes of War

Based on Olivia Manning's autobiographical Balkan and Levant trilogies, this epic 1987 BBC miniseries, broadcast in the United States on Masterpiece Theatre, finds professor Guy Pringle (Kenneth Branagh) and his new wife Harriet (Emma Thompson) in Bucharest, circa 1939, with the Nazis amassing on the border. Before long, Guy's anti-fascist activities and sentiments land him on a Nazi death list, after which the couple flee to Greece and later Egypt. Notable supporting characters include Ronald Pickup as the rakish Prince Yakimov, and Rupert Graves (The Forsyte Saga, A Room with a View) as the young soldier Simon Boulderstone. Over the course of nearly seven hours, Fortunes of War serves up more than enough intrigue, melodrama, and romance to satisfy both fans of Manning's books and of Branagh and Thompson (who would marry two years after this aired, then divorce in 1995). Presented on an extra-less flipper-disc, this bargain-priced program is recommended. (K. Lee Benson)