Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #925 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-04-18
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 650 minutes

Synopsis
In 1966 BBC Television embarked on its most ambitious documentary series to date. The eminent art historian Lord Clark was commissioned to write and present an epic examination of Western European culture, defining what he considered to be the crucial phases of its development. Civilisation: A Personal View by Lord Clark would be more than two years in the making, with filming in over 100 locations across 13 countries. The lavish series was hailed as a masterpiece when it was first transmitted in 1969.

From the fall of the Roman Empire to the Industrial Revolution and beyond, Clark's compelling narrative is accompanied by breathtaking colour photography of Europe's greatest landmarks. This 'history of ideas as illustrated by art and music' remains the benchmark for the numerous programmes it inspired. This four-DVD set includes a specially written 36-page illustrated booklet of viewing notes.

DVD extras: Sir David Attenborough remembers the making of Civilisation and a photo gallery of behind-the-scenes stills.

Customer Reviews

Not what the title suggests...
When I ordered the series, Civilisation, I did expect exactly that - A broad, informative and exciting review of civilization on our planet. What I got was a Mr. Clark's narrow-minded view bordering on arrogance, a series full of long, sweeping self-congratulatory panning camera shots of artwork set to classical music Mr. Clark, concentrates on what is mainly Western Europe art history between the 5th Century A.D. and the 20th Century. As if Western European civilization just sprang up out of its own efforts and devices, the great civilizations preceding it are hardly even a footnote. The shining beacon of Moorish or indeed Islamic culture and science as a whole during the dark ages, the power and influence of a Byzantium that stood alone while Europe was crumbling, the great Chinese, Japanese and Indian civilizations, who were flourishing while most Europeans were living in mud huts, the influence of Russian culture, the Pushkin's the Tolstoy's..None of these are seen in the series (or even mentioned) as an influence in Western European culture, positive or otherwise. When one watches the series, one can't help but marvel at the Western European high culture and how it seemed to just rise up from nowhere to become the epitome of "civilization" and that we owe most of it if not all to the Catholic church - Absurd. There is very little military reference in the series, one needs to understand what had been happening militarily and how that would change or influence the culture of the conqueror as well as the conquered. I don't recall any explorers mentioned, no Marco Polo or De Gama or even Columbus, yet isn't it through exploration and discovery that new ideas, new commerce and everything ultimately benefiting civilizations arise?

On the whole I was very disappointed with the supremely narrow-minded view that suggests that civilization did not and indeed does not exist outside of Western Europe. I completed the 4th DVD with great difficulty and was overwhelmed with the feeling that I was escaping from a long, boring and pretentious wine and cheese party.

I recommend this series only for students of Western European art...And for insomniacs.

Great, but watch with a pinch of salt
There is great detail and Clark is clearly very knowledgeable. If you are interested in art and the development of culture, then this box set is very good and of the quality that is not made these days. So 5 Stars.

The problem is that it really needs to be watched with a pinch of salt. This is because Clark struggles to convey history accurately. He has the idea in his head that Christianity=Civilisation. The truth is that the Islamic world was far in advance of our own and contact with them kick-started the Renaissance. He fails to see that the Greeks, that he reveres, took most of their culture, mathematics and ideas from Egypt, Crete, Asia Minor, Persia and China. It was these ancient cultures we should really look to as the birth place of civilisation. The "Ascent of Man" is very diverse and enjoyable and for a better history of the Mediterranean try "the first Eden" and also "Simon Schamas: A history of Britain" is good.

In conclusion, this is a superb exercise in the history of art, it is not however a truthful history of civilisation and hence 4 stars.

The top of the top
Today there is no time and money for this kind of deep intellectual program, describing the last 2000 years of western civilization in one breath. Kenneth Clarks view of the subject is personal and not everyone has to agree to it, still no one can ignore it.