Review of Sharpe´s Honour/Sharpe´s Gold (2 disc set)

Introduction

This is the third volume of Sharpe to be released – the first features Sharpe`s Rifles and Sharpe`s Eagle, and the second volume features Sharpe`s Company and Sharpe`s Enemy and this volume features Sharpe`s Honour and Sharpe`s Gold.

Sean Bean stars as Bernard Cornwell`s Richard Sharpe, a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars during the 19th Century. A great supporting cast includes Brian Cox, Daragh O`Malley, Michael Byrne and Hugh Fraser.

In Sharpe`s Honour, Sharpe is falsely accused of adultery and challenged to a duel, which doesn`t happen, but the murder of his opponent sees Sharpe in the dock.

In Sharpe`s Gold, Sharpe helps a young Irish woman who has travelled to Spain to find her father, who disappeared on the trail of gold.

Video

As with volumes one and two, the video comes in 4:3 full-frame, which is letterboxed at 14:9 giving small black lines at the top and bottom of a standard TV screen, and the resulting headache for those with 16:9 sets without a proper zoom control.

The video itself is of reasonable quality given its TV origins, and like the previous volumes, suffers from a lack of contrast, looks a bit washed out and is over-exposed at times. The image is free from dirt, but is a bit grainy, and it still isn`t particularly sharp or detailed.

The visuals however are predictably excellent, and in general the quality of production is again well up to movie standard, with superb locations which look very authentic.

Audio

Once again, the soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, which is about as much as you could expect from a made for TV series.

The sound is reproduced very well, with dialogue and sound effects very clear.

The wailing electric guitar used for the soundtrack is also well reproduced by the stereo soundtrack.

Features

Both discs contain a photo gallery and production notes, neither of which are very exciting.

The discs are packaged in a clear double-Amaray case, which contains details of the chapter breaks and the third token for a bonus DVD if you buy all seven volumes (although having read the small print, you need the till receipts as well...)

Conclusion

Overall, volume three of Sharpe maintains the excellent entertainment of the first two, with the very high production values and interesting stories helping Sharpe to succeed on all fronts.

The video and sound are only average, and the extras are only minimal, but there are 200 minutes of top-notch entertainment for £15.99, which represents excellent value for money.

Recommended.