Any 粉丝 of the John Jakes’ NORTH AND SOUTH trilogy would be 更多 than happy to tell 你 that the worst entry in the author’s saga about two American families in the mid 19th century was the last one, "HEAVEN AND HELL: North and South Book III". Those 粉丝 would be speaking of the 1994 电视 adaptation, not the novel itself. Unlike many of these fans, I do not share their low opinion of the three-part miniseries. But I will not deny that "HEAVEN AND HELL" had its share of problems. Below is a 列表 of I consider to be its major flaws.
*Use of Montages - The miniseries did not hesitate to use montages to indicate a passage of time. Most of these montages centered on the Charles Main character, portrayed 由 Kyle Chandler. The problem with these montages was that they had exposed a blooper regarding Charles’ rank with the post-war U.S. Army in the first episode.
During a montage that featured Charles’ early courtship of actress Willa Parker (Rya Kihlstedt), Charles either wore corporal 或者 sergeant stripes on his jacket. It went like this – Charles first wore corporal stripes, a fringe 夹克 and then sergeant stripes. And after the montage, Charles wore corporal stripes again.
*Orry and Madeline Main’s Presence in Richmond - BOOK II ended with Orry and Madeline Main (Patrick Swayze and Lesley Anne Down) attending the funeral of family matriarch, Clarissa Main. However, "HEAVEN AND HELL" began with Orry and Madeline staying at a friend’s 首页 in Richmond, in order to raise funds to feed the defeated post-war South. What in the hell for? The pair had a burnt home, an estate and family to care. They had no form of income 或者 cash. And yet, they left their devastated 首页 to raise funds for a cause that would have been implausible for them to achieve.
I realize that screenwriters Suzanne Clauser and John Jakes wanted an excuse to get Orry in Richmond so that he would be murdered 由 his old nemesis, Elkhannah Bent (Philip Casnoff). This could have been achieved in simpler fashion. For example, Clauser and Jakes could have used a funeral for an old comrade as an excuse to get Orry and Madeline to Richmond. This seems simple enough to me.
*Augustus “Gus” Main’s Age - In an 文章 I had written about "NORTH AND SOUTH: BOOK II", I had pointed out that the screenwriters managed to foul up the age of Augustus Main, Charles Main’s (Kyle Chandler) only son 由 his first love, Augusta Main. Jakes and Clauser managed to repeat this mistake in their screenplay for "HEAVEN AND HELL". The third miniseries began with young Gus around the age of five. According to Charles, Gus had been born just before the war. Where did this come from? It was bad enough that Gus looked older than he should have in ”BOOK II”. Then they aged Gus even more, despite the fact that only a few months had passed between the 秒 and third miniseries. Worse, Gus failed to age, as the story for "HEAVEN AND HELL" progressed. Especially since the miniseries was obviously set between 1865 and 1868.
During my last viewing of ”HEAVEN AND HELL: North and South Book III”, I was surprised to discover that a good number of its so-called “bloopers” originated from 写作 mistakes that appeared in both ”NORTH AND SOUTH” and ”NORTH AND SOUTH: BOOK II”. Those “bloopers” include:
*Cooper Main - Prodigal Son - In John Jakes’ literary saga, South Carolina planter Tillet Main and his wife Clarissa had one nephew – Charles, and four children – Orry, Ashton, Brett and the oldest offspring, Cooper (Robert Wagner). However, Cooper was never featured in the first two miniseries. His appearance finally came in the third miniseries, ”HEAVEN AND HELL”. Those 粉丝 who had never read Jakes’ novels had accused the producers and screenwriters of creating the character for the miniseries. Personally, I never understood why the screenwriters of ”NORTH AND SOUTH” and ”NORTH AND SOUTH: BOOK II” had failed to include Cooper. After all, his presence proved to be vital to the saga 由 the third novel.
My only problem with Cooper’s presence in this third miniseries is that Jakes and Clauser had failed to create a back story to explain his disappearance from the first two miniseries. This failure made his appearance in this third chapter rather incongruous.
*Charles Main and Elkhannah Bent in Texas - Another plot line that took the 粉丝 of Jakes’ saga 由 surprise was the revelation that Charles Main had served under Elkhannah Bent in Texas, during the late 1850s . . . before the Civil War. No such story arc had been present in the first miniseries, ”NORTH AND SOUTH”. However, this plot line was present in Jakes’ 1982 novel. The first miniseries did 显示 Charles serving in the U.S. Army in 1850s Texas. It also revealed Bent as an Army officer, visiting New Orleans, Louisiana around the same period. And New Orleans had served as one the main terminals in and out of Texas, east of the Mississippi River during the early and mid 19th century.
Charles’ past with Elkhannah Bent proved to be one of the major story lines in third story. The screenwriters for the miniseries had no choice but to include it. Especially since Charles and Bent’s past history played a major role in Jakes’ story. Most 粉丝 would probably hate for me to say this, but I believe that the screenwriters and producers for ”BOOK I” had made a major mistake in their failure to include Charles’ experiences in Texas in that miniseries. Especially, since it proved to become an important story line.
*The Return of Stanley and Isobel Hazard - I am surprised that many 粉丝 of the saga were surprised to see Stanley and Isobel Hazard (Jonathan Frakes and Deborah Rush) footloose and fancy free in this third miniseries. After all, they were last seen in ”BOOK II” facing prosecution for war profiteering. As it turned out, the couple was never investigated 或者 prosecuted for war profiteering in Jakes’ 秒 NORTH AND SOUTH novel, ”LOVE AND WAR”. Also, ”HEAVEN AND HELL” portrayed Stanley pursuing a political career, something that never happened in the first two miniseries. Yet, the literary Stanley Hazard had began his political career as far back as the 秒 half of the first novel, ”NORTH AND SOUTH”. Again, another so-called “blooper” in ”HEAVEN AND HELL” originated from the screenwriters’ failure to be faithful to the novels when it counted.
*Revelation of Madeline Main's Ancestry - In the first miniseries, "NORTH AND SOUTH", the character Madeline Fabray LaMotte Main had learned from her father that her mother was a quadroon (one-quarter African descent) and that she was an octoroon (one-eighth African descent). She eventually revealed this information to her love, Orry Main. Her secret ended up being exposed to Elkhannah Bent in the first miniseries and her despised sister-in-law, Ashton Main Huntoon (Terri Garber) in the 秒 miniseries, due to Bent's discovery of a painting of Madeline's mother in a New Orleans whorehouse. Somehow, the Mains' local neighbors - including the local Klan leader, Gettys LaMotte (Cliff DeYoung) - learned about her ancestry. I would 爱情 to know how they managed to achieve this, because Bent and Ashton never had the opportunity to expose Madeline's secret. In fact, the entire story line regarding the exposure of Madeline's ancestry is riddled with a good number of bloopers that originated in Jakes' 1982 novel.
*Miscellaneous Characters - Characters last seen in ”NORTH AND SOUTH: BOOK II” failed to make an appearance in the third miniseries:
-Semiramis – the Mont Royal house slave was last seen engaged to another one named Ezra. Both had been 给 land to farm 由 Clarissa Main in the last episode. A former slave named Jane (Sharon Washington) took Semiramis’ place in the third miniseries. However, Semiramis was only featured in the first novel. And Jane was featured in both the 秒 and third novels.
-Ezra – Semiramis’ future husband and a character that had been created solely for the 秒 miniseries and not featured in any of the novels.
-Hope Hazard – George and Constance Hazard’s (James Read and Wendy Kilbourne) had been a 月 before the Civil War broke out in the first miniseries and was seen in the 秒 miniseries. However, she never existed in any of the novels. The literary George and Constance had two children – William and Patricia – in all three novels. And they were seen in ”HEAVEN AND HELL”.
-Virgilia Hazard – Portrayed 由 Kirstie Alley, George Hazard’s younger sister had been killed at the end of ”BOOK II” - executed for the murder of a congressman. However . . . this never happened in the 秒 novel. And her character played a major role in the third novel. Unfortunately, she did not appear in the third miniseries. Her presence was sorely missed 由 me.
”HEAVEN AND HELL” was not a perfect miniseries. Its production values did not strike me as impressive as the first two miniseries. And it had its share of flaws. However, I was surprised to discover that it was a lot 更多 faithful to Jakes’ third novel, ”HEAVEN AND HELL” than ”BOOK II” was to the 秒 novel, ”LOVE AND WAR”. 更多 importantly, a good number of changes made 由 the screenwriters of the first two miniseries produced some of the “bloopers” found in ”HEAVEN AND HELL”. I could accuse Wolper Productions and the screenwriters of ”NORTH AND SOUTH” and ”NORTH AND SOUTH: BOOK II” for failing to consult 作者 John Jakes on how he would continue his saga in the third novel. But the problem is that Jakes also happened to be one of the screenwriters for all three miniseries. While co-writing the first two miniseries, he should have stood his ground and resisted some of the major changes made in them – especially in the 秒 miniseries.
