A.D. - The Trials & Triumph of the Early Church (1985 Miniseries

Perhaps the most appallingly cheesy and overacted example of the entire genre of gross 1980s miniseries, this eminently forgettable flick features the standard overwrought script and star-studded cast. Not surprisingly, the only ones who seem to like it (apart from the cast’s mothers) are very religious Christians. To them, no respectful dramatization of biblical themes is ever called to task for being bad theater. You have the holy trinity of such fare here: Biblical, Bland, and Boring. You could also add an apocryphal alliteration of being broadly badly written, badly directed, and badly acted. Begorrah! The rights to the series have been purchased by an umbrella Christian organization, and they have done a cheap job of encoding it for release on DVD. This means it could not be neatly ripped into episodes, that the sound sync is a hair off, and that there are no subtitles. They have also included a PDF study Guide on how your church group can use the film to teach. So, if you’d like to see a historically shaky film on how Christianity became the dominant religion of Ancient Rome, here ya go. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.D._%28film%29 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088471/ Video Codec..........: XviD ISO MPEG-4 Video Bitrate........: 918kbps Duration.............: 1:27:33 Resolution...........: 512*384 Framerate............: 29.970 Audio Codec..........: 0x2000 (Dolby AC3) AC3 Audio Bitrate........: 192 kbps CBR Audio Channels.......: 2 A.D. (Anno Domini) is a British/Italian miniseries from 1985 in 6 parts which tells the Acts of the Apostles. Considered as the third and final installment in a TV miniseries trilogy which began with Moses the Lawgiver and Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth, it was adapted from Anthony Burgess's novel The Kingdom of the Wicked, which was itself a sequel to Burgess's book Man Of Nazareth, on which was based Zeffirelli's movie. Plot The story tells the life histories about Saint Peter and Paul of Tarsus after the Crucifixion of Jesus, and their individual fates in the old Rome in time of Persecution of Christians. The Cast * Anthony Andrews - Nero * Colleen Dewhurst - Antonia Minor * Ava Gardner - Agrippina the Younger * David Hedison - Porcius Festus * John Houseman - Gamaliel * Richard Kiley - Claudius * James Mason - Tiberius * John McEnery - Caligula * Ian McShane - Sejanus * Jennifer O'Neill - Messalina * Millie Perkins - Mary, mother of Jesus * Denis Quilley - Saint Peter * Fernando Rey - Seneca the Younger * Richard Roundtree - Serpenius * Susan Sarandon - Livilla * Ben Vereen - The Ethiopian * Tony Vogel - Aquila * Jack Warden - Nerva * Anthony Zerbe - Pontius Pilate * Neil Dickson - Valerius * Cecil Humphreys - Caleb * Amanda Pays - Sarah * Philip Sayer - Paul of Tarsus * Diane Venora - Corinna * Michael Wilding, Jr. - Jesus * Vincent Riotta - Saint Stephen * Rebecca Saire - Ruth * Tom Durham - Cleophas * Anthony Pedley - Zacchaeus * Harold Kasket - Caiaphas * Ralph Arliss - Samuel * Mike Gwilym - Pallas * Davyd Harris - Thomas * Bruce Winant - Seth * Jonathan Hyde - Tigellinus * Damien Thomas - Agrippa I * Derek Hoxby - Agrippa II * Angela Morant - Priscilla * Clive Arrindell - Cassius Chaerea * Paul Freeman - Centurion Cornelius * Andrea Prodan - Britannicus * Akosua Busia - Claudia Acte * Vernon Dobtcheff - Titus Flavius Sabinus * Gerrard McArthur - Luke the Evangelist * Jane How - Poppaea Sabina * Jonathan Tafler - Aaron * Richard Kane - Agrippa Postumus * Barrie Houghton - Ananias * Maggie Wickman - Apicata * Alan Downer - Barnabas * Martin Potter - Gaius Calpurnius Piso * Colin Haigh - James the Just * Renato Scarpa - Lucius Marinus * Roderick Horn - Marcellus * John Wheatley - Mark the Evangelist * Joss Buckley - Matthew the Evangelist * David Sumner - Saint Matthias * Stephen Finlay - Nicanor * Katia Thandoulaki - Claudia Octavia * Eddie Grossman - Parmenas * David Haughton - Petronius * John Steiner - Simon Magus * Robert Wentz - Thrasyllus * Philip Anthony - Saint James the Great * Peter Blythe - Procuius * Gary Brown - Philip of Side * Peter Howell - Atticus * David Rintoul - Pope Linus * Ned Vukovic - Triumvir * Ava Gardner as Agrippina the Younger * Susan Sarandon as Livilla

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Taishotono (2011-10-01)

Your bad writing needs some response. Of course all english speaking minseries lovers must "Thank You" for posting the Movie and Guide. Your remarks can easily be forgotten.
However, as far as I know only two solid attempts at making films from the books that Luke wrote concerning the life and times of the early church and Paul. Two, and this one is far better, because it back stories the life of two families. The other miniseries out by The Visual Bible says they word for word dramatize the book of Acts and Matthew.
I think A.D. is far and away better, remembering this is a 1985 miniseries. If you go back and watch Shogun or any of those classic mini TV show movies, they all are a little different than the way I remember them...a little dated.
If anyone has a foreign language copy of this A.D.,with foreign subtitles please post a note. I'd like to make an english subbed version of this.

 rambam1776 (2014-03-20)

Taishotono at 2011-10-01 20:35 CET:
Has proven my my point. I'll restate my thesis - disregard the topic material, and you are left with a horribly bad film. And if this wasn't about your religion, you would agree with me.