Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic (1978) is a four-part miniseries that stars Ian McShane as Benjamin Disraeli, covering the rise of his career from Byronic fop with political aspirations to, ultimately, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the reign of Queen Victoria. Ann Hollowood designed the costumes, covering the 1830s to 1880s, so quite a lot of interesting fashion years are packed into the four hour-long episodes. So much fashion, in fact, that it’s enough to fill a couple of posts worth of costume ogling.
We start with “Dizzy,” the first episode named for Benjamin Disraeli’s society nickname. The year is around 1832, and Benjamin is back from an eventful tour of Europe, having just published a decently successful novel and hoping to climb the social ladder in London and make a name for himself in liberal politics. The ton is perplexed by his dandyism and the whiff of Judaism that sets him apart from the rest of English society (his father was Jewish but raised his family in the Anglican faith).
Finding the Whigs to be disinterested in anything that he has to offer, Benjamin sets up with his friend the Count D’Orsay and his Bohemian group of intellectuals and artists while he strategizes how to break into politics. Through a series of social connections, Benjamin is introduced to the conservative politician Wyndham Lewis and his wife, Mary Anne, who take an immediate liking to the ambitious young man. If the Whigs won’t have him, the Torys can be persuaded with the Lewis’ sponsorship, and Benjamin is off to the races.
However, he soon finds it difficult to win the trust of the Tory faction who only begrudgingly tolerate him out of respect for Mr. Lewis. Benjamin has a string of romantic entanglements which complicate his ambitions and eventually he begins to see the need to project a more traditional appearance.
The costumes in this episode are delightfully wacky, as to be expected considering the decade. Benjamin’s outfits are over the top and flashy, especially for Victorian standards, and he stands out in every scene decked with gold chains and loud prints, something the young Disraeli was actually very well known for at the time.
You can watch all four episodes of the miniseries for free on YouTube. Here’s the first episode:
Have you seen Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic (1978)? Share your thoughts in the comments! Stay tuned for episode 2!
Find this frock flick at:
Wow, Ian McShane as Disraeli! What a thought, I may have needed this. I have always a soft spot for BD, so un-English and yet, look how far he got.
The costumes look quite interesting for this era! Very colourful and suitably whacky – I’ll be checking out the series, thanks for the link!
This looks fabulous! I wonder if I saw an episode or two way back when: I distinctly remember the Disraelis in conversation with the Princess Royal, young Vicky, who is praising classical statuary and the beauty of the male form, when Ms. Disraeli exclaims,”Oh, but you haven’t seen my Dizzy in the bath!” And Queen Victoria loves this comment, since she, too, adored her (late, I think) husband.
It never ceases to amuse me that calling the British equivalent to ‘Playing Doctors and Nurses’ (In an adult context) ‘A spot of Victoria and Albert’ was right on the money.
Also that it was generally Queen V who was doing the chasing!
I wonder if Mr Ian McShane would be interested in reprising the role?
Anyway, I can only call this whole production well worth watching, if only because the ladies look so lovey frocked up (I’d like to pretend my interest in Frock Flicks is NOT grounded in the pleasures of watching beautiful ladies wear fancy costumes, but this would be a disservice to Truth and to my intense love of a good aesthetic).
I remember watching this in 1978! A young Ian McShane is plenty dishy.