| Noble House | |
|---|---|
North American DVD release (March 25, 2008) |
|
| Genre | Action/Drama |
| Written by | James Clavell (Novel) Eric Bercovici (Screenplay) |
| Directed by | Gary Nelson |
| Starring | Pierce Brosnan Deborah Raffin Ben Masters John Rhys-Davies Gordon Jackson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | James Clavell |
| Producer(s) | Eric Bercovici Frederick Muller |
| Editor(s) | Peter Holt |
| Location(s) | Hong Kong |
| Running time | 376 minutes (total) |
| Broadcast | |
| Picture format | Technicolor |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| First shown in | February 21, 1988 |
Noble House was an American television miniseries that was produced and broadcast by NBC in 1988. Based upon the novel Noble House by James Clavell, it featured a large cast headlined by Pierce Brosnan as business tycoon Ian Dunross and was directed by Gary Nelson. However, due to time restrictions, several of the many subplots from the book were removed.
This was NBC's second miniseries adaptation of a Clavell novel, the first being 1980's Shōgun. Both take place in the same fictional universe (see The Asian Saga) with Noble House featuring connections to Shōgun and another Clavell work, Tai-Pan.
For the miniseries, the timeframe of the novel was changed; Clavell's original novel took place in the early 1960s, but the miniseries was updated to the 1980s. The building prominently displayed and used as Struan's is Jardine House.
Many of the subplots from the novel were left out in the miniseries due to time restraints. For instance, the entire Sevrin and AMG arc were removed, as the series aired near the close of the Cold War. The MPs were removed, along with Peter Marlowe. Tip Tok-Toh was changed from a mysterious, unofficial contact of the Bank of China to a good friend of Dunross that often appeared at parties. The bank runs were limited to the Ho-Pak, with the Victoria and Blacs not having any loss of confidence. Finally, although First Central and Dave Murtagh were introduced, the Bank of China bailed Dunross out in return for arranging Brian Kwok's release.