Heaven & Hell: North & South, Book III

After watching the first 2 books, this was a bad one. But book 2 totally strayed from the actual story. If Book 2 would not have strayed so far, this story would have made sense in conjunction with the others. I thought this story was well done. It showed a lot of the problems that existed with the Reconstruction era, and the problems associated with a Democratic president from the south, and the Radical Republicans in power in Congress, who were previously all abolitionists before the war. I do think it was weird for George Hazard and Madeline to marry after the death of their spouses. Also they used a different actor for Charles Main. After seeing the same actor for the 2 previous books, they should have tried to get the original guy back. In the whole trilogy, they also used 3 different women for Isabel Hazard, and also 3 different men for Billy Hazard. That's confusing for those who have seen this whole trilogy over and over.

This is such a poor follow up to the first 2 installments. Although you need to start the blame with book 2. Book two strayed so far from the novel that they even let Orry Main(Patrick Swayze) live! the 2nd mini series was well done even though it strayed from the book. The problem is that if part 2 strayed from the novel filming part 3 would not make sense.Cooper Main was not included in the screen adaptations of 1 and 2 so his presence in 3 makes no sense. also , not only is part 3 not consistent with 1 and 2, its not consistent with the novel Heaven and Hell either. A total waste of time and talent.

My first thought watching this is that it was nowhere near as good as books one and two, but it wasn't the worst thing i have watched. The first episode was quite interesting, and the ending to that episode was really good. The only thing i didn't like was that it looked kind of... cheap. I hated the way the scenes were edited, and especially the painting effect used on the opening to each scene, because it was tedious and not so good. Overall though i thought it was okay, and may watch it again in the future. But if you want something exactly like the first 2 books, you might want to steer clear in order to avoid some disappointed, but if u are generally interested, take a look.

I first saw North and South back in 85-86 on the television, and later came across Heaven and Hell in a video store. The North and South I am seeing today just does not seem to be what I watched way back when, and when I watched Heaven and Hell it seem to fit with the other just fine. I enjoyed them both. Now I see there is a book 2 that I never even realized was out and I can not find Heaven and Hell any where. I still find the books North and South, Love and War and Heaven Hell to be the all time greatest, but I enjoy watching the movies with an open mine. No movie is ever as good as there books, but then again movies are based on what the producers think the people want and at that time it was Patrick Swayze. I would love to see this one done all over again from the begining maybe using some of todays actors/actresses and staying closer to the books. Why not they redo movies all the time now.(The Parent Trap, Sebrina,The man in the Iron Mask even Titanic) P.S. Does anyone know where I can get my hands on the copies of Heaven and Hell?

In 1985 ABC TV debuted a tv mini series that garnered everyone's attention from all races creeds and colors. North and South made Patrick Swayze an overnight success as a leading male star. James Read was already a tv star wth NBC TV's Remington Steele. This mini series is the first in three mini series based on John Jakes's civil war novels. North and South ran one whole week as did the sequel North and South Book II, Love and War. Book III Heaven and Hell ran only 3 nights and was not that big a deal as the first two books in the series. It was as if though ABC TV wanted to wrap up all loose ends that went undone with the first two series. Time Warner Home Video has declined to transfer all 3 mini series to DVD format. It is always the same sorry excuse each and every time. There are currently no plans at this time to release this series on to DVD.