I've seen this mini series quite a few times. It's rich in its writing , it's casting , it's directing and it gives us one the greatest , most frightening villains; ELKANAH BENT . played with finesse by the amazingly talented PHILLIP CASNOFF, HE is an extremely under rated actor , who , as usual does not disappoint here. This is the first of three miniseries, and to me , this is the best of them this miniseries gives the viewers an idea what people in this time might have been thinking at this most tumultuous time. It caused me to ask many questions for example , why the south was so desperate to hold on to such an inhumane view that was slavery . Of course there was never a reason to enslave our fellow human beings, and this miniseries showed us just how ugly we could get in doing so.the love between orry main and his soul mate Madelaine , was of course the stuff of legends as we were captivated the MINITE Patrick swayze and Leslie Anne Down shared the screen .Book 1, and 2 , are great , but avoid HEAVEN AND HELL .its badly written , , and bares like little resemblance to book one and two . I watched all of it and I found it very dark, poorly cast ) exception s were James read, and Leslie Anne down, and of course Phillip casnoff ,

North & South is the best ever Mini Series depicting the story of the American Civil War. Unlike Roots, which was also good, it showed the good and the bad of both sides and also the hypocrisy. It always annoys me when Lincoln is portrayed as a night in shining armor freeing the slaves. North & South shows how Lincoln was quite prepared to allow the South to keep their slaves. Another point was when James Read's character invites Patrick Swayze's character to visit his mill, Swayze notices the squalor the mill workers are living in and states that his Slaves live better than this. Read replies that they are free to leave if they want to. This was also a form of slavery and still happens today. Nice to see the stars of stage and screen of yesteryear in the program. James Stewart, Robert Mitchum, Elizabeth Taylor, Lloyd Bridges, Jean Simmons. The list is endless appearing with up and coming stars of today. Teri Garber, Forrest Whitaker. It is unbelievable. I wish that another series could be made like this about the American War Of Independence. Showing both the American side of the story and the British side. Also with top actors of past and present. I recommend you buy the DVD collection alongside with the sequel, Heaven And Hell, which is also very good.

I hope God will save us from crap like this in the future. This one is made in the worst possible American tradition where you can only see good people and bad people. Not to say extremely good people and extremely bad people. And in a well known and just incredibly ignorant and foolish typical American way - people are born this way - good and evil. It has not got much to do with the surrounding society. Jesus! You do not know whether to laugh or cry at this monstrous soap opera. Definitely one of the worse ever made. And talking about bad acting. Lesley-Anne Down must have set an invincible record here. And unbelievable parts like the one Terri Garber makes, makes the whole casting even more ridiculous.

I LOVED North & South! I ordered it in for my husband, thinking he'd like the war and all, but ended up spell-bound myself, and could NOT put the remote down and get off the couch! I laughed and cried as Orry and Madeline were separated and then brought together again, held my breath and hoped the guys on the battlefield would look before they shot, in case it was their brother or friend, rejoiced when they saved each others' live during battles, cried when they were parted... Oh. My. Word. It was amazing! I am soooo sad that there were only 3 in this set. I wish there was more. I wish Orry & Madeline had time to "live happily ever after." I want to watch it all over again...even tho I just finished yesterday! My two problems with North & South were the numerous jumping-into-bed scenes, and the excessive cleavage, which meant my husband & I were not able to enjoy this movie together. But overall...my heart was stolen by this series!