Ellis Island

Here, from the Golden Age of the Mini-Series, is one of those big, multi-star affairs which spans decades and which blends a number of sub-plots into a kind of historical panorama. True, it's all a bit superficial and there's more than a touch of soap-opera in the proceedings, but when one says, "They don't make 'em like this anymore," one says it with regret.

The story-line runs from just after the turn-of-the-century through World War I and it centers on a Jewish immigrant from Russia who becomes a successful Broadway songwriter, a handsome Italian who moves from gigolo to politician, and two young women from Ireland, one of whom becomes blind and one of whom has a dark secret in her past.

Curious is the case of the actor billed as "Greg Martyn" who plays the Italian immigrant. He's a tall, good-looking man with a lot of presence and he has one of the show's more memorable scenes: he's tied shirtless to a hot radiator by a loan-shark angry that his money hasn't been re-paid. Who can forget that "sizzling" sound made when the Italian's naked, sweaty back is pressed against the scorching metal?

Yet, despite all this, Greg Martyn's career went absolutely nowhere after "Ellis Island."

Performances are uniformly good throughout but notwithstanding his prominent billing, Richard Burton has little to do and seems to be running on "auto-pilot."