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Twenty years after James Clavell’s NYT bestseller hit the small screen, Noble House still offers a powerful, intriguing, twisty, romantic miniseries set in pre-Chinese Hong Kong.

Ian Struan Dunross (Pierce Brosnan) is now the Tai Pan (supreme leader) of Struan & Co., a powerful British-East Asia trading company. He saves the company from ruin by his predecessor/father. Dad tells Ian that he has many duties as the new Tai Pan, including fulfilling favors to two people who have the other halves of coins. It’s part of an ancient family promise and the favors must be fulfilled – or face the consequences of bad honor and certain revenge.

A few years later, Ian’s rival Quillian Gornt (John Rhys-Davies) begins a hostile takeover while Ian tries to net a deal with a rich, arrogant American businessman, who is playing both sides to get the best deal. Ian falls for the American’s assistant, Casey (Debra Raffin), but isn’t sure if she’s just playing him for her boss.

In the midst of the take over, Ian must use savvy business sense and nerves of steel to deal with murders, industrial espionage, betrayal, deception and choppy political waters to save his company and keep his reputation intact.

Sound good? That’s because it is.

This miniseries, nominated for a Prime Time Emmy and ASC awards, came out two years after the book, and a year after Remington Steele stopped production. For those of you who are too young to remember, RS was Brosnan’s launch to fame, and brought his roguish good looks and sexy accent into the fantasies of women everywhere. Hell, I was pretty young and still remember his total hotness.

Pierce Brosnan was incredible as the balls-of-steel Ian Dunross. There is one scene where Dunross faces down with Bartlett. Dunross knows that Bartlett is playing both sides and his words are double-edged. Brosnan’s eyes are hard and his smile cold, something I read about in books but never witnessed in acting. Brilliant. John Rhys-Davies, as always, plays bad guy Gornt with an evil glint that only he can portray. Gornt is the bad guy who cannot quite hide his true nature behind the veneer of “good” wealth. I’ve read some reviews dogging Debra Raffin’s looks and acting ability, but I thought she was great as love interest Casey. The actress, who starred in 7th Heaven and several other series and films, was very natural and her peppy portrayal of easy-going, but sharply-focused Casey was an excellent counterpoint to the brooding Dunross.

I was delighted to see a film with Botox babes flaunting their implants in plunging necklines. The necklines were there – and a bit taboo for this time period – but the chests were flat and normal. The women were thin, but not dangerously so. They looked, well, like healthy women.

You need to understand a few things about Noble House before watching the DVD (or reading the book):

* The film was released in 1988, ten years before Hong Kong was deeded back to China from the British government. It is filled with the tension and guess work of businessmen who wondered what would happen once China took control of the city again. Would it be the same? Would business still thrive there? This was nail-biting stuff to the world at the time.

* Gornt tries to create a hostile takeover environment by selling short Struan & Co. stock. That means that each time the stock lost money Gornt would make money. Don’t ask me the hows and whys. This goes against logic for me, but that’s what it means, and it is used by the rich every day to line their pockets while others lose everything. He also sold thousands of shares to make it appear as though the company was unstable and ready to go under – another common tactic by extremely wealthy players of the market.

* Honor is everything in Hong Kong. Even as death and deception surround them, everyone is always polite. Dunross was the bomb at holding court even as the world caved in around him. It may seem really odd to see people continue on with dinner after a phone call about a murder, but that’s the way it goes.

Noble House is well worth the 376 minutes. It is captivating, with an incredible plot and superb acting that cannot be topped by today’s wannabes. The footage of Hong Kong and the surrounding areas is stunning, but I could have used a little less of that. Of course, this was a big budget miniseries in the late 1980s, and what they did was incredible and set a higher bar for similar films.

Twenty years later, Noble House has still got it. The two-disc boxed set is an excellent gift idea for the drama lover on your list. There are no major extras, but you can watch I with English and Spanish subtitles.

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