The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Set 1
Just a few technical notes regarding the new DVD reissue. The original DVDs have long been unavailable, so this new reissue is interesting. As best I can determine, the video quality is about the same as the original DVDs, and I wouldn’t have expected it to be improved much if any. The new set I have viewed definitely does include English subtitles, which I don’t recall being on the original set.
Note that interiors for the series were videotaped using very early PAL color TV cameras about the size of small refrigerators on wheels, which greatly limited their movement. Exteriors were filmed using mediocre-quality 16mm film stock (movies and U.S. TV shows use 35mm film which is 4X the size) and as a result are noticeably grainy and blurry when viewed on modern equipment; this was not nearly as obvious on the TV sets of 1972.
In “Unpleasantness” the amount of George Fentiman’s inheritance in his father’s will is 2,000 Pounds, which very roughly converts to something around US 5,000 in 2010. The value of the aunt’s estate is mentioned as 600,000 Pounds; this was actually a staggering amount of money in 1928, and very very roughly converts to somewhere around US million as of 2010, an amount certain to focus the intense interest of the heirs and lawyers!
The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Set 1 Feature
The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Set 1 Overview
As seen onMasterpiece Theatre
“The cast is splendid” –The Washington Post
“Realized superbly” –The New York Times
Ian Carmichael stars in the original BBC adaptations of the Dorothy L. Sayers crime thrillers. Hailed by critics as one of the finest mystery series ever filmed, its success on PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre inspired the spin-off Mystery! Running at least three hours each, these dramas do full justice to Sayers’s vivid characters, trenchant wit, and lavish 1920s settings.
THE MYSTERIES
Clouds of Witness Death hits close to home when Lord Peter’s future brother-in-law is murdered. Complicating matters is the man who stands accused: Gerald Wimsey, Lord Peter’s brother.
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club When a member of the prominent Bellona Club dies on the same day as his sister, Lord Peter must determine who will inherit a sizeable fortune.
The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Set 1 Specifications
Lord Peter Wimsey – Clouds of Witness:
Ah, there’s nothing quite like settling in and getting cozy with a complicated British country-estate murder. In the BBC adaptation of Dorothy Sayers’s detective novel, which also aired on PBS, the brilliant Lord Peter Wimsey brings his investigative talents to use close to home. His future brother-in-law is slain during a country retreat, and while there seems to be no shortage of possible suspects, the investigation quickly centers on Wimsey’s brother Gerald, the Duke of Windsor. The five-tape adaptation takes its delicious time in delving deeper into the psyche of the unhappy circle around the deceased, as Wimsey tries to avert a full trial of a peer of the realm. Ian Carmichael shines as Wimsey, one of English detective fiction’s most memorable heroes–more nimble than Miss Marple, more willful than Poirot, more upbeat than Adam Dalgliesh. All mystery fans need for a lovely and satisfying afternoon is this series and a couple of strong pots of tea. –Anne Hurley
Lord Peter Wimsey – The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club:
“I’m investigating when a man died of natural causes,” states aristocratic sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, “but it’s beginning to look more interesting everyday.” So it is in this impeccably mounted 1972 BBC miniseries, which would make Dorothy L. Sayers’s peerless literary creation proud.
Ian Carmichael stars in his signature role as the stylish, cultured, and erudite Wimsey, whose investigation into the death of General Fentiman is as irresistible as “poking sticks into a peaceful and mysterious-looking pond to see what was on the bottom.” Fentiman died in his favorite chair at the staid Bellona Club. Oddly enough, his sister died the same day. Wimsey agrees to try and determine when Fentiman died (“I shall enjoy it,” he exults). In a nutshell, as one character states (which is always helpful in increasingly complicated cases like this), dispersion of the inheritance will become “uncommonly awkward” depending on who died first.
The “whendunit” becomes a whodunit when it is revealed that the general was poisoned. The unflappable Wimsey has a colorful gallery of suspects to consider, including the increasingly unhinged George, one of the general’s grandsons (why is he smashing a bottle of digitalis?), and Ann Dorland, who stands to benefit most if the general died first (what’s the deal with the books on chemistry and poisons she has recently purchased?). Other memorable characters further enliven the proceedings, among them the Munns, George’s bickering (and at one point blackmailing) landlords.
As the very British title suggests, this is not a crime thriller to set the pulse racing (the discovery of Fentiman’s body is referred to as “something rather unpleasant”). But as the mystery unfolds over the course of 180 minutes (and 4 volumes), it is as captivating as a good late-night read. –Donald Liebenson
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