Lord Peter Wimsey Set 1 Colle

 

 

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Dorothy Sayers created a rather unusual sleuth in Lord Peter Wimsey -- think Bertie Wooster, except with a formidable crime-solving brain and a haunted past. And "The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Set 1" brings together two of the solid BBC adaptations of her works, which are hampered mainly by the fact that the cast is a bit old for their roles.

In "Clouds of Witness" Peter is on vacation when he finds out that his brother, The Duke of Denver (informally "Gerald"), is on trial for murder -- he had a blowup with his sister Mary's fiancee, Denis Cathcart, and the next morning, Cathcart was found shot through the heart by Gerald's gun, with Gerald bending over the body. The Duke stubbornly refuses to explain why he was out in the rain at three in the morning.

Peter is determined to solve the case, and quickly finds plenty of clues and odd little details, including the fact that Mary keeps lying (and changing her lies) and Gerald has some secrets that have to be unearthed. There are too many clues, and not enough motives. To save his brother, Peter must unravel plenty of lies and red herrings, and discover who wanted to do away with Denis Cathcart, and why.

"The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club" happens while Peter is lunching with his mentally fragile friend George Fentimen -- elderly General Fentiman expires in his chair. Because the exact time of death is unknown (and the general's sister died at around the same time), it's not clear who the inheritance is going to. And when the body is exhumed and examined, it's found that the old guy was actually poisoned.

Among the cash-strapped relatives are George (who's never recovered from WWI, is poverty-stricken and appears to be schizophrenic), his snotty brother Robert, and the artist Ann Dorland -- but theoretically any member of the Bellona Club could have done it. Of course, Peter is called on to unravel a snaggly mass of lies, deceptions, tricks and secret motives... and uncovers a devious plot that nobody could have guessed at.

The BBC did an excellent job preserving the spirit of Dorothy Sayers' classic mystery novels, steeped in the atmosphere of post-World War I England -- gentlemen's clubs, tweed jackets, wood-paneled manorhouses and flapper dresses. There's incisive wit in the dialogue, clever humor ("We need a new syntax! We need it now!"), and an array of characters from cutting-edge artists to fusty old gentry, from wussy socialists to flaky flappers.

Even better, these are genuine whodunnits. Both mysteries are tangles of lies, deceptions, infidelities, errors and the occasional bizarre twist such as Peter falling into a quicksand-like bog. In both cases there are only a few possible suspects and even fewer motives, but as the plot unfolds Peter wrangles out a sensible solution that explains everything (and usually without too many disasters along the way).

Perhaps the biggest problem of the story is that the cast is a bit long in the tooth: Ian Carmichael, Rachel Herbert and Anna Cropper are all at least a decade older than their characters are. It's a bit weird, especially since Carmichael is old enough to be his own character's dad.

But despite being in his mid-fifties, Ian Carmichael plays Wimsey with a light, incisive touch and a clever tongue ("I like facts... and there are remarkably few of them in this case"), and he's a likably plausible detective who can be steely when the occasion demands it. Glyn Houston is a warmly jolly Bunter, and he's sorely missed in "Unpleasantness" -- instead we get the lukewarm, forgettable Derek Newark.

"Lord Peter Wimsey Collection, Set 1" has a cast that's a bit old for their roles. But otherwise it's a solid pair of murder mysteries that stick close to the original books.

Dorothy L. Sayers writes many non-fiction books however among her best is the Lord Peter Wimsey series. I came to this series somewhat though the back door. My first taste was the BBC productions with Petherbridge as Lord Peter that can now be found on DVD. Therefore, I read all of Dorothy's books containing the relationship of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. Now it is time to go through the whole series.

Now I watch the one I missed in PBS. The first thing I notices was that Ian Carmichael talks much faster than Petherbridge. Moreover, all the people seem older. Of course, Peter was supposed to be older when he met Harriet.

Clouds of Witness

Lord Peter returns from Corsica. To find his older brother the Duke of Denver (David Langton) practically accused of murder. What is worse is his brother is not talking. Therefore, it is up to Peter to find out what happened and clear his brother.

In the process, he puts his foot in it and practically gets all his relatives and friends accused. As with all Sayers' stories nothing is simple there are overlapping plots and foolish deeds, as if Peter cannot figure them out. On the side, we learn a little about English society and ballistics.

They took the time to put just about everything relevant from the book in to this production. There were a few exceptions but not worth bothering about. The production is complete enough that you do not have to read the book.
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The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

"Waiter take away Lord what's-his name"

"He's been dead for two days..."

We are introduced to the Bellona club were young Captain George Fentiman (John Quentin) and Lord Peter Wimsey (Ian Carmichael) two war survivors are talking a little too loud about General Fentiman (Ralph Truman), Georges grandfather. General Fentiman is not responding and for good reason he is dead. Upon further investigation, we find that the general's sister Lady Dormer has also died the very same day. Poor George will only inherit 2000 pounds. However, who gets the lion's share of the estate all hinges on who died first. Lord peter as a friend and a snoopy armature sleuth must ascertain the answer and if there is foul play the perpetrator. In any case, this is a most unpleasantness at the Bellona Club.

I think sometime these programs are made for those that have already read the book because you cannot put everything from the book into the series the highlights and major information is all there but some of the how they got to the information is missing in obvious gaps. Still the essence is captures quite well.

Nothing can beat the Mystery Novels of Dorothy Sayers.
In this BBC production, with Ian Carmichael, it is a delight.
A must see ! - for sure !

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3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as we thought
I only got this because of what I read here in the opinion poll. We watched the movies "Clouds of Witness" (221 minutes) and "The Unpleasantness of the Bellona Club" (177... Read more

Published 23 months ago by Duchess

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