Lord Peter Wimsey: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of Lord Peter Wimsey: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club [VHS]
Movie Review: Well made, highly entertaining detective fare.
Summary: 5 Stars
Lord Peter Wimsey's hobby is solving mysteries and here he is called into service to help ascertain the death of a "member of the Bellona Club." Initially, foul play is not suspected, but Lord Peter's eye for detail immediately helps him discover inconsistencies about the death of old General Fentiman that can't be explained. From this point on Wimsey and his servant Bunter begin an investigation which leads to the solution of the mystery of the "Unpleasantness of the Bellona Club." Few TV films can match the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series for quality and care in the production of these programs which are genuinely entertaining for a literate adult audience. Let's hope that all the Wimsey mysteries are released soon. Some, like "The Nine Tailors," are true classics.Movie Review: A most welcom release
Summary: 5 Stars
As many of us that were eternally grateful to Acorn Media for reissuing after too many decades the Lord Peter Wismey "Clouds of Witness," just so many and perhaps more can welcome back Like the other four in this series, this is a low budget, shot mostly in the studio, affair; but it is impeccably "period" in d?cor, dress, and even idiom. The plot involves at first not a "who done it?" but a "when was it done?" Since the vast inheritance depends on the timing of the deaths of an elderly brother and sister, the hour if not the very minute of the former's demise is the Big Question. Surprisingly, that mystery is revealed half way through the story; but by then we have a murderer to find and...well, I will not spoil things for you and urge you to see for yourself.
Carmichael's Wimsey is ever the aristocrat, here ready to quote W.S. Gilbert and W. Shakespeare (though not nearly as frequently as Rumpole will quote his favorite poets), even though he must apologize now and then for being over the heads of some of his less well-educated acquaintances. In this story the grinding poverty of one of the interested parties is shown in striking contrast to Wimsey's luxurious accommodations and ability to be very generous with his money (which after all was never earned by any workaday sweat of his brow exept when he posed as an employee of an advertizing agency).
As with all of this series, the minor characters are extremely well drawn, right down to a patron of a tea shop who becomes all flustered in meeting "a lord." While the two opposing lawyers might border on the Dickensian, they are both shown to be intelligent and honestly working for the good of their clients. And even the villain is basically a very Good Person in all other respects! But such is the universe created by Dorothy Sayers and it is treated with respect and intelligence in this fine series.
Now we can only hope that Acorn Media will accelerate the releases of "Murder Must Advertise," "Five Red Herrings," and "The Nine Tailors."
Oh by the way, they are releasing at the same time some of the Poirots that have been butchered by A&E to make room for their insultingly frequent and overlong piggyback commercials. See the webpages for those. And by the way again, a comparison of Poirot and Wimsey would make a fascinating study.