Foyle's War: Series 1 (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)Perhaps it's my affection for England - a love that makes my wife roll her eyes - that causes me to have a higher regard for BBC and ITV small screen productions than those of America, which seem so crass in comparison. So many of the former seem uncommonly funny, intelligent, or both. FOYLE'S WAR is an uncommonly intelligent detective drama, a period piece set on England's south coast in 1940. And, to keep the record straight, my wife's dedication to this series is at least as pronounced as mine, if not more so.

Michael Kitchen is Detective Inspector Christopher Foyle, who's ordered to remain at his post as homicide investigator for Hastings and its environs; he'd much rather be doing his bit for King and Empire fighting the Nazis across the Channel. Indeed, his son is a flying officer with the RAF. The two other series regulars are Samantha "Sam" Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks), the Women's Royal Army Corps enlistee assigned as his driver, and Paul Milner (Anthony Howell), Foyle's assistant inspector recently returned to home front duty after being wounded with the Army during the disastrous British invasion of Norway.

In Series One,the murders occur in contexts that include sexual harassment, anti-semitism, police brutality, local jingoism, sabotage, and conscientious objection - all set against a backdrop of Luftwaffe bombing raids and the fear of imminent amphibious invasion by the German Wehrmacht.

The character of Foyle - intelligent, perceptive, reserved, compassionate, wounded by his wife's recent death, worried for his son's safety - epitomizes the phrase "still waters run deep." The viewer embarks into each episode wondering what new layer of Foyle's persona will be revealed. (Not to give too much away, but I've just seen the first episode of Series Two, which gives evidence of an old and tragic love affair involving Foyle and a now-married gentlewoman.) And the evolution of the relationship between Foyle and the occasionally cheeky Sam is one of the major delights of the miniseries as the latter proves she's smart, intuitive, and potentially more useful than just a lowly chauffeur.

The various murders investigated by the trio are never straightforward, but involve clever plot twists and hidden motives, the solutions to which silently gestate in the Inspector's mind before being revealed at the end of the story, much like the Sherlock Holmes mysteries of old.

There are, of course, uneven moments to Series One which allow for only four stars. I trust, as the show matures, that it will only get better. The areas that need no improvement are the period costuming, props and sets, all of which are superbly done and a delight to an Anglophile.


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Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle - The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Murder Rooms" consists of five episodes, starring Ian Richardson as Dr. Joseph Bell, the historical personage on whom Arthur Conan Doyle allegedly based Sherlock Holmes; with Dr. Watson based on Doyle himself. The 116-minute first episode ("Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle, The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes") was a BBC series pilot released in January 2000. In "Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle...," Robin Laing starred as the young Doyle in medical school. This pilot has been available in NTSC for two years (see Amazon's listing) and IS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS PACKAGE. In the remaining four 90-minute episodes comprising this set (on BBC in September-October 2001), episode chronology begins three years later, Charles Edwards assuming Laing's role as the young, idealistic but adult Doyle with his own medical practice. Information on source books, author David Pirie, screen credits, histories, plot synopses and cast are available at murder-rooms.com
FOR BEST APPRECIATION, ONE MUST TREAT THIS SERIES AS AN INTEGRATED FIVE-PART, EIGHT-HOUR MINISERIES, beginning with the pilot "Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle..." setting the backdrop against which the other four, described IN ORDER below, play out. Missing "Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle...," this reviewer STRONGLY RECOMMENDS you purchase this set now and set it aside until that pilot can be seen. In "The Patient's Eyes," a black-shrouded cyclist repeatedly stalks a lady patient cycling to Dr. Doyle eye appointments through eerie wooded terrain, leading to a mysterious abandoned house, love-interest conflicts, betrayal, and murder. (There are striking scene similarities to "The Solitary Cyclist.") In "The Photographer's Chair," a series of murder victim corpses bearing strange marks lead to mesmerism, spiritualism, séances, apparitions, erotic mutilation, daguerreotype photography, and genuinely chilling moments. In "The Kingdom of Bones," the publicized spectacle of unwrapping an apparent Egyptian mummy for scientific study yields highly unexpected results leading to suicide, dinosaur bones, gypsies, kidnapping, attempted murder, multiple murders, and political terrorism. And in "The White Knight Stratagem," Doyle and Bell come to a near falling-out involving a Dickensian business climate leading to suicide and murder; with a curious chess enigma hovering over everything. This last episode concludes the miniseries and should be viewed last.
These adaptations get this reviewer's highest commendation, being at least the equal (or better?) of the David Suchet / Jeremy Brett adaptations in their prime.The general tone is exceedingly dark, uncompromising, and far more menacing than the light-hearted Poirot-Holmes adaptations. (The atmospherics remind this reviewer of that excellent film "From Hell.") Excepting as discussed below, nothing in these episodes is short of first-class: plots, incredible principal and supporting cast, direction, cinematography depicting 1880s Victorian Edinburgh, hauntingly mysterious musical score, period mood, and the appallingly brutal times with modern medicine in infancy. Sound is fine; extraneous background noise is nil; diction is clear with no accent barriers.
So superior is MPI's production that current PAL DVD owners may want to buy the NTSC release anyway! The widescreen 16x9 anamorphic picture is excellent, with night scenes sharp yet still mysterious. This reviewer doesn't know how the original episodes were recorded, but suspects that the widescreen image seen here was likely achieved by slicing off top and/or bottom portions of an original 4x3 TV image: some close-up shots have head-tops suspiciously out of range, a typical symptom. But such trimming is a small price for what one sees on an HDTV system as contrasted to the original PAL release. Unlike that release, MPI also provides both running time display and chapter breaks; and the periodic PAL scene blackout interruptions (presumably omitting advertisements) are gone, greatly enhancing the narrative flow. There are two DVDs contained in one keep-case with an inner leaf. Each DVD has two episodes on the same side with full menu accessibility.

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Item Name: Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle - The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes; Studio:Bfs Entertainment

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The Lost World (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you didn't see this wonderful Lost World minseries A&E did, buy the DVD or video. Or do like I did-buy it after having seen it on A&E. It was spectacular, by far the best film adaptation I have seen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel. No, it doesn't stay true to the novel (face it, few films ever stay true to the novels they are based on), but the differences actually make the story enjoyable and interesting in its own right separate from the novel.
The changes from the novel include the following:
1) Professor Challenger-in the book, he is not at all a likeable character, and is not meant to be, but in the film, they made him more amenable, yet still kept much of his stubborness and self-righteousness. It was a good compromise for the purpose of viewer accetability of a main character.
2) Agnes Clooney-the female member of the team in the film was not in the novel, but is still a welcomed addition. She is a more liberated woman in some ways, but it isn't done over the top so she is beating up savages and shooting up things (she isn't Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, and that type of character wouldn't have fit in this story). Rather, Agnes as a character does fit a woman living in her circumstances in that time.
4) The Demented Reverend-He wasn't in the book either, but I actually think he wasn't a very good addition. I'm kind of sick and tired of this cliched evil missionary character who kills in the name of the lord. Its been done to death. Thought, admittedly, Peter Faulk played this character very well, and did instill in him more soul and complexity than most of these evil missionary stereotypical characters get in most films.
One thing I really liked about this film was how it was an action/adventure story, but it also made you think about what was going on in the story. It had some really good things to say about man's interaction with nature, and preservation of the environment against exploitation. Challenger, towards the end of the film, makes a comment about science often not being accessible to the public at large without it being dressed up a bit as entertainment. This is exactly what this film does in some ways. It presents and entertaining, engrossing adventure, but also presents interesting scientific thoughts about ecology. Just what can happen when man starts mucking about and disturbing the balance of nature?
And the answer to that question wasn't entirely clear in one circumstance. The dispute between Challenger's point of view versus Lord Roxton's view on what to do with the Ape Men in the film. They were both right and both wrong from my view. This really points to the difficult balance between how much we should interfere in nature and how much we should just leave things alone.
I recommend this film very highly to anyone who loves the original novel, or action/adventure stories in general. This film continues A&E's record of excellence in creating film adaptations of classic stories.

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Before Jurassic Park, there was THE LOST WORLD.At the turn of the century, an expedition led by the brilliant and combative ProfessorGeorge Challenger sets out from London.It is bound for the Amazon, where dinosaursare rumored to survive on a forgotten plateau deep in the jungle.The adventurers findthat the stories are true, but the thrill of discovery is quickly overshadowed by a desperatestruggle for survival.With special effects from the award-winning production team behind the acclaimedWalking with Dinosaurs, THE LOST WORLD brings Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic taleto life like never before.Bob Hoskins (Nixon, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) stars asProfessor Challenger, and the exceptional supporting cast includes Peter Falk (Columbo)and Tom Ward (Quills).

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Being Human: Series 1 (2pc) (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews). . . and best werewolf and best ghost show on TV. Mind you, I like TRUE BLOOD and have even come to see the upside to THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, but both of those are enjoyable diversions with no real subtext (TRUE BLOOD gestures at subtext with its parallels with prejudice against all kinds of difference, but in 2010 that is a pretty worked over subtext and lacks power at this point). But if you want more depth of subtext and a more subtle narrative and richer character development and, well, less garishness, than this is a show you should check out. Not yet available in the U.S. on DVD and Blu-ray (every time I have checked on Amazon I've only seen an outrageously overpriced $70 Blu-ray that never seems to be available -- though if you have an all regions DVD player, you can order an infinitely more affordable edition from Great Britain, which I strongly recommend, I repeat, only if you have an All-Regions player). There are only six episodes in Season One and eight in Seasons Two, so the idea of paying over $10 per episode is rather offensive. But you can either catch the show on BBC America or on Region 2 DVDs.
The series starts when two orderlies at a hospital at Bristol decide to room together. What makes this desirable for them is that they are supernatural creatures. Mitchell is a vampire. Not a terribly old one by vampire narrative standards (less than a century old). George is a werewolf and on three nights a week has a rather violent transformation into a truly nasty beastie (and thanks to CGI his transformations are truly horrendous). Both of them are trying to pass as normal humans, and for economic reasons and simply because they don't want to live alone, they decide to find an apartment together. By happy circumstance, the apartment they find and move into is inhabited by an outrageously sunny and upbeat ghost named Annie. Together, the three of them try to lives that are as normal as possible.
The trouble is, the rest of the world doesn't want them to live normal lives. The vampire community (why does there always seem to be a vampire community?) wants Mitchell to return to the fold. They especially don't want him living with a werewolf. And meanwhile, the afterlife wants Annie to move on, into the light, and away from her human life. So their struggles are unusually rich and complex.
What made BUFFY and ANGEL so vastly superior to TRUE BLOOD and MOONLIGHT and THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and the TWILIGHT series (both novels and movies) was what they were able to do with the premises, with the metaphorical richness of the stories. TRUE BLOOD ends up being a glorious one-dimensional guilty pleasure show, all glorious surface with nothing beneath. BEING HUMAN is much more like BUFFY, with richly developed, deliciously articulated stories with timely cultural references. Mitchell's vampirism, for instance, is used less as a metaphor for homosexuality, as it is in TRUE BLOOD, but addiction and the difficulty of human self-control.
The show is driven by its appealing leads. Russell Tovey (George) will be perhaps best known from his appearance on DR. WHO and the movie THE HISTORY BOYS, but Lenora Crichlow (Annie) and Aidan Turner (Mitchell) are appealing newcomers. There are endless polls about who the hottest vampires are and if Mitchell were better known in the U.S. he'd almost certainly win them all. He is a spectacular incarnation of the really bad boy who wants to be good but for whom it is a constant struggle. George, meanwhile, is like the big silly family dog. There is meanwhile absolutely noting ghostly about Annie except that she can't be seen. She is dark complexioned, but if you had to assign a color to her personality, it would be yellow. Bright yellow. She is sunny and irrepressibly happy and upbeat. Any room she is in has no dark corners. In other words, the polar opposite of all of the stereotypes of ghosts.
SyFy has announced that they are developing an American version of BEING HUMAN. Hopefully they won't blow it. The BBC series is a great one. I am not opposed to an American version, as long as it is more like the American adaptations of THE OFFICE than other efforts. But even if it fails, it should be seen as a gesture towards the excellence of the original. But even if the American version turns out well, if you love extremely high quality shows dealing with the supernatural, you should definitely know the original. The only thing I hate about this show is that there have been only fourteen episodes to date.

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BEING HUMAN is a bizarre, supernatural sitcom from the BBC that revolves around the concept of two young men-Mitchell and George--sharing a flat. While this seems like a tried and tested formula for television the twist is that Mitchell (Aidan Turner - THE TUDORS) is a vampire and George (Russell Tovey - LITTLE DORRIT, THE HISTORY BOYS) is a werewolf. Complicating matters further is pair's newfound home is haunted by the ghost of Annie (Lenora Crichlow - SUGAR RUSH).

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The Hound of the Baskervilles (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a wonderful story and production...originally. However, the BBC Video (company) version I purchased which is 100 minutes in length had been edited so much that there were entire scenes missing right from the begining! I know because I taped the original when it aired on Masterpiece Theatre.
Buyer beware: This is not the full length version of the otherwise excellent program.

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In this energetic and bold adaptation, Conan Doyle?s legendary characters are portrayed with a pace and vigor that capture the spirit of the original story. Sir Charles of Baskerville lies dead on the moors of his family estate. The look of abject fear on his face and the presence of animal footprints around his corpse suggest the impossible; that the ghost of a fearsome hound, long feared by the Baskerville family, is responsible for his death. As the new heir, Sir Henry Baskerville takes up residence at the estate, legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusted associate Dr. Watson arrive to investigate the mystery.

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Touching Evil: Set 3 (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)Excellent Detective Mystery Series! If you are looking for mystery films more challenging than what you see in American TV mysteries, then this is what you've been looking for. Clever screenplay writing and storylines. Robson Greene is superb as the not quite sane but sharp profiling detective who races against time with his dedicated team to apprehend sinister killers. If you like the Wire in the Blood series, you'll love Robson Greene in this performance.
I'm not sure why another reviewer felt subtitles are necessary to watch this film. None are necessary unless English is not the viewer's first language. I do agree with other reviewers that it is a very odd decision to release the 3rd season before the first 2 seasons. Note to the manufacturers: Come on....make the first two seasons available in dvd format!

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Inspector Creegan is back-and face to face with London’s most heinous criminals.In the third installment of Touching Evil, Robson Green (Reckless) returns as the sly, sexy, and slightly unstable Detective Inspector Dave Creegan of London's Organized and Serial Crime Unit. With the help of his stalwart partner Susan Taylor (Nicola Walker), Creegan races time as he tracks down the city’s most dangerous criminals.Creegan is back on the job, having recovered from a nervous breakdown. In the first case, he is determined to clear the name of a man he helped convict–a tough task given that the murders began again once the suspected killer got out of jail. Creegan and Taylor have to scramble to figure out the true motive of the killer, especially after the killer cuts to the heart of the OSC. Then, a brazen new serial killer terrorizes the city by setting his victims on fire. To gain insight on this frightening predator, Taylor interviews a man behind bars incarcerated for the same reason, but she and Creegan follow a variety of blind leads. With the clock ticking, will Creegan crack the case before he gets burned?Based on characters created by Paul Abbott (Cracker, Reckless), Touching Evil brims with riveting suspense that will convince you that it takes a mentally unhinged cop to outthink a psychopath.

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Sherlock Holmes and Baker Street Irregulars (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Watching Jonathan Pryce in his first scene as Sherlock Holmes, I couldn't help but be reminded of watching Christopher Eccleston as the lead in another icon of British fiction Doctor Who. Like Eccleston as the good Doctor, Pryce comes across as simultaneously off-putting and appealing. In that respect, he is quite simply an ideal Sherlock Holmes. You sense the the sharp mind that makes him the best detective ever and also that other-ness which means he will never come off as being quite normal.
Though much of the action is given over to the Baker Street Irregulars, Pryce's Holmes remains the focus of this story because it's the Irregulars efforts to clear his name when he's arrested for murder that drive the story. Even when Holmes is under house-arrest in his rooms at 221-B Baker Street, you can sense the wheels turning in his mind as he directs his foot-soldiers in order to solve a mystery with a deeply personal dimension for Holmes. Without spoiling anything, it's a twist that will probably be most appreciated by those with some background in the Holmes stories but such background is not essential.
Above all, though, this is meant to be a fun story, an enjoyable mystery/adventure story with enough danger to keep things interesting without getting too dark. This latter point is probably a function of having been produced for a family viewing slot in Britain. The whole cast does a good job, and it's especially nice to see one of Britain's best character actors Bill Patterson paired with Pryce in the equally iconic role of Doctor Watson.
I won't say this is the best Sherlock Holmes story I've ever seen or heard (personally I'm a fan of John Gielgud's run as Holmes on the radio from the 1950s), but Pryce is certainly one of the best Sherlock Holmes. I truly hope that this production is the first of many for him.

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A new Holmes delights loyal fans and a new generation in this BBC family drama Kids are disappearing. Policemen are being poisoned. Sherlock Holmes is under house arrest, falsely accused of crimes he didn’t commit. Enter the Baker Street Irregulars. Introduced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet, this savvy, street-smart team of teens become the great detective’s eyes, ears, and legs. But can these kids really help Holmes stop a mastermindfrom stealing England’s gold, the good name of her greatest sleuth, and the lives of two of their own? Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean, Evita) makes a splendid Holmes in this original mystery produced for the BBC, with stellar costars Bill Paterson (Miss Potter, Wives and Daughters), Anna Chancellor (MI-5, Four Weddings and a Funeral), Michael Maloney (Babel, Notes on a Scandal), and six rising young stars as the plucky Irregulars. DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE a bio of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, photo gallery, and cast filmographies.

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Sherlock Holmes (Full B&W Ac3) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Greetings. William Gillette, the legendary stage Holmes, is nowhere in evidence on this disc. It's full of several of the Ronald Howard TV series.
Keep looking.

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Studio: Direct Source Spec ProdRelease Date: 10/31/2006Run time: 120 minutes

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Ultimate Sherlock Holmes TV (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is yet ANOTHER incomplete copy of the popular Ronald Howard/H Marion Crawford 1954 Series that has been released "IN ITS ENTIRETY" by Mill Creek and that I bought elsewhere (but is now available here for only a few bucks more than this set). Why do these inexpensive labels keep trying to up each other, when 1 manufacturer has finally done us the favor of putting out all 39 episodes on an inexpensive 5 disc set? Buy the Mill Creek set and get the whole series (see my review for its good and bad aspects) at once, and let's tell these dvd manufacturers who don't have the guts to kick the extra point what they can do with their incomplete editions. Sorry for the cruel tone folks, but I'm sure die hard fans of this short lived imported series will agree with me.

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Studio: St Clair Ent Grp IncRelease Date: 11/07/2006

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TV Classics: The World's Most Famous Detectives: Sherlock Holmes (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)Rathbone is great!. The Howard half of this is a sit-com. However the Basil half
is very well made. I read all 4 books. And all 56 Holmes stories. Basil Rathbone is
Sherlock Holmes!. :~)

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Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the most well known sleuth of our time. Based on the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes has become a significant piece of North American history. Featuring four episodes.

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