Rumpole Of The Bailey: The Complete Series Megaset
+ Great Detectives Anthology (A&E
DVD Sets)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C+/C Series: C+/C
Rumpole of the Bailey is not only one of the longest and
most beloved British series of all time, but also it is not your run of the
mill stuffy series from across the pond.
The 14-Disc set contains the entire series (42 episodes in all) and has
managed to stay as fresh and delightful as the day it aired. Rumpole
is a mix of satire, drama, comedy and mystery all rolled into one.
The
series takes the viewer on a comically satirical journey through the stuffier
aspects of British politics. Along the
way you experience the beaming pretentiousness and pompous nature of some and
the complete incompetence of others. The
main character is Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern) a barrister at No. 3 Equity Court. This series was the creation of John Mortimer
in the early 1970’s and went on to be a successful series for almost 20
years. Rumpole is set up as the voice of
reason in a misguided justice system that would rather go by the book than by
the people. Mortimer (interestingly
enough) was formerly a barrister himself and in turn drew from those
experiences (and injustices) to guide him in making the series. Rumpole takes on the most hopeless cases and
his slick, witty, intelligent demeanor places him amongst the best.
Now you
may be thinking (if you are new to the series) “wow 20 years this must have a
ton of episodes,” not really. In Britain it is
common place to only have 6 episodes per series and over the course of 7 series
and 14years only 42 episodes were created.
The
series is wonderful and has personality.
Whereas you might think you will be stuck in a British court room
listening to them argue for an hour (ever watch parliament on TV?), the series
has much more than that as you travel from the initial crime, through the
interworkings of Rumpole’s life and back and forth to court. It is all brilliantly delivered and makes for
an excellent viewing experience.
As the
cast changed throughout the years the one strong point was Rumpole (McKern)
himself as he was always played by the same actor who embodied the character
from wig to toe.
Rumpole of the Bailey was originally shot in analog PAL
format, so whereas the picture and sound quality are far from perfect they are
not bad. As far as I can tell little has
been done to restore the image since the previous releases. The picture is a 1.33 X 1 full screen that is
somewhat weak from the start as colors are not as bright as they should be and
the image is somewhat soft. The blacks
are bold and inky for the most part, improving the sharpness; but a fair bit of
debris and grit does persist throughout the entire presentation. The sound is a simple Dolby Digital 2.0
stereo gets the job done as the series is mostly dialogue based, but at the
same time there are some very distant, muffled sounding moments.
What
should be noted is that the original 1975 Rumpole
of the Bailey 1975 pilot (film) is NOT included on this set, which makes it
less than complete; though I would say it does not take much away from the
great series.
The
extras are the same as those found in the previous Megaset, so if you were
expecting any new fanciness here you will sadly be disappointed. The discs come housed in 7 slimcases in a
nice cardboard sleeve with new artwork.
The back panel would have you believe there are a ton of extras, but
outside of some short 1 minute intros by writer John Mortimer there isn’t
much. Included as an extra is the full
length film Rumpole’s Return, but I
would venture to say that should be included as part of the series, more than
extra. There are several short interviews with the likes of Abigail McKern and
John Mortimer, but nothing over the top exciting. The host of drab extras continue as there are
some short (less than one minute) bonus spotlights of Mortimer guest starring
and a look at the prop newspaper Rumpole uses in the one episode. Bios and other text based features are
present that shows a nice effort, but you would be best looking this
information up in detail on the internet.
Great Detective Anthology
Like Rumpole you won’t find anything ‘new’
per say in the newly released Great
Detectives Anthology boxset, but if you are a new comer to the series
included it is housed in one nice, convenient place. The set includes the 1960’s series Sherlock Holmes, along with the 1980’s
series Miss Marple and 5 Hercule
Poirot films. Now if you are thinking
this is an odd pairing, I would tend to agree.
Whereas, yes, these are all mystery series, they are so different from
each other I would never expect them in one set; but A&E thinks
differently…inside the box if you would.
Sherlock Holmes is an ‘ok’ series that has heart,
but not much else. The BBC series
premiered in 1965 with the great Peter Cushing in the lead, a role that had
brought him fame some years earlier in The
Hound of Baskervilles. There are 5
episodes in this set running 45 minutes each.
In actuality the series ran for a total of 16 episodes, but the studios
in all their wisdom reused tapes (in those days) and the remaining 9 episodes
were lost forever. What we have here are
as follows:
- The Hound of Baskervilles (this is a 2 parter)
- A Study in Scarlet
- The Boscombe
Valley Mystery
- The Sign of Four
- The Blue Carbuncle
The
series overall is quite drab and whereas the effort is there, the absence of
Peter Cushing is greatly felt as he swings in out of episodes, leaving Watson
(Nigel Stock) to do the brunt of the work and in turn screen time. I also felt if I was reading the cliff notes
of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel as each scene seemed hurried and abbreviated,
never giving it the time it deserved.
When you are expecting intense mystery and dreariness with dated sets is
what is delivered, it all begins to fall apart.
There have been so many adaptations of Sherlock Holmes that spending time on this odd 1965 tele-series is
merely a waste of time.
Miss Marple stars Joan Hickson as a slick
older woman who spends her days solving mysteries. Based on Agatha Christie’s mysteries, the
series is fun and engaging. The series
is slow going and every now and then may need a defibrillator, but it is
interesting nonetheless. The series ran
for a total of 12 episodes, but with some rights issues between Warned and
A&E, A&E only owns 9 of the 12.
And going beyond that this set only contains 8 of those 9, leaving fans
wondering what A&E was thinking.
The set
here, contains:
- The Moving Finger
- At Bertram’s Hotel
- Murder at the Vicarage
- Nemesis
- A Caribbean Mystery
- The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side
- Sleeping Murder
- 4:50 From Paddington
Note: this leaves out “They do it
with Mirrors”
Miss Marple has been released several times by
A&E so why they chose to release it here missing a single episode is beyond
this reviewer. Moving on, the series as
a very Murder She Wrote feel, but a
bit classier (sorry Angela) and concurrently slower. The 90minute episodes drag at times, but is
admirable as it doesn’t give all the focus to Miss Marple herself; involving
the supporting cast (town’s people) to help the mystery unfold. Joan Hickson embodies Miss Marple with ease
and lively supporting cast only helps all the more. The stories follow the classic ‘never as
simple as it seems’ structure as Miss Marple uncovers the misdoings and
misdeeds of a crime. Overall, a great
series that with a brilliant cast and restrained set has aged well.
Finally,
we have Hercule Poirot. Now it seems that Poirot has been released a million times (and it has), but that is
only because nearly every Poirot tale
has been made into a tele-film. Making
things even more complicated are who has the rights to all of these tele-films
and to put it simply Acorn has some and A&E has others. The episodes included in this set however are
the entirety of Season 10 and one
episode from Season 9. As McKern was Rumpole, David Suchet is Poirot
and there is no denying it. It is a role
that he has perfected over 21 years and has stunningly made almost every Agatha
Christie Poirot mystery. Poirot is restrained, graceful and yet
full of life and like that of Miss
Marple it is the combination of Suchet and his supporting cast that makes
the mysteries so wonderful. Some are
better than others and I would have liked A&E to mix it up (beyond just
including Season 10) and have included ‘the best of,’ but what is here are some
brilliant performances anyhow spread throughout 5 full length episodes.
Each
series is presented in a 1.33 X 1 full screen and have their ups and downs in
terms of audio and video, but mostly here are downs. Sherlock
Holmes looks adequate for its age (not to mention its ill treatment over
the years), but there is a fair bit of grain and detail is lacking making for a
sufficient viewing experience at best. Miss Marple has gone the way of 80’s
style and looks horrific. There are
compression issues, noise issues, debris and an overall weak and washed
appearance that makes it a mystery as to how this happened. Poirot
probably looks best of all as it has nice black levels and great colors, but
even at that there is a fair bit of compression and is not the presentation the
series deserves. The audio on all of the
series is a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that is weak and comes heavy from the
front, there is a varying amount of ‘muffled moments’ in each series but most
are distortion free.
The
extras are essentially absent as only text based features exist as biographies
on the characters, leaving little to enjoy.
I can not
whole heartedly recommend this set as it is too much of a mixed bag and personally
would rather have the complete series of each with extras in their own box
sets.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
