Rumpole Of The Bailey – Set One & Two

(The Full Series In Two Sets/A&E)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: B-     Episodes: B     Telefilm: B

 

 

The series version of Rumpole Of The Bailey went out of print a while ago, but now, A&E has reissued the entire series in two upgraded sets.  To repeat, Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern) is a British lawyer with a heart and moral center who sometimes has to be a detective to solve cases.  As created by John Mortimer, Rumpole Of The Bailey first appeared on a show called Play For Today and featured Rumpole & The Confession Of Guilt as a one-shot installment in their anthology series.  Acorn Media recently issued this pilot, reviewed elsewhere on this site.

 

When that show was finished, it went over so well, this separate series was conceived and became a huge hit for four seasons.  Starting from scratch, and adding the great Peter Bowles in a supporting role, McKern found himself in his biggest hit since Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner (also reviewed elsewhere on this site and from A&E) adding to his international star power and success.  We are reviewing both sets as one show and recommending them even more than the pilot.

 

For whatever reason, the series really jumps into the heart of things, launching three years later.  The resulting changes were a tighter, more intensely written series of teleplays that made the show work well.  These shows hold up very well for their time and director Herbert Wise covered the first shows.  He would go on soon after to helm some of the best episodes of Roald Dahl’s Tales Of The Unexpected reviewed elsewhere on this site.  The episodes for the whole series are as follows, usually starting with “Rumpole &” for each title:

 

Set One:

 

1)     The Younger Generation

2)     The Alternative Society

3)     The Honourable Member

4)     The Married Lady

5)     The Learned Friend

6)     The Heavy Brigade

7)     The Man Of God

8)     The Case Of Identity

9)     The Show Folk

10)  The Fascist Beast

11)  The Course Of True Love

12)  The Age Of Retirement

13)  Bonus telefilm from 1980: Rumpole’s Return (directed by John Glenister)

 

Set Two:

 

14)  The Genuine Article

15)  The Golden Thread

16)  The Old Boy Net

17)  The Female Of The Species

18)  The Sporting Life

19)  The Last Resort

20)  The Old, Old Story

21)  The Blind Tasting

22)  The Official Secret

23)  The Judge’s Elbow

24)  The Bright Seraphim

25)  Rumpole’s Last Case

 

 

Both 4 DVD sets are in the nice, convenient slender cases that collector’s like (and need) to store their favorite shows.  Creator John Mortimer (see Brideshead Revisited reviewed elsewhere on this site) wrote all the teleplays, which explains why these shows are so consistent throughout as well.  They all tend to be about his character and the people around him as much as they are about any of the cases, but the cases are always interesting.  The show has not been equaled since.

 

The full frame 1.33 X 1 images were shot on the old analog PAL format and look good for their age, despite some softness.  The outdoor shots look film-like, as so many such productions did back then on British TV.  They are all a bit better than the pilot too, but not by much, yet look a tad sharper than the original Warner Home Video release.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 features a boosted Stereo version of the original monophonic audio, especially at a higher 384 kilobits-per-second rate than the Warner edition did, so the sound is definitely better there than that older set in that respect.  The performance combination is an improvement on material that runs from 1978 through 1987, with spaces in between.  A good job was done on the digital remastering.  Joseph Horovitz’s theme song and score for these shows works nicely, adding another layer of class to the “proceedings” as it were.  Extras include brief introduction from the creator on all the shows, ala Roald Dahl on his series, text bibliography and select credits on Mortimer as well on both sets, plus he gives an interview in a supplement on Set One, DVD 4.  Official Executioners Of Newgate Prison and About The Old Bailey text are also included on both sets and are very brief.   You could also count that telefilm if you wanted to on Set One, but we do not.  Mortimer also does an interview on the final DVD of the later set, which runs an informative 18 minutes and was made for this new set.  The shows are strong enough on their own either way and A&E’s upgrade is worth getting, even if you bought the previous set.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo