Lady Audley’s Secret (British Telefilm)
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C- Telefilm: C+
Is Lady Audley (Neve McIntosh) insane? Is she guilty of murder? Will men around her in late Victorian-Era
England take advantage of her problems?
She has a checkered past, but will she have to pay some kind of price
for it? Thus, it is another British
telefilm, this time, Lady Audley’s Secret (2000). Mary Elizabeth Braddon wrote the book, but
the teleplay adaptation is by Donald Hounam, which is where this might have
gone wrong.
The idea that she may be either a victim or using the
oppression of females to get away with all manner of crimes is one thing, but
this TV movie version does not seem to know enough about what to do with the
material. The females in general are
underdeveloped and the title lead has aspects and nuances that go unexplored
and make the whole 106 minutes-long exercise drag. It seems to miss a few points and even more opportunities. On top of that, this critic cannot say any
more about the story without ruining it, so you will have to see it and judge
for yourself in this case.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image is fine for its age, form a
clean source, as it should be for a recent production. It just has the usual detail limits DVD comes
with in most cases for this frame. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has some Pro Logic surrounds and is the best thing
about this disc outside of some of the acting.
The only extra is five text cast profiles, but that is all. Too bad PDF text of the book was not
included.
- Nicholas Sheffo
