The Beiderbecke Tapes (1987/Acorn Media DVD/British Mini-Series)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B-
A sequel to The Beiderbecke Affair (1983), The
Beiderbecke Tapes (1987) continues the exploits of a close couple who
believe in Civil Rights, great music and better living. You can read more about the first Mini-Series
at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8111/The+Beiderbecke+Affair+(Acorn+Media
To repeat, James Bolam is Trevor Chaplin, a woodshop
teacher and likes Jazz music, while he dates Jill (Barbara Flynn), who wants to
win a political seat and push her environmental agenda. This tale is in two parts that are the equivalent
of two TV movies and are just as entertaining as the last series. This time, Trevor gets his hands on a Jazz audio
cassette and not only does it come with music from Bix Beiderbecke, but some of
the music has been replaced with top secret information as spoken by an unknown
man.
They are followed by other unknown men they can see and
not hear, one who has all kinds of things to say and a new mystery to unravel
with some very good twists and turns worth catching. Alan Plater (of the great A Very British Coup, reviewed elsewhere
on this site) pulls this one off nicely and it is nice to finally see it on
DVD. Though you can see it in a
stand-alone way and enjoy it, I would recommend you catch the first series
before seeing this to get the most out of it.
The full frame 1.33 x 1 image quality is a bit soft and
average and lacking detail, but color is a little better than the DVD sets of
the first series. I like the look of
this series like the last, but it is going to take Blu-ray to really show it off. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound is good for
its age and plays better than the image.
Sadly, there are once again no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
