Armchair Thriller – Set 2 (1978 – 1981/Acorn Media DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Episodes: B-
Continuing
another of the later British anthology series, Acorn continues to jump around
between its last two (and only) full-color seasons of Armchair Thriller, though this set has what was also a TV movie
here in chapters and as a shortened telefilm.
This is how The Chelsea Murders
(1981) takes up two of the four DVDs in this set.
Chelsea is an interesting mystery about a serial murderer
on the loose who eventually turns out to wear a mask ala later characters in
the slasher/maniac film cycles. Though
the telefilm version is not bad, the six parts (at 145 minutes) than make up
the longer version of the story has many advantages over the TV movie cut. You get better character development, more
suspense, better pacing and the copies look and especially sound better from
the opening scene where a comic movie shoot has a tragic end. Director Derek Bennett (Main Chance, Sandbaggers,
The Wilde Alliance) handles this
well and writer Jonathan Hales (The
Mirror Crack’d (1980), Barry Foster’s Van
Der Valk) turns in some smart writing here.
That
leaves two more sets of episodes and these mysteries:
Quiet As A Nun (1978) features a reporter (Maria
Aitken) investigating how a nun died, but the closer she gets, the more
dangerous it will be despite the holy and supposedly safe place a convent is
supposed to be. A mixed bag of six
shows, Director Moira Armstrong (Adam
Adamant Lives!) handles this well enough, but cannot exceed the material
either. Patsy Kensit also stars.
The Circe Complex (1980) comes from the writer
Desmond Cory, whose novel Deadfall
became a film in 1968. This interesting
six-parter has ex-con Tom (Trevor Martin) committing a robbery, accidentally
killing a police officer and refuses to tell where the booty is. Except for a somewhat odd ending, I liked
this about as much as The Chelsea
Murders and it makes for a good viewing.
To recap,
1978 was the second season, 1980, the third and final season. The shows are well-done and once again, Robert
Banks Stewart, who has written for The
Avengers, Callan, Jason King & Dr. Who (all reviewed elsewhere on this site), was story editor for
the show and that is a big plus. Each
episode is about 25 minutes long.
The
picture and sound are the same as the previous set, though the sound is not
always as good and the edited telefilm’s sound is the poorest of both
sets. You can read more about that set
and the technical features at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8977/Armchair+Thriller+%E2%80%93+Set
There are
again no extras, but a third set may be on the way since episodes remain.
- Nicholas Sheffo
