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By
FRANK BEHRENS
Consider all the detective
series now available on DVDs: "Lord Peter Wimsey,"
"Hercule Poirot," Nero Wolfe, "Foyle's War,"
"Midsomer Murders," "Philip Marlowe," and the
like. The success of each one depends on the
individuality of the sleuth himself rather than
the mysteries. The first three on that list are
real "characters" in the "eccentric" sense of the
word, whereas the other three series seem to rely
more on the settings rather than on the main
character.
We can now add to this list, thanks to Acorn
Media, the first set of the "Inspector Alleyn
Mysteries," based on mystery novels by Ngaio
Marsh, with Patrick Malahide in the title role.
Here we have a time setting of post-WWII England
and a place setting of old manor houses and remote
fishing villages. Alleyn himself is a bit
aristocratically stodgy in the first two episodes,
a bit looser in the last two. One interesting
gimmick is that his sidekick, Detective Inspector
Fox (William Simons) is every bit as sharp as his
boss, far from the Watson prototype (labeled by
humorist Stephen Leacock "the poor nut").
"A Man Lay Dead" concerns priceless relics
"liberated" during the war and now in the hands of
collectors. "The Nursing Home Murder" reminds me
of that classic British film "Green for Danger" in
which a similar group of doctors and nurses fall
under suspicion after a patient dies inexplicably
during an operation. "Final Curtain" is like the
scherzo movement of this set, extremely funny
until things turn nasty at the manor home of a
once popular ham actor who brings a young bimbo
into a home filled with relations who expect to
inherit quite a bit. "Death at the Bar" revolves
around a complex set of relationships and a
dart-throwing expert who misses just once.
Belinda Long appears in the first three episodes
as the love interest in Alleyn's life and
practically the star of the third episode. And as
is true with most of these British mini-series,
the supporting casts are very good to superb.
The only bonuses are the usual printed author
biography and cast filmographies. Not as much fun
as Wimsey or Poirot, but very good of its kind |
