Wimsey Wednesday, Part III: The Seventies Series (Mostly) Satisfies
Howdy! I’m on vacation in Brazil for most of September, so I turned the tables on my readers and opened up the blog for guests posts while I’m gone. Loyal reader (and father) intexplorer continues his Wimsey Wednesday series. See here for part 1, and here for part 2.
This is the final installment in my Wimsey Wednesday series. Two weeks ago, I introduced Dorothy Sayers and her fabulous literary creation, Lord Peter Wimsey. Last week, I reviewed the mid-80’s BBC serializations of three of the four Wimsey murder mysteries that feature Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, mystery writer and the object of his affections.
Today I will review the earliest BBC serialization of some of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. These were done in the 1970’s and are probably best seen by those who share my not-altogether-unhealthy obsession for the world that Dorothy Sayers created around Lord Peter Wimsey. These early television adaptations of Lord Peter Wimsey star Ian Carmichael and dramatize five Murder Mysteries during Wimsey’s pre-Vane days as the quintessential “man about town.”
Ian Carmichael, a popular English comic actor, was in his early 50’s when these series were made, and it feels like he is a bit long in the tooth for the part. Interestingly, Edward Petherbridge was virtually the same age when he played Wimsey, but he doesn’t feel too old.
These pre-Vane stories introduce most of the key supporting characters in Peter Wimsey’s world and also some key parts of his back story. We learn, for instance, that Lord Peter Wimsey served as an officer in World War I and a sergeant, named Mervyn Bunter, saved his life. After the war, Bunter looks up Wimsey and secures employment as his Valet. Also, we learn that Lord Peter suffers from shell shock (what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and, after the war suffered a nervous breakdown. These (and other) elements from Wimsey’s history make him more full bodied and likable. I have always wanted to learn more about his nervous breakdown and how he was treated. The stories reference him recovering on the Continent, but I WANT TO KNOW MORE!
Clouds of Witness
A murder at a hunting lodge during a shoot sponsored by Peter’s brother, the Duke of Denver, serves as the centerpiece for this unhurried tour through the family of Lord Peter Wimsey. Peter’s brother, the Duke of Denver, is discovered leaning over the body of the fiancé of Peter’s sister, Mary in the middle of a dark and stormy night. The Duke of Denver is charged with the murder as he will not offer any comment on why he was out of the house at three in the morning. Bunter plays a key role in helping Peter save his brother, as does Peter’s good friend, Chief Inspector Parker, of Scotland Yard, who eventually winds up marrying Mary.
Unhurried is an important word to use in describing this series. The story is told over five episodes, and the viewer gets the chance to enjoy the ride in an unhurried manner. This loving attention to detail more than makes up for lack of sumptuous production values. It seems reasonable to me that a series created for television in the early ‘70’s would not be as lavishly produced as were later series (when it was beginning to be understood that television shows had a life beyond their one initial and one repeat showing).
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
An old man is found dead in a gentleman’s club (a real one) on Armistice Day. It turns out that the old man’s sister died at about the same time, and the question of who died first becomes important to determining how the sister’s considerable fortune is to be distributed. Lord Peter Wimsey is called in to investigate and is able eventually to unravel the actual sequence of events.
There are at least two things that make this four-part murder mystery especially enjoyable. The first is that one of the people who helps Wimsey resolve the mystery is an former girlfriend, who is wonderfully played by a very young Phyllida Law (also known as the mother of Emma Thompson). The second is the very sympathetic portrayal of George, a grandson of the old man. George is suffering from a very active case of PTSD, and his erratic behavior creates some incredibly poignant and memorable scenes.
Murder Must Advertise
Dorothy Sayers once held a job working as a copy-writer at an advertising agency, and she uses this inside knowledge to create an intriguing murder mystery. After a copy-writer is murdered at Pym’s Publicity, Wimsey goes to work at the agency, using his two middle names (Death Breedon) as a pseudonym. The murder turns out to be related to some drug trafficking, and Wimsey has to enter that world to unravel the puzzle. He plays the part of a mysterious Harlequin, who appears and disappears, apparently at will, to prey on the drug-addled delusions of a young woman, Dian de Momerie, to get to the bottom of the case. This works well within the confines of the novel, where the Harlequin exists as if in a dream. The scenes, as played for a television camera, cannot achieve the same mystical quality, and the Harlequin’s appearances detract from this very fine story.
Two interesting cameos: one of the protagonists is played by Christopher Timothy, who later achieved fame as veterinarian James Herriot in the BBC series, All Creatures Great and Small. And, Shirley Cain, who plays one of the typists at Pym’s Publicity, later plays Miss Climpson in the Petherbridge Wimsey Series.
The Nine Taylors
A random driving accident on New Year’s eve leads Peter Wimsey to be pressed into service as a replacement bell-ringer at a country-church as the local vicar fulfills his ambition of performing an epic (and very long) peal. While there, Wimsey learns of an unsolved robbery from many years ago and a recent mysterious murder. It turns out that the key to this entire intrigue is unraveled through Wimsey’s knowledge of campanology.
The Five Red Herrings
While vacationing in Scotland, Wimsey meets a colony of artists, one of whom is unusually odious and loathsome. Mr. Loathsome gets murdered, and any one of six artists is suspected of the crime. Hence, there are five red herrings and one murderer. Wimsey eventually sorts it all out and identifies the guilty party. IMHO, this is the weakest of the Ian Carmichael set. In the book, the story take place during a glorious Scottish summer. This series was filmed during the winter, and they tried to create a summer ambience. To me, the landscape looks cold, bleak, and dreich, not warm, vibrant, and glorious.
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