The Ruth Rendell Mysteries - Set 2
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Christopher Ravenscroft, Diane Keen, George Baker, Ken Kitson, Louie RamsayBrand: Acorn
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 466 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-10-23
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Acorn Media
Movie Reviews of The Ruth Rendell Mysteries - Set 2
Movie Review: Great Collection of Standalone Mysteries
Summary: 5 Stars
Although known primarily for her mystery series character, Inspector Wexford, Ruth Rendell has often written stand-alone mysteries that leave readers guessing till the very last page. In RUTH RENDELL MYSTERIES SET 2, six of those mysteries were brought to life for the television screen and are now packaged in this attractive DVD set.
The six shows are also packaged in another interesting manner. Three of them were filmed as single episodes, and three others were filmed as double-episodes that originally left viewers hanging for a week in between. Thankfully the DVD set allows the viewer to get right back into the mystery with the next episode on the disc.
The stories are all solid British tales of mystery and suspense, where the bloodletting is kept to a minimum or off-stage. My wife prefers these kinds of mysteries, and I enjoy engaging in a battle of wits with her over these cozy puzzles. For some reason she can handle the CSI franchises pretty well, but once a filmmaker buries the needle in action and violence, her interest wanes pretty quickly. I'm a guy, so that's where my interest generally picks up.
However, we've found the BBC mystery series to be a great compromise when we want to watch television together. Fans of BBC mysteries know there are a lot of great shows out there to be watched, and Ruth Rendell's shows (this set all based on short stories) are excellent.
Interestingly enough, for someone who's known for attention to detail, Ruth Rendell has an interesting story of her younger years. In the beginning of her professional life, she worked as a reporter for Essex newspapers where she evidently reported on events she didn't care for. One night she "phoned in" a news article (meaning she didn't attend and just used notes from past coverage to write the article) about an annual and boring tennis club meeting. Unfortunately, the main speaker had a heart attack and died during the meeting. Her report didn't cover that. She was fired on the spot. Given that experience, it's no wonder that this gifted author has a taste for irony that finds its way into her work.
The stories in this set include: "Bribery & Corruption" which stars James D'Arcy as a troubled young man who has been quietly in love with a woman that his widowed father (Tim Woodward) has also had an affair with and just might have killed. It was interesting to see Ravi Kapoor as a police sergeant because the character was different than the one he played on CROSSING JORDAN. There are a lot of twists and turns in this one.
"Front Seat" is one of the short offerings of the set. Cecily Branksome pokes around in an old murder that most people think has been solved. (One of my favorite angles in the cozy mystery because it's like solving two mysteries in one, what was going on then and what's going on now.) I particularly like the use of the "adult returning to childhood hometown" theme, seeing everything from adult eyes as opposed to a child's.
"A Case of Coincidence" features two British police investigators on the trail of what is believed to be a serial killer. It's a period piece set back in the 1950s, knocking out a lot of the forensic investigation and breaking the case back down to two detectives using old-fashioned brains and shoe leather to solve the murder of a surgeon's wife, which one of them believes isn't related to the serial killer they're chasing.
"A Dark Blue Perfume" is a dark, psychological presentation that features Susannah York and John Castle. Liz has been recently widowed and finds herself smitten by a new man with a mysterious past. My wife and I were constantly hanging onto the edges of our seats as we tried to guess whether she was going to find love or murder at the end of her courtship.
"May & June" is an excellent episode based on one of Rendell's reader-favorite short stories. Of course, the enmity of sisters - especially over a man - is always going to draw immediate interest. It's kind of like watching a train wreck in slow motion. May (Phoebe Nicholls) has never cared for her sister June (Christine Kavanaugh) and things only get worse from there.
My wife and I love FOYLE'S WAR, which means we also love Honeysuckle Weeks, who is a series regular in that show. Her talents as an actress really come to the forefront in "The Orchard Walls," a story about an innocent becoming aware of the secret and dangerous world of adults. Weeks plays Jenny, a young girl who - by coincidence - goes to live with relatives during the Blitz of World War II. This is the same time frame she explores in the FOYLE'S WAR stories.
Altogether, the DVD set is a splendid addition to the video mystery buff's collection. The choice between television episode-length and movie length shows is an unexpected bonus. The acting is all top-rate and the pacing is great.
Summary of The Ruth Rendell Mysteries - Set 2
The psychological crime dramas as seen on public televisionIn six tales of suspense, award-winning writer Ruth Rendell examines the jealousies, betrayals, and resentments that lead to tragedy. A stellar cast brings each story off the page and onto the screen with all of the author's delicious irony and intrigue intact.
Bribery & Corruption - Young Nicholas Hawthorne (James D'Arcy) has a crush on a married woman with whom his widowed father has begun a secret affair. Then she winds up murdered. Approx. 104 min.
Front Seat - Cecily Branksome (Janice Suzman) opens old wounds by nosing into a long - resolved murder in her childhood hometown - to the growing annoyance of her husband Hugh (Edward Hardwicke). Approx. 52 min.
A Case of Coincidence - When a surgeon's wife turns up murdered in the fens, Inspector Masters (Keith Barron) and Chief Inspector Moore (Ronald Pickup) face increased pressure to bring a serial killer to justice. Approx. 105 min.
A Dark Blue Perfume - Newly widowed Liz (Susannah York) rediscovers life and love with a troubled man who has a mysterious past. Approx. 52 min.
May & June - Since childhood, May Thrace (Phoebe Nicholls) has resented her sister June (Christine Kavanaugh) - especially when they compete for the same man's affections. Approx. 102 min.
The Orchard Walls - Sent to the country to escape war-ravaged London, a young girl (Honeysuckle Weeks) discovers the adult world's dark secrets. Approx. 51 min.
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE Ruth Rendell biography and cast filmographies.
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries: Set 2 includes six more, engrossing television adaptations of Rendell's brand of psychological mystery-thrillers, featuring fine casts of familiar British actors in tense, provocative tales of obsession, guilt, revenge, and murder. The suspenseful anthology includes the terrific "May & June," starring Phoebe Nicholls as the estranged sister of new widow June (Christine Kavanagh), whose late husband was originally engaged to Nicholls? character. Seeking a way to make amends years after the fact, June invites May to move into the spacious manor that once might have belonged to the latter. Though May accepts, her sneaky behavior and the hint of madness in her eyes suggest she might have something more sinister than sisterly companionship in mind. "The Orchard Walls" co-stars veteran actress Sylvia Syms and young Honeysuckle Weeks in the tense story of an adolescent girl from London sent to live with prickly, taciturn relatives in the countryside during the dangerous days of the blitz. Though charming and vivacious, Weeks? character seems to bother every adult in sight, preoccupied as each one is by various secrets involving the affair of a married woman whose military husband is serving overseas.
"A Dark Blue Perfume" is an eerie tale of barely-repressed, murderous madness. The still-luminous Susannah York stars as a widow whose attraction to an enigmatic neighbor (John Castle)--who might still be contemplating the murder of a woman he failed to kill years before--causes her to shake off the constrictions of small-town gossip and morality. "Front Seat" is a somewhat comical mystery starring Edward Hardwicke (Watson to Jeremy Brett?s Sherlock Holmes in the Granada Television series) as the henpecked husband of a bullying wife (Janet Suzman) who enlists a boozy old flame (Richard Johnson) to solve a decades-old murder. Hardwicke?s character, knowing the decadent pair will trample anyone in their path, sets out to resolve the unsolved case first--and possibly employ criminal means to put an end to his own, personal miseries. "A Case of Coincidence" is a head-scratcher starring Keith Barron, Pip Torrens, and Kate Buffery in the tale of a surgeon?s wife apparently murdered by a serial killer who was actually under police surveillance when the crime took place. Finally, "Bribery and Corruption" includes James D?Arcy, Paul Freeman, Tim Woodward and Abigail Cruttenden in a complicated mystery about a fellow who looks into the death of a married woman he once loved, only to learn her life was more troubled than he could have known. --Tom Keogh
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