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Rating: 
Summary: It is most convenient to have the box set.
Review: I have written individual reviews of each film. This is a review of the Box Set. Naturally it is less expensive to purchase a set. The box case helps keep all the Cadfaels in one location. It also looks better organized. The actual material is cardboard. There is a written summary of the set contents on the back of the box. Bottom line box sets look nicer if you are collection
Rating:
Summary: Generally a good show
Review: Overall, I liked Series 3 better than Series 2. The writing (I felt) was better, the productions were nicely done, and the casting was very apt. Also, while the same actor plays Hugh in both series, he's given better lines in this one, although he still can't act his way out of a paper bag. (E.g., in one episode a suspect is captured by vigilantes, beaten to a bloody pulp, and rescued by Hugh just moments away from a horrible death. Hugh questions him, determines that he's innocent, then dismisses him with a deadpan, cop-who's-decided-not-to-ticket-you-after-all "You are free to go" -- which had me rolling on the floor laughing.)
The best of the series, to my mind, was "The Rose Rent": The writers couldn't resist multiplying red herrings, and the lovely Judith is far too Pre-Raphaelite for 12th-century tastes. On the other hand, the characters (even minor ones) come across vividly, and in the kidnapping scenes the crucial issue of "who was where, when, and with whom" is very easy to follow. "A Morbid Taste for Bones" is well done too, with a handsome group of young lovers and an attractive setting, and the fundamental ironies in the original book come through unaltered. (The fact that it's mostly a Hugh-free zone also helps -- heh!)
As for "The Raven in the Forecourt," it could probably be best described as "a riff on Ellis Peters." Although the writers retained the book's basic theme -- the priest's narrow-minded morality and the various people who are harmed by it -- they added a love story and a great deal of gratuitious (if not entirely irrelevant) gore and mayhem. And Brother Cadfael's role is mostly reduced from sleuthing to bleating at the various characters in distress. Still, the plot keeps you interested, and the "confession" near the end is well done and satisfying. (I felt that the book itself was weak compared to the rest of the series, so I certainly don't fault the script writers for trying to improve on it!)
Again, Derek Jacobi does an excellent rendition of the title character, and the "regulars" in the supporting cast are a pleasure to watch (especially when that self-righteous prig Brother Jerome finally stumbles). Overally, a good evening's entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Brother Cadfael, Set 3
Review: The Rose Rent
"We have this moment for good or ill"
The Rose rent is a great mystery and in the course of being solved leads people to evaluate what has worth in life. A young widow must now face the fact that she may have killed her husband and also plan the rest of her life.
I was going to print the quote from the back cover; yet as usual the person who wrote the blurb could not have seen the film or have read the book.
Of course people die and Brother Cadfael uses forensics to determine who the murderer/s are and the motive/s. You get more then sufficient clues on the way.
My favorite quote is in the morning as they are ringing the morning bell; someone asks Cadfael, "Are you awake?" and Cadfael staggering "No. But I am out of bed."
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A Morbid Taste for Bones
"A man may step out of his nature"
A monk has the ability of sight. While he is being bleed he gets a vision. With the help of Jerome he realizes that it is St. Winifred whose body is lost in Wales and wants to be here so people can visit. A retrieval expedition is launched against Cadfael judgment.
This is one of the best Father Cadfaels as it has meaning and story on many levels. True the ending is not exactly the book ending. But the feel is still there. The point that I like best is that the language is common but the cultures as dissimilar.
Although there is no Hugh Beringar (Sean Pertwee), this film contains one of my favorite actors John Hallam who plays the lord Richard. He has been in many popular movies including "4.50 from Paddington" where he gets to play a similar character as Cedric Crackenthorpe.
I leave you with this thought:
"Those that seek to lay hands on St. Winifred are apt to perish."
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The Raven in the Foregate
"Truth and justice are often at odds."
It is said, "All that evil needs to flourish is for good men to nothing." And this film has a few good men that do nothing. So once again it is up to Brother Cadfael to sort out the mystery and if separate mysteries are related. I will not go thought the story blow by blow, as that is part of the intrigue in watching these films.
A part of the back cover paraphrased:
Father Ailnoth, the new parish priest in Shrewsbury, earns the scorn of his entire parishioners. After refusing to absolver a parishioner for carrying an illegitimate child, the priest is found dead in the river. There are plenty of suspects but a shortage of clues.
Too bad back covers are not clear and strait forward however the story is more complex and the acting is superior.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful clean and interesting
Review: We now have all of the Cadfael movies and have watched them in order, love them, and our youngest daughter has been bitten by the mystery bug. Good clean movies with a wonderful twist to them, something the whole family can watch. Very entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: It keeps getting better
Review: When I viewed the first set in this series I was drawn in by the wonderful acting, sets, costumes, music, and more. I immediately ordered the rest the sets and the third set showed up before the second. I couldn't wait to watch it and so I watched it out of order. It really doesn't matter I think what order you watch them in other than some of the background, whose King, politics, etc. might be clearer if watched in order.
Be sure to read the review "Successful TV dramatization and the role of Sir Derek's life" by themis_athena from Santa Monica, CA, USA. An excellent review and I dare anyone would have a hard time doing better. My only additional comment is I like Sheriff Hugh Beringar in the first series a little better. Eoin McCarthy in this series does not have quite the depth of Sean Pertwee.
This set includes the standard extras found in this series. Quite honestly these sets are a bargain for this price.
Rating:
Summary: Successful TV dramatization and the role of Sir Derek's life
Review: When the decision was made to produce for TV several episodes from her mystery series about Brother Cadfael, that 12th century crusader turned monk turned detective who has been, ever since his creation, one of the most compassionate and unusual sleuths of literary history, novelist Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) was not entirely happy. In fact, as the series' star, Sir Derek Jacobi, explains in the extra footage provided on the now-released DVDs, Ms. Peters had very mixed feelings about giving up her brain child and entrusting it to other people who went about cutting and adjusting everything, from the story lines themselves to the way the protagonists speak, to the necessities and limitations set by the new medium. But she eventually acquiesced and at one point promised that "the next one I write, I'll make sure it's easier for you all to film." While the thirteen episodes that were eventually produced are, thus, not entirely true to the individual Chronicles they are based on, they are closer than many other movie or TV versions of famous works of literature. Most importantly, they maintain not only the core story lines but also the historical authenticity, atmosphere and spirit set by Ms. Peters's books in a marvelous fashion. And Sir Derek Jacobi brings both the wealth of his experience and skill and all of his own shrewdness, intelligence, sense of humor and empathy to the role of the medieval Benedictine sleuth and thus truly becomes Cadfael - for the thousands of new fans who are discovering the series through its enactment for TV just as much as for us who loved the books before they were ever transposed to a visual medium. A tremendous cast of supporting actors rounds out an overall excellent production; to mention just a few, Julian Firth as the ambitious and narrow-minded Brother Jerome, Terrence Hardiman as Abbot Radolfus and Eoin McCarthy as Under-Sheriff Hugh Beringar, who joins Cadfael in his investigations whenever, as is so often the case, these transcend the world of monastic life and require the administration of secular justice as well as clerical insight. Several episodes also feature noted guest stars, such as Kitty Aldridge as Judith Perle and Crispin Bonham-Carter as Miles Coliar in "The Rose Rent." All thirteen Brother Cadfael episodes produced for TV were eventually released on video and are available either individually or in one initial four-video set and three sets of three videos each. The second and third sets and the episode "The Leper of St. Giles" from the first set are currently (as of April 2002) also available on DVD. They are not entirely in the same order as the books; however, as most of the cross-references between the books have been eliminated in the screen versions, this is no great harm (although the lacking cross-references are probably one of the things avid readers of the books will find missing). The DVDs also provide background information on Ellis Peters, Sir Derek Jacobi and a number of the individual episodes' other actors. This third collection features the following stories: "A Morbid Taste for Bones" (the first Chronicle): The monks mount an expedition to Wales to retrieve the bones of a local saint after a young monk claims to have seen the saint in a vision in which she asked that her bones be brought to Shrewsbury. The mission runs into serious trouble when the local lord, who has opposed it, is found murdered. "The Raven in the Foregate" (the twelfth Chronicle): Cadfael must solve the mystery behind two deaths; one of a young woman who (unsuccessfully) sought his spiritual advice, the other of the priest to whom Cadfael sent her: the new priest in Shrewsbury's foregate, an ambitious, power-hungry cleric in direct allegiance with King Stephen. "The Rose Rent" (the thirteenth Chronicle): A young widow is caught between several suitors but refuses to marry either of them, unable to give up the memory of her husband's love. She deeds her house to the abbey, in return for the annual rent of one rose from the house's garden; but a gift of beauty turns bloody when the emissary delivering the rose, a young monk, is found murdered. The other televised episodes are, in order of sets:
First set:
"One Corpse Too Many" (the second Chronicle);
"Monk's Hood" (the third Chronicle);
"The Leper of St. Giles" (the fifth Chronicle);
"The Sanctuary Sparrow" (the seventh Chronicle). Second Set:
"St. Peter's Fair" (the fourth Chronicle);
"The Virgin in the Ice" (the sixth Chronicle);
"The Devil's Novice" (the eighth Chronicle). Fourth Set:
"The Pilgrim of Hate" (the tenth Chronicle);
"The Potter's Field" (the seventeenth Chronicle);
"The Holy Thief" (the nineteenth Chronicle).
Rating:
Summary: Great adaptations of a fun series
Review: You can enjoy these Cadfael videos if you have not read the books, but if you are already a fan of the series they are even better. If there were a few more Brother Cadfaels around the Church would not be in the mess it is today.
Rating:
Summary: Great adaptations of a fun series
Review: You can enjoy these Cadfael videos if you have not read the books, but if you are already a fan of the series they are even better. If there were a few more Brother Cadfaels around the Church would not be in the mess it is today.
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