A Morbid Taste for Bones

Rating:
Summary: 85 Minutes Doesn't Do Brother Cadfael Justice
Review: I'll readily admit, my expectations were rediculously high. As a fan of both the Brother Cadfael chronicles and actor Derek Jacobi, I assumed that like the actor, this DVD would be a perfect combination of style and substance. I wonder if this might be one of the TV series' weaker episodes.

Jacobi is perfectly cast as Cadfael and carries the role very well. While there are other good performances, some are a bit overdone, and some are a bit wooden. Author Ellis Peters did a wonderful job of interweaving multi-leveled storylines together in her books, but that sense was impossible to capture in this episode's condensed 85 minutes. Though the show moves swiftly and conveys all the key points, it ended up feeling a little flat.

On a technical note, the DVD picture is remarkably clear. The "extras", however, left me wanting. There are only 10 - 15 production stills, and not much background on either the making of the episode, characters, or actors. There is one very nice touch: an audio track of Derek Jacobi speaking candidly about his portrayal of Brother Cadfael.

Rating:
Summary: 85 Minutes Doesn't Do Brother Cadfael Justice
Review: I'll readily admit, my expectations were rediculously high. As a fan of both the Brother Cadfael chronicles and actor Derek Jacobi, I assumed that like the actor, this DVD would be a perfect combination of style and substance. I wonder if this might be one of the TV series' weaker episodes.

Jacobi is perfectly cast as Cadfael and carries the role very well. While there are other good performances, some are a bit overdone, and some are a bit wooden. Author Ellis Peters did a wonderful job of interweaving multi-leveled storylines together in her books, but that sense was impossible to capture in this episode's condensed 85 minutes. Though the show moves swiftly and conveys all the key points, it ended up feeling a little flat.

On a technical note, the DVD picture is remarkably clear. The "extras", however, left me wanting. There are only 10 - 15 production stills, and not much background on either the making of the episode, characters, or actors. There is one very nice touch: an audio track of Derek Jacobi speaking candidly about his portrayal of Brother Cadfael.

Rating:
Summary: This is a review of the DVD
Review: There is an earlier review of the film contents as I also have the video. After playing the video about 50 times I acquired a distracting squeak. So I bought the DVD. I am so impressed that I do not plan to wait for the other Cadfaels to squeak.

The first thing that struck me was how clear the picture is. Maybe some of it is the tape was worn yet I never noticed that that Brother Jerome had freckles. Unexpectedly they (whoever they are) put all the DVD goodies on this except a running commentary. Of course there are interactive menus, which makes navigation easy. Then there is a scene index of which I seldom use. An Exclusive audio comments by Derek Jacob, has pictures of him with Ellis Peters as he explains that a one and a half hour program just can not pack the elaborate plots and number of characters in to do justice to the book readers. The Ellis Peters biography and book list is written on the screen (Sorry you have to read some of this.) The production scrapbook has about 10 stills showing the film being made. I have not tried the captions for the hearing impaired. What is not mentioned is a list of the productions that Derek Jacobi has done.

Want to see something eerie, look at the picture of Derek next to Ellis. They could be related.

Rating:
Summary: A man may step out of his nature
Review: This is part of Brother Cadfael Series 3 Box Set: The Rose Rent, A Morbid Taste for Bones, and The Raven in the Forecourt ASIN: 1569381976

After watching my copy about 50 times the cassette has gained a squeak. I plan to replace this with the DVD.

This is one of the best Father Cadfiles as it has meaning and story on may 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" ASIN: 6303111602 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."

Rating:
Summary: Not a really faithful adaptation
Review: This review is geared toward considering the episode in terms of its quality as an adaptation of the original story, rather than as an independent entity, so if that doesn't interest you, shoo. :)

The basic plot and some of the major subplots of the original novel have been adapted faithfully, but in moving the story several years forward in time (several years after Heribert's abbacy ended), several of the characters have been replaced or altered greatly.

_A Morbid Taste for Bones_ is the first book in the series, which follows a linear chronology (i.e., each book happens some time after its predecessor, so the characters change accordingly, and the events in the world around them track what actually happened in history). Revising the scripts to change the order of the stories consequently has inherent problems.

Rather than Abbot Heribert, Radulfus is in charge, which results in a different interpretation of several other characters. Unlike Radulfus, who's in his prime, Heribert at this point was elderly, and nearing the end of his tenure. Prior Robert took it for granted that he would be the next abbot, while others had motives to try to displace Robert so they could step into the abbot's shoes later. Removing those possible motives changes the balance of the story.

The visionary Columbanus has been reinterpreted. His visionary fits here are bluntly interpreted as near-insanity, rather than offering any possible interpretation as a calculated pose. When Brother Cadfael considers that Columbanus might be trying to build a reputation for holiness as a lever into the abbot's mitre, he questions Columbanus openly about it rather than entertaining it as a private theory early on. Consequently, the stage for Columbanus' last vigil and vision in Gwytherin is arranged somewhat differently than in the original.

Brother John, Cadfael's first assistant, who entered the order after his girl dumped him, has been eliminated, along with the subplot concerning his vocation; instead, we have Brother Oswin, as usual in the adaptations (who is portrayed as an amalgam of Brother Mark and the original Oswin, without the wisdom of the former or the heartiness of the latter).

For the supporting players: the Welsh villagers look far more downtrodden than I would have expected (everyone except Rhysiart and his daughter is wearing an institutional shade of blue); the Shrewsbury villagers don't get that treatment when the monks are on their home turf. Cadfael's role as translator is eliminated, as everyone magically speaks English (OK, I'll grant that one for the sake of translation to film.) But to give him an equivalent role as a buffer between the monks and the villagers, Cadfael is presented as the only member of the monastic party with common sense - and if you think Prior Robert was politically naive in the books, think again. In fact, Robert's original problem was that he was *too* worldly-wise, and underestimated local affection for Saint Winifred.

Rating:
Summary: A Truly Rare Benedictine.
Review: When the decision was made to produce for TV several episodes from her mystery series about Brother Cadfael, that 12th century crusader turned herbalist 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, according to this series's star, Sir Derek Jacobi, 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 storylines themselves to the way the protagonists speak and even the sequence of the stories, 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 - and "A Morbid Taste for Bones" certainly is no exception in that respect - they are closer than many other movie or TV versions of famous works of literature. Most importantly, they maintain not only the core storylines but also the historical authenticity, atmosphere and spirit set by Ms. Peters's books in a marvelous fashion; portraying, like the novels, vividly and with great care for detail medieval monastic life as well as a society caught in the middle of a civil war (that between Empress Maud and King Stephen for the throne of England), with shifting allegiances, intrigue, favoritism and again and again, innocent victims caught between the front lines. 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: Due to his experiences as a crusader endowed with a keen sense of reality, a certain world-weariness and a deep sense of morality alike, he not only understands the letter of the law (both divine and worldly) but more importantly, also the deeper implications of the same, and always finds a way to apply the church's teachings in a truly Solomonic manner, and to arrive at solutions that are as just as they are compassionate and pragmatic. - 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 and Terrence Hardiman as Abbot Radolfus (as well as, in other installments of the series, Sean Pertwee and later 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).

"A Morbid Taste for Bones" is actually the first Chronicle of Brother Cadfael; the TV adaptation, however, is set somewhere between "The Virgin in the Ice" (the sixth Chronicle, which brings some unexpected insights into Cadfael's past), "The Devil's Novice" (the eighth Chronicle), "The Raven in the Foregate" (the twelfth Chronicle) and "The Rose Rent" (the thirteenth Chronicle).

The story opens with a number of visions experienced by young Brother Columbanus (Nick Patrick), who claims to have had encounters with St. Winifred, in her earthly life a girl from a remote Welsh village decapitated by an evil-spirited nobleman. The saint, Brother Columbanus claims, has told him that she is unhappy with the lack of care and dedication her grave receives from the local village folk, and wishes to be relocated nowhere else but to Shrewsbury's very own Saint Peter and Saint Paul. After a heated discussion over the appropriateness and dangers of such an excursion, the monks decide to mount an expedition to Wales to save the maiden saint's bones. Predictably, they are anything but welcome - not only are they emissaries from an English abbey, which in itself would be bad enough already; they also seek to take what village folk consider their greatest treasure and, more importantly, the village's holy protectress. When wealthy squire Lord Rhysart (John Hallam), who has led the village in opposing the monks' mission, is found murdered, they quickly find themselves implicated. Cadfael, of Welsh descendance himself but now part of a mission from an English abbey, ends up between all lines of allegiance in trying to find Rhysart's murderer; but find the murderer he must, to ensure the success of his brothers' mission and their safe return home. And more than ever, it takes all his world-wisdom *and* all his understanding of the divine to unravel the mystery.