The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries, Set 1

Rating:
Summary: Less fun than Christie but very good of kind
Review: 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" (AMP-7427), 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. Look for it towards the end of January 2005.




Rating:
Summary: Rather disappointing
Review: Having read several of Ngaio Marsh's excellent mysteries featuring the debonair Scotland Yard inspector Roderick Alleyn, I was very excited to see that there were some filmed versions. I was especially interested in the first DVD in the set, "A Man Lay Dying", since it is also the first book in the series, and I had never read the book. The look of 1940's-era England is wonderful--great sets, wonderful costumes (Alleyn's in particular), and Patrick Malahide is a quietly charming Alleyn, but unfortunately I found this filmed version slow-going, and after about thirty minutes, my mind began to wander. Also a disappointment is the character of Agatha Troy, Alleyn's wife-to-be, who in the books was a strong, independent woman with her own career, now relegated to the whining cop's wife role.

Because of my disappointment over the first in the series, I didn't watch anymore of the mysteries in the set, so I can't comment on the set as a whole, but if they are anything like "A Man Lay Dying", give them a miss and read the books instead.

Rating:
Summary: uneven, but fun
Review: Ngaio Marsh was a mystery writer right up there with Agatha Christie. These adaptations are, like all British mystery television, faithful to the period and great whodunits. Whenever Belinda Lang (Agatha Troy) is on the screen the action becomes incredibly interesting. She plays her part with the right flair for sardonic humor and serious concern for those around her. The scenery is fantastic. Who is missing? Alleyn himself. Patrick Malahide plays Alleyn very low key and is blander than pudding. There is a long list of British actors who can play low key and pull it off - Roy Marsden, for one. You sense that underneath that 'calm exterior' there is a lot more going on. Malahide seems blank. You don't even sense that he cares much for Brer Fox - you're not even sure what he is saying until he explains it to one of the baddies. A disappointment! Still a fun ride.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best.......
Review: Ngaio Marsh was one of the big three mystery writers who kicked off the genre for women writers in the 20th Century. She was a New Zealander who migrated to England around the time of WWII and who, along with Christie and Sayers, developed a version of the upper crust male protagonist dectective modeled on Sherlock Holmes.

Sadly, few of Marsh's stories were dramatized for PBS Mystery Theater, though I a number of them have been turned into "talking" books. I recall that there was some discussion at the time of the release of the PBS films about the suitability of Patrick Malahide for the part of Inspector Alleyn. I don't know if that was a factor in PBS not showing more episodes or not, but I think Malahide was just fine.

The first episodes of the Alleyn series cover his early days as an Inspector for Scotland Yard where he teams up with DI Fox (William Simons - Inspector Cribb) and meets his future wife, the artist Agatha Troy (Belinda Lang --To Serve Them All My Days). Troy is a suspect in a murder case Alleyn investigates involving a collection of artists one of whom is a victim of foul play.

Marsh was involved with the world of art including the theater and many of her books reflect her extensive knowledge of stage craft. Comparable to Christie with her poisons, Marsh relied on her background knowledge to shape her cunning plots.

Acorn can't get these mysteries released fast enough for me. I have read all Marsh's books, but unfortunately far to few of them were dramatized and fewer still are available on DVD.