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Post by amyghost on Aug 17, 2018 22:54:14 GMT
Just acquired a couple of the dvd's of this series, which I recall with some fondness from the old, original Mastepiece Theater. Starred the late British comic actor Ian Carmichael, who was really too old for the titular role and didn't much physically resemble Dorothy Sayers description of the character, but no matter--he carried off the part with panache and the various episodes were great fun, with histrionics meant to call up the notion of 1940's style mystery melodramas. A later reboot was done starring an actor much more physically in keeping with Lord Peter, but the teleplays themselves were not as fun--too serious, with the depiction of Lord Peter as a gloomy, shell-shocked veteran a bit too dark.
Anybody else recall the original Carmichael productions? I'm working on The Unpleasanteness at the Bellona Club right now, would love to hear from other fans of this series.
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Post by Nalkarj on Aug 18, 2018 1:19:29 GMT
I’ve only seen Clouds of Witness, amyghost, which unfortunately I didn’t much like—though, admittedly, it was based on one of Sayers’ weakest books. While Carmichael did get the panache, as you say, he looked so little like the character… Are the others better? I like Sayers’ books, especially the early ones— Whose Body?, Unnatural Death, Strong Poison—though after Strong Poison the Wimsey-Harriet Vane saga rather annoys me. I think I liked the Edward Petheridge (‘80s) adaptations a bit more than you did—Petheridge’s casting was spot-on—though as you say the scripts were weak and broody. By the way, have you seen Haunted Honeymoon, the 1940 adaptation of Busman’s Honeymoon? Robert Montgomery is even less like Wimsey than Carmichael—for just one thing, he’s American!—but the movie is rather good, I thought. |
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Post by amyghost on Aug 18, 2018 12:52:22 GMT
I’ve only seen Clouds of Witness, amyghost , which unfortunately I didn’t much like—though, admittedly, it was based on one of Sayers’ weakest books. While Carmichael did get the panache, as you say, he looked so little like the character… Are the others better? I like Sayers’ books, especially the early ones— Whose Body?, Unnatural Death, Strong Poison—though after Strong Poison the Wimsey-Harriet Vane saga rather annoys me. I think I liked the Edward Petheridge (‘80s) adaptations a bit more than you did—Petheridge’s casting was spot-on—though as you say the scripts were weak and broody. Gene Wilder as Lord Peter By the way, have you seen Haunted Honeymoon, the 1940 adaptation of Busman’s Honeymoon? Robert Montgomery is even less like Wimsey than Carmichael—for just one thing, he’s American!—but the movie is rather good, I thought. Sorry Clouds was a disappointment, but as you say, it was not one of Sayers' better novels to begin with. It was also the first of the novels to be filmed, and some of the kinks hadn't really been worked out, I feel. Admittedly, Carmichael's lack of close physical resemblance to the character didn't phase me as much when I first encountered the series back in the Seventies; I was in my teens, and had only read a few of the short stories (which incidentally, often seem to be in a different key as far as Wimsy's character is concerned--he's rather 'darker' and more serious in many of them than he is in the novels, probably closer to the Petheridge version. If I could cast an actor who'd fit that Wimsy well, and yet retain some of Carmichael's wit, it would probably have been someone like a younger Ian Richardson, who definitely looked the part when he was in his 30's/40's). After I became better acquainted with the novels, the discrepancy sometimes got a little harder to get my head around, but I still enjoyed his performance a good bit, enough to seek out some of his earlier British comedy films, where he's seldom as suave as Lord Peter. I enjoy the others, but I think you do have to be able to get around Carmichael's lack of physical correctness-- Murder Must Advertise might be my personal favorite, but again, you have to accept Carmichael as masked seducer, which is sometimes a bit of a stretch--and the series (wisely, in my opinion) omits Harriet Vane altogether. Not difficult as there were only five multi-parters produced; I'm not certain why the decision to abandon the project, unless Carmichael himself nixed it; I have read that he initially turned the role down when first offered it, because he felt he was too old for the part, and that may have been a factor in why they didn't produce any beyond the five aired. I have seen Haunted Honeymoon, though not in years! I recall thinking when the Gene Wilder film of the same title came out, "are they actually going to attempt to cast Gene Wilder as Lord Peter?" LOL, fortunately not. I suppose you could say Montgomery was almost as much of a stretch, but I recall him as debonair and likeable enough. I should look it up again. If you have the chance, try some of the others. You may still have trouble with Carmichael as Wimsy, but I think they're fun enough (I also think Derek Newark makes a much better Bunter than Glyn Houston; unfortunately he only appeared in Bellona Club), and I do like the way they rather lean on the melodrama as a sort of salute to an older style of 'drawing-room mystery'. They're not perfect adaptations--I doubt Sayers would have been to enthused with Carmichael's casting herself--but as lightweight entertainments they hold up well. |
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