14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Murder Blooms In Shrewsbury, March 23, 1999
This review is from: Brother Cadfael: The Rose Rent [VHS] (VHS Tape)
After the death of her husband, Lady Judith Perle (Kitty Aldrige) deeds The Rose House to the Abbey of St. Peter's as memories are painfully moribund for her. The first Sunday of July, the monks are to pay Lady Judith annual rent of one rose from the white rosebush which stands in The Rose House's garden.
A year later events become entangled. Brother Eluric (Graham McGrath), whose duty it is to tend the rosebush and take the rent to Lady Judith, is found dead one morning at the base of the bush which, despite Eluric's tender care, is mysteriously dying. A bloody knife is at his side. The young monk had less-than-holy secret thoughts about the beautiful young widow. He confided these thoughts to Brother Cadfael, Shrewsbury expert murder- and mystery-solving monk, to whom gentlemen and fair ladies frequently turn when they are in distress.
Eluric's death a suicide? Heaven forbid! Brother Cadfael immediately unearths a fertile clue to suggest otherwise as well as the decaying rosebush is the result of a poisonous perpetrator.
Suspects are as plentiful and colorful as Shrewsbury's Spring and Summer flowers. Could the culprit be The Rose House's new tenant Niall Bronzesmith (Tom Mannion). He disappears almost every night. Come the dawn, he is found again carefully managing his metalworks. Oswin, Cadfael's bumbling assistant in the herbarium, digs up some dirt on the enigmatic man which plants seeds of suspicion Niall's way.
Thomas Hynde (Paul Whitby), whose wastrel ways have caused his own father to cut him off completely, is but one suitor wanting to woo Lady Judith. What about Godfrey Fuller (Sebastian Abineri)? He is dying to join his dyeworks, and himself, to Lady Judith's mill and the beautiful widow in order to make his business and life blossom in the shire.
Miles Coliar (Crispin Bonham Carter), Judith's cousin who took charge of the mill when the late Edward Perle first fell ill, he too has grounds for murder so Cadfael discovers as he digs for clues.
Sir Derek Jacobi again turns in a marvelous performance as the Medieval monk. With a bit more than mayhem in the air, the seldom seen tender side of Cadfael is unearthed an inch or two in "The Rose Rent." Eion McCarthy (Undersheriff Hugh Beringar) and Terrence Hardiman (Abbot Radulphus) are Cadfael's perennial supporters while Michael Culver (Prior Robert) and Julian Firth (Brother Jerome), they are as prickly and nettlesome as ever. Mark Charnock (Brother Oswin) may be appear to be a blooming idiot at times, but he is endearing as he aids and frequently abets Cadfael in keeping the Benedictines of St. Peter's Abbey and Shrewsbury cleared of evildoers.
Scripted by Christopher Russell and directed by Rick Stroud, "The Rose Rent" is another highly suspenseful and entertaining offering by producer Stephen Smallwood.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
"We have this moment for good or ill", July 29, 2001
This review is from: Brother Cadfael: The Rose Rent [VHS] (VHS Tape)
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.
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."
Cadfael - The Holy Thief
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