Product Details

• Actors: Derek Jacobi, Michael Culver, Julian Firth, Terrence Hardiman, Mark Charnock
• Directors: Sebastian Graham Jones
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: March 25, 2003
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008DDH2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,505 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Cadfael - Monk's Hood" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Wonderfully preposterous as whodunits go, Cadfael proves that sleuthing for clues in 12th-century England can be hazardous to a "mere" monk's health. In this 1994 episode, Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) becomes entangled in a murder investigation. A wealthy landowner disinherits his stepson (played by then-unknown Jonny Lee Miller) and wills his estate to Shrewsbury Abbey, home of Cadfael's clerical order. But the brutal old fellow is soon poisoned, and Cadfael is alone in doubting the boy's culpability.

The case becomes more urgent after the incorrigible monk discovers the suspect's mother is a sweetheart he left behind after joining the Crusades 40 years earlier. Complicating matters is growing corruption at the abbey following news of the deceased man's benevolence. As usual, Cadfael's fearlessness at pursuing truth in the face of powerful interests, along with Jacobi's knowing performance, is the most compelling element of this medieval thriller. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

CADFAEL:MONK'S HOOD - DVD Movie

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Past Passion + Poison = Problems, April 22, 1999

By 

AnneMarie Lowell ([e-mail]) (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brother Cadfael - Monk's Hood [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Brother Cadfael, having fought in the Crusades and seen the world, now lives contentedly in the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul. He takes pleasure in healing the sick with his herbs and tending his garden. But life becomes thorny when Richildis, whom Cadfael loved as a teenager, comes to dwell within the abbey's confines. Her second husband Gervase Bonel deeds his property to the Benedictines and soon afterward is murdered. Edmund Gurney, Richildis' son, may very well be the killer as he and his step-father fought bitterly. The boy prefers the company of commonfolk and tradespeople, disdaining the lord's more leisurely life. Gervase has disinherited Edmund, leaving Mannerly manor and its lands to the Benedictines in Shrewsbury.

There are others who may have used Cadfael's curative unction Monk's Hood to kill Master Bonel. For Richildis' sake, Cadfael untangles the web in which Edmund has been caught. The boy's guilt or innocence must be proven or Cadfael will again have abandoned Richildis. Also, more than one man's freedom is at stake. With diligence and care Cadfael manages to separate truth from lies.

Sir Derek Jacob is brilliantly convincing. Wistful best describes the look on Cadfael's face when he learns that Richildis, whom he left for the Holy Land but promised to wed when he came back, has returned. There is a gentle innocence in the scenes between the two, pulling not only at their heartstrings but the viewer's as well. The one-time bold crusader must meekly accept his superior's bidding when ordered to discontinue the investigation. Cadfael is still as strong-willed as he was in his youth, but he is a principled man and having taken vows, one of which is obedience, he acquiesces. Sir Derek's wide palette of emotions paints a portrait of Cadfael which is clearly defined, brightly hued, and of great depth and insight. He is, indeed, a master.

Sean Pertwee (Hugh Beringar) is solid as the shire's undersheriff. Michael Culver (Prior Robert) may be dislikeable but that's only his character; Culver is a skilled actor. The same can be said of Julian Firth whose Brother Jerome is perhaps the most irritating and exasperating a man to ever walk the face of the earth. He is the bane of Cadfael's life and Cadfael deserves instant sainthood for putting up with Jerome without resorting to some old crusader's cure for pests - say, thwacking the heck out of the twitty little monk!

Mary Miller (Richildis) is exactly the kind of woman with whom Cadfael would have fallen in love as a youth. She is warm, caring, faithful, down to earth. Ms. Miller's beauty and strength comes from within, yet it is also visible.

Jonny Lee Miller (Edmund) plays his role of the disinherited youth well. Huw Garmon (Meurig) and Thomas Craig (Aelfric) give performances which are to be respected for their clarity.

Russell Lewis adapted Ellis Peters' book for the screen. Graham Theakston directed and Stephen Smallwood produced. This is an early Cadfael chronicle, as the series of books is called. It is also one of the early episodes filmed in the PBS-shown series. Later Cadfaels are more cryptic and perhaps more exciting than this episode, but it is well worth watching more than once. The Medieval monk is a mystery himself. "Monk's Hood" provides clues that answer how Cadfael came to be an Benedictine in the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite Brother Cadfael movies I've seen!, April 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Brother Cadfael - Monk's Hood [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of the best Brother Cadfael videos of all times! I thought the producer did and excellent job of adapting the book to videotape. I also appreciate Cadfael's being in trouble for a change by nearly being kicked out of the abbey. (It wasn't like that in the book, and it was a pleasant surprise for a change. A series gets boring unless the main character occasionally faces personal challenges.) What basically happens is that one of the abbey's guests is murdered, and his stepson is accused of the crime. When Cadfael is called to help the dying man, he realises that the dead man's widow is his childhood sweetheart. Naturally, Prior Robert and Brother Jerome are very upset about the whole matter, and very pettily try to spite Cadfaelby forbidding him to investigate the murder and preventing him from leaving the abbey. The fact that the abbot is away and will probably not return as abbot doesn't help matters. Cadfael is faced with demands on his duty and on his conscience: he can either risk losing his home at the abbey and help his former fiance clear her son's name of the charge of murder, or bow to the prior's wishes and let Richildis have a permanent grudge against him. This is a must-see for all Brother Cadfael fans, especially those who are itching to learn some more of Cadfael's past.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drama and suspense "Monks Hood" is awsome., February 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Brother Cadfael - Monk's Hood [VHS] (VHS Tape)

After watching a performance by Derek Jacobi you become caught up in all the drama that is portrayed by this medieval monk.Unbelievable and a must see by those who appreciate well played drama.