Customer Reviews

Dark Adapted Eye [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fantastic story, which has been adapted well for video. The characters are well developed and completely believable and the plot twists grippingly through the years during and just after World War II. Excellent performances from Helena Bonham Carter and the ever talented Celia Imrie kept me gripped. This is a brilliant story from Barbara Vine but is not based on real events.

The life of Faith Severn is permanently altered when her uber-normal aunt, Vera, kills her sister Eden. Faith, in trying to understand what has transpired, discovers that her aunt and family hardly lead the kind of respectable, middle-class life they congratulated themselves on having. This is a beautifully done drama with great performances. A great way to spend an afternoon for mystery fans and lovers of great drama. END

Faith is a young woman from a haunted family. One of her aunts has been hanged for killing her other aunt, and the family labors under the shadow of this tragedy. Why did it happen, and what were the inner tensions which led to the murder. A Dark Adapted Eye skillfully unravels the layers of mystery and tension which developed over many years until finally reaching a partial resolution.

A Dark Adapted Eye was the first book by Barbara Vine, Ruth Rendell's alter ego. I enjoy Vine's mysteries because they examine how past events effect the present and leave invisible wounds on those who participate or merely witness. This television adaptation was produced in Britain in the early 1990s and was first shown on PBS' Mystery. It features excellent performances, particularly by Celia Imrie and Helena Bonham-Carter. It has thus far not been released in DVD or Blu-Ray, but I hope that it will be eventually.

I'm glad I only spent $13.00 for this used video cassette. 20th Century Fox and the BBC have edited little snippets here and there from the original broadcast. I wore out my home-made video of this series after 14 years of regular use. It is frustrating that the BBC have not deigned to give this splendid drama the deluxe dvd treatment it deserves, especially as it is one of the finest BBC productions ever made.

A Dark Adapted Eye is a haunting, absorbing story of two strange sisters who have a fated relationship with one another, the effects of which have devastating results for their entire extended family. This may sound banal and melodramatic but it isn't. It is deep, and moving, and sticks in the mind ever after. The entire cast is stupendous, especially Celia Imrie's Vera. She is matched in greatness by Sophie Ward's Eden and Helena Bonham-Carter's Faith.

Don't pay top dollar for this video but find a good used set somewhere like I did here on Amazon.

l give this a four star rating because of the editing to fit the video format. But the little missing bits don't hurt this powerful little masterpiece in any important way; but the missing scenes are as good as the rest of it and are missed by this viewer.

I ordered this for a Christmas present. It came in plenty of time. Thanks!

This is one of the very few stories I have found captivating whether in film or novel version.

I have a question for anyone out there: does anyone know when this will emerge on DVD finally? Or has it already done so, and if yes, where can I find it?

Thanks!

Faith Severn (Bonham-Carter) tells us the story of her Aunts Vera and Eden. Faith stayed with them as a child during WWII when London was being bombed so she has the chance to witness their relationship turn from morbid closeness to conflict and hostility culminating in murder. It is a riveting piece of work and I was glued to the tv set the entire time. Of special interest is a plotline that is guided by two sisters whose conflict is born and festers when a baby is born to one of them. Two women in the same family, conflicted over a child born into that family, is a very common, every day occurrence and utterly believable as something that gets out of control fast. I must confess that Bonham-Carter, as I continue to see her shine in role after role, is a much better actress than I ever thought she'd turn into when I first saw her in "Room With A View," where she played a rather standard English historical ingenue. I've only seen this on video and so I can't comment about scenes which were edited out from when it showed on television, as one Amazon reviewer has done. I did not feel the lack of any scenes or character development, however. I have also not read the book so cannot compare that either although it is generally a fruitless task to compare films with the books they were based upon anyway.

The original movie is a wonderful adaptation of the same novel. However, in moving to video, crucial scenes have been edited diminishing the overall neuroses of Aunt Vera as well as other members in the family. Recommendation: record it when it airs again on the television.