Customer Reviews

Inspector Morse - Deceived by Flight

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Deceived by Flight is one of author Colin Dexter's favorite televised Morse mysteries. Having seen at least twenty or so of these fine programs, I agree with his judgement.

The performances are uniformly excellent; not just Morse, played reliably and well by the fine actor, John Thaw, but also the supporting cast, particularly Kevin Whately as his able assistant, Sergeant Lewis, and Sharon Maughan as Kate Donn, television hostess and wife of slain barrister Anthony Donn. The plot is complicated and the clues are difficult for even Morse to decipher. Apparently Anthony Donn has committed suicide on the eve of his participation in a cricket match at Oxford. Morse doubts that his old friend deliberately killed himself and begins questioning suspects. As we soon find out, much more is at stake in this mystery than the death of an aging cricket player.

Cricket is part of the fun of this mystery. Much time is spent discussing the sport (Morse would prefer to listen to his music) and we also get to see it played. Sergeant Lewis goes undercover as a porter and expert batsman. At the matches another murder takes place and now Morse must try to determine if there are connections between the two deaths.

I think most viewers who watch the Morse series of films like to put their detective caps on and follow the clues carefully to see if they can arrive at the answers before Morse. Deceived by Flight will keep even the best armchair detectives struggling with clues until the satisfying conclusion of this fine program.

DECEIVED BY FLIGHT, made in 1989, is one of the better Morse dramas. Morse (John Thaw) is more light hearted in this film than some of the later episodes and it is a joy to see him interact with the other actors including his Sgt.'s child. He actually engages in a bit of prank-playing with Robbie (Kevin Whately) who, forced to go `undercover' as a porter at one of the local colleges at Oxford, finds himself "watching" Morse's parked car as part of his duties.

The gist of the story is that an old boys club called `The Clarets XI' is in town for an annual cricket match. One of the members, as well as the team coach are former classmates of Morse. The player-friend approaches Morse for a get-together lunch which turns out to be fish and chips on a park bench near the Thames. Morse senses that his former flatmate has something important to share but he can't quite bring himself to the point of telling Morse what it is. As they part, the friend mentions a Zen saying that involves the sound of one hand clapping and a dead student. Later, the friend turns up dead as a result of suicide. Or was it suicide. Soon Morse believes the man was murdered and he is on the trail of the killer. Was the killer his beautiful wife who could have been having an affair with one of the other cricket players? Was it one of the other cricket players? And what about the couple named Foster who behave suspiciously by asking Robbie the porter for a key to the dead man's room.

This episode has it all-great scenes of Oxford and its environs; Morse and Robbie struggling over the cricket match versus classical music on the various office, car, and other radios at hand; Robbie showing he can play cricket as well as any upper class ponce; a really interesting cricket match (I finally realized the pitcher is trying to hit the little poles behind the batter); Morse sleeping through the cricket match; and Morse falling for the wrong woman. The cast includes some familiar faces such as Daniel Massey, Amanda Hillwood, Sharon Maughan, and a very young Nathaniel Parker.

This is a "who done it?" opening with a murder and building throughout as new material is introduced to help Morse toward a resolution. As we travel along the trail of the story, we encounter a fair amount of Cricket with the full complement of both teams as suspects and Lewis playing as well -- incognito. Not much in the way of Morse's idiosyncrasies, for balance, but the plot moves along steadily allowing us to have a relaxing journey as well, although we are jolted with two or three unexpected twists. Speaking of relaxation this tale reveals, arguably, the most relaxed Morse we will encounter in the entire series. Morse's missing first name remains a mystery in itself, however his nickname surfaces as we learn he was called Pagan Morse when he attended this very same college some years past. This is a very pleasant entry; not up there with his best but most agreeable.

12/21/11
Great detective story. Inspector Morse with his roots in Oxford, England and his strange personality. He's a refined poetry lover yet British detective working homicide cases. I identify with his ever-forlorn love life and bachelor ways, he's a dear, loves his Wagner.

This "Deceived by Flight" adventure was in my local library on videotape for years. I checked it out perhaps a hundred times. Then the library changed over to all dvds and suddenly didn't have it anymore, so I bought this dvd at Amazon. The story has a gorgeous female character in nice 80s clothes and hair, and I learned a bit about cricket, too.

Good stuff. Go Morse!

Deceived by Flight is not one of Morse's best episodes, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. The Clarets XI old boys' cricket team gather in Oxford for the annual cricket match, but the murder of one of the team members throws everything into disarray. Enter Inspector Morse (John Thaw) who knowing his DS, Lewis (Kevin Whately) is quite a cricket player himself, puts Lewis to work, going undercover as the newest member of the team!

This interesting turn makes this story quite refreshing, and though I'm not a cricket fan, I could not help but smile as I watched Lewis have fun, for once showing off his skills, and relishing every moment in the spotlight!

I really like these films...Morse becomes like a familiar friend similar to Taggert for Glasgow...authentic, real and Morse especially shows beautiful Oxford scenery. It is as if you are there on mainly non-rainy English days!!!