Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Bfs Entertainment
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304041942
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,915 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Oxford is to be donated a new college building by businessman Andrew Baydon. There is only one thing wrong with the generous gift - the building will be a modern version of Rajput Palace. While some people feel the gift is in distinctly bad taste, Oxford feels it has the show its thanks to such an important benefactor. While the celebrations are taking place, Morse and Lewis are making enquires into the murder of a freelance journalist who was working on an article about college benefactor Baydon. As the two detectives wait for Baydon's celebratory procession to finish, a shot rings out and a guest falls to the ground.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing Diva, January 20, 2006

By 

Pamela Williams (Saginaw, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inspector Morse - Twilight of the Gods (DVD)

This installment in the Morse series is conventional in the sense that the plot involves homicides, one actual and the other attempted. However, this mystery is unusual in that the viewer is exposed more intimately to the emotional side of Inspector Morse. The mystery begins with the discovery of a dead journalist (Neville Grimshaw) who had been shot to death. At the time of his death, Grimshaw had been gathering information about Andrew Baydon, a wealthy man who claimed to have been a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. Baydon is in Oxford to receive an honorary degree, granted to him based upon his offer of an endowment sufficient to create a new college and fund several vacant academic positions. In addition to Baydon, an honorary degree has also been offered to Gwladys Provert, a renowned opera singer and a personal favorite of Morse. When Provert is shot and wounded during the degree conferment processional, Morse initially reacts with stunned paralysis, unable to do much more than watch as Sergeant Lewis secures the crime scene. Morse has an idealized conception of Provert as a brilliant and virtuous artist; therefore, he is unable to comprehend why anyone would choose to deprive the world of her talents. As Morse recovers his professional focus, he has to consider whether the murder of the journalist and the attempted murder of Provert are somehow linked. It is only after Morse concludes that the shooting of Provert was unintentional that the investigation proceeds in the right direction and culminates in identification of the perpetrators and their motives. One of the themes dealt with in this mystery involves the extreme actions some will undertake to preserve a finely cultivated public image. This mystery has its genuinely poignant moments, especially when Morse learns that the image Provert projects to the public is far different from the reality of her private life. Morse experiences a genuine sense of disillusionment as he realizes that while the artistic product may be sublime, the actual artist may be petty and coarse.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Die Gotterdammerung, November 27, 2006

By 

William J. Thor (Vero Beach) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Inspector Morse - Twilight of the Gods [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A first rate plot that belongs in the top ten of the Morse series. To discuss the plot further would be doing the reader a disservice. Suffice it to say, if you're a Morse fan this one is a must. To add to the enjoyment we have the basic plot augmented by the personal Morse. He has placed one of his favorite divas on a pedestal only to learn during the unfolding of the story that her pedestal is extremely brittle. Morse's appetite for the arts is fed very nicely in this entry, courtesy of Richard Wagner's Die Gotterdammerung and dovetails with the architectural rendering of a new addition to Oxford University which is used symbolically. Adding to all this is the role of the Chancellor played by the late, great Sir John Gielgud. What more could you ask for of a Morse episode? Humor? Uncharacteristically, Morse's dry sense of humor shows more than once - much to the chagrin of Lewis.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morse sees his "god's" clay feet, January 3, 2011

By 

Israel Drazin (Boca Raton, Florida) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inspector Morse - Twilight of the Gods (DVD)

The "Gods" in this film are the arts, especially opera, which Chief Inspector Morse loves, but which he sees in a new dark light as he investigates a murder and an apparent attempted murder and learns the truth about the people he admires. Morse is overwhelmed by the singing of a diva and walks around in a daze. A murdered man is found and Morse prefers that Sergeant Lewis do most of the investigation, but this situation changes fast. Morse and Lewis attend a celebration when the diva, who is among the honorees, is shot. Morse takes over this case and wonders if the previous murder is related to this shooting. The drama has many interesting characters, including a wealthy benefactor who has a number on his arm and claims he was a holocaust survivor. He is among the honorees because he is making a generous gift, the building of a new college building. The murdered man was a journalist investigating this business man. The diva enjoys sex with young men and brought her much younger sister to accompany her to attract such men for her. She disappears when her sister is shot. Sir John Gielgud plays the head of the Oxford college as a bigot who despises America and is most likely an anti-Semite.