Customer Reviews

P.D. James - Cover Her Face

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

 

 

Young single mother Sally Jupp meets an old friend, Stavros, on the streets of London. They know each other from having worked together at a bookstore. Sally returns to the bookstore, goes into the basement, and finds Stavros on the floor - murdered. Then she hears the footsteps of the killer as he ascends the stairs.

So begins "Cover Her Face", the British television adaptation of mystery writer P.D. James' first novel. As the story unfolds we find out that Stavros was using the bookstore as a front for drug smuggling. Sally Jupp and her baby take a job at the country mansion of the Maxie family. Stephen Maxie, the doctor of the family, is keen on Jupp, but no one else in the family, or on the staff, are that fond of her. Some of them absolutely despise her. It is no wonder, then, that Ms. Jupp is soon found, sprawled across her bed, having been strangled in the night.

Adam Dalgliesh and John Massingham of Scotland Yard soon arrive on the scene to investigate Ms. Jupp's murder, and believe that there may be some connection between her death, and the murder of Stavros weeks earlier at the London bookstore. There are numerous suspects to choose from, false alibis aplenty, and secrets that are just crying out to be unearthed. The mystery deepens greatly before it is finally resolved.

This show is from the mid-eighties, and the production values tend to show it. The DVD looks splendid, but it can only be as good as what it has to work with, and sometimes the 80's videotape "look" is readily apparent. Overall, though, it looks pretty good. The acting is great all-round, as you would expect from a group of well-seasoned British actors. The story itself is relatively coherent, although sometimes things were brought up and then not necessarily followed through with - a distraction when dealing with a 5 hour mystery that makes your mind click back & forth as to what's going on. I spent a great deal of time thinking about different aspects of the case, only to have some of those aspects not be addressed as much as I'd hoped. This adaptation definitely made me want to read the book upon which it was based, if only to get a slightly clearer idea as to what had transpired.

"Cover Her Face" is, despite a few flaws, a solid mystery, with complex characters and motives, and an engrossing plot. I liked the country mansion location, and there is a nice bit of real-life history about it in the special features section on the DVD. If you like British television, and you like British mysteries, then I hardly see how you could go wrong here.

COVER HER FACE is probably one of the best PD James novels...oh well, I say that about every novel she writes, but the book is great and the DVD transfer by Lance Entertainment of the BBC dramatization of the story is also excellent.

The cast of characters includes Mel Martin whom you've seen in other mystery tales shown on PBS. Martin plays the daughter of a dying man and his devoted wife (Mr. and Mrs. Maxie) who live in a wonderful old house built in the Jacobean era in East Anglia. The interior tour of the house is worth the DVD (wainscoting, carved doorway arches, bosses abide). You can almost feel the Cavalier ghost. Mrs Maxie volunteers as a member on the Board of Directors of a home for unwed mothers in the nearby village.

As the story begins, a young woman who has recently given birth to a child (in the home for unwed mothers) travels to London to visit her old work mates. The firm where she was previously employed is a book-mail-order business the police suspect may be mailing something other than books. On the street outside the building, she encounters a former workmate whom she later finds dead in the "stacks" -- the book storage area in the basement. Dalglish appears on the scene and interviews her.

The young woman leaves London, and whom should she meet on the train--the young Maxie heir. He invites her to work in the Maxie home as a maid. Another murder occurs in the village and once again Dalglish encounters the young woman. What is going on? Are the murders connected? Is she being stalked because the killer in London thinks she saw him. Dalglish will get to the bottom of the case but not before bodies are strewn left and right. "Cover her face" is a line from the stage play 'The Duchess of Malfi', written around the time the old house was constructed. You will get the connection when you see this wonderful DVD.

The DVD arrived quickly and in great condition. Somehow I had missed seeing this Dalgliesh when it was (probably) on Mystery years ago. I enjoyed seeing Roy Marsden again and the storyline was very good. Once it ended, I understood who the murderer was but it had been handled very well all through the show. No red herrings, but no giveaways either.
If you like P.D. James and you like Marsden as Dalgliesh, you should definitely watch this.

I am a devoted PD James fan and I have also loved Roy Marsden as Adam Dalgliesh. I think this film version of "Cover Her Face" is slightly more successful as an Adam Dalgliesh mystery than as a faithful addaptation of the PD James novel. Being her first novel, it was more in the basic English manorhouse tradition than her later more in complex novels. That said, I still found it a very good and intelligent read. For some inexplicable reason, an elaborate London based drug plot was added to this film version and, for me, it didn't enhance the story one bit. Nevertheless, Roy Marsden is, as always, wonderful as James' poet detective and it is well worth having for any James or Roy Marsden fan.

It is always interesting to read the various thoughts of the reviewers and to speculate on how their backgrounds may have influenced their opinions; it proves again how beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

For some unexplained reason we had completely missed this particular episode and actually watched it for the first time. Where PD James and Dalgliesh are concerned that in itself is rather remarkable in light of the extensive exposure this series has received.

Had this DVD had pages it would have been classified as a page turner; we were looking forward eagerly to the next episode and found each of them to be exciting and suspensfully well done. As the end approached my wife asked me who I though the murderer was and I told her I had no idea, and I didn't.

This production of "Cover Her Face" is an excellent example of the work of PD James and Roy Marsden; I recommend it highly.

This is the first of the series written by PD James; I should think it also was among the earliest of the TV adaptations which had such a long and justifiably successful run. As has been pointed out, the plot is convoluted and in this TV version never satisfactorily brought together. The relationship between the events in London and in the country house which is the focus of the drama are rather poorly structured. One is never quite sure what the relationship was and not at all satisfied with the logic of the ultimate solution. However, the characterizations are quite well done preserving the British reputation for fine casting of their export dramatizations. Roy Marsden is a solid lead, much harder edged in these earlier episodes than he becomes in the later ones. Only occasionally is he allowed to show the poetic, sympathetic facets of the complex inspector we see later on. On a personal note,I could readily agree with the Inspectors reaction to one of the characters, she personifies charm and loveliness. Reality tells me that she and I are both 20 years older than when this was filmed so our romance can remain only a pleasant fantasy. (The rules of non-disclosure governing all commentators on mysteries prevents me from further elucidation.) I can recommend viewing for those not impatient with other than rapid-fire, bang-bang types of the mystery genre.

This is a talky mystery. At 4.5+ hours one can imagine its being done well in 2-3. The plot is complex--involving a drug dealer in London and the residents of a stately home in Suffolk, a stately home that also happens to be near a home for unwed mothers. The doings in London, the stately home and the home for unwed mothers are all connected in ways that are far from apparent. Enter Adam Dalgleish to sort things out, as the bodies pile up.

Since the story is talky, the emotional level is high and the production is shot on tape rather than on film, it often looks and feels like a soap opera. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes for very different atmospherics than those common to English mysteries. I enjoyed Cover Her Face, but it is long and it is talky and the performances are a tad stilted and mannered. Several, however, are exceptional. With modest production values and a 1985 date, Cover Her Face will feel a bit thin to those familiar with the best of the British Mysteries (Foyle, Frost, Morse, et al.) but it is engaging enough to be worth a long summer afternoon's viewing.