Customer Reviews

P.D. James - Unnatural Causes

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

 

 

P. D. James's stories are all nicely textured, with carefully-layered plotting and interesting characters. In this story we have a crime novelist who is found dead, his hands severed from his body. The suspects have alibis; one (a slightly effete and decidedly obnoxious critic) is played by the superb Bill Nighy. There are two subplots, one involving a sleazoid gangster, the second involving Dalgleish and his relationship with his girl friend. As those subplots intersect, the girl friend is threatened. The climax is particularly memorable, with a storm at sea and Dalgleish trapped with a suspect in a seaside cottage through which the winds are howling and in which the water is rising. This is definitely worth a look, if only for the Nighy character.

My wife is more of a P.D. James fan than I am and has read the book; since I haven't I'll simply address my impressions of the DVD. First I'll mention that my wife also gave it three stars although the rating here is strictly my doing.

Importantly it was good enough that we wanted to finish it instead of stopping it at some point before the ending; that's saying something in its favor. As a music lover I'll admit the theme music is hauntingly beautiful and often finds its way into my thoughts; this sort of gets things off to a good start. The story as presented was not hard to follow and had some very dramatic and provocative scenes. I'll not repeat the story here but will simply say it made sufficient sense for me to avoid frustration with the progress of the story.

I always find English scenery interesting and the images presented as representing Suffolk held my attention. It seems like a rugged and unforgiving coastline along there as I'm much better acquainted with the softness, usually, of the Gulf Coast (hurricanes are an exception of course).

My wife and I agree that the situation involving the Commander and Deborah was somewhat abrupt there near the ending and didn't seem to have a sufficient buildup to justify what happened. We also share the opinion the ending seemed much too contrived and was the biggest disappointment of all.

By and large we shall probably not seek this one out to watch again although the first time around it was worth three stars.

I suggest you view it before you buy it.

This is one of James' most suspenseful DVDs-just below A Certain Justice and
Original Sin. The ending is particularly so.Once again,Marsden plays Dalgliesh to
a "T",moving the case along at a good pace throughout.It is too bad that he is
unable to commit more time to his long time girl friend though. The color is excellent,
though I miss (as usual) Closed Captioning (even a list of characters with a summary
of their roles would have been useful as an extra. However,one does have the book &
can review the DVD (which can be a plus).The color is good,and the acting excellent.

Too much effort has been put into providing space in the shortened series episodes for all of Jame's plot. This makes for dead end plot lines, incomprehensible scenes, comprehensible scenes which no longer advance the plot. Clearly if one tries to adapt a complex novel such as one by the later James one must cut to the bone or saw off all the branches of the tree leaving only the solid trunk. Nevertheless, seen without concern to how faithful the film is to the original book, it is an entertaining hour and forty minutes. This episode marks the emergence of the humane, decent Dalgleish as distinct from the almost pure copper we saw earlier on. There is a parallel between his relationship to his lady-love and the murder victims to those who loved him. Aside from this, it is best to stick to the main line and not get too involved as to be frustrated by the seeming digressions
Should be pleasing to all James fans and to the general listener to PBS or BBC Mysteries

The screenplay did not quickly identify the characters/relationships and was confusing for half the presentation. The audio (as with many DVD's from the Mystery Series) was poor, getting loud and then too soft to understand. Audio clarity was also poor making the "English" accents hard to understand. The last 10 minutes of screenplay was truly horrible in concept and technique. An implausible storm rescue scene that looked as if the technology used to film it was from the 1930's (or earlier). It also appeared as primarily a "time filler" for the DVD run time requirement. All in all a VERY mediocre effort for a fine novel's (novelist's?)plot.

The movie is well acted, well scripted and effective.
We believe the detective is trying to stop the blood from flowing
and just gets there too late because the murderer
is one of the least likely suspects to have the ability to pull off the crimes.
I enjoyed this one more than most.
The movie has that British quality of sort of
suspended emotions with stifled rage flowing below the surface.

P.D. James - Unnatural Causes

I love mysteries. I love the P.D. James series. I love watching the investigation. I love the intellect of James. I love the way he deals with other characters.

I thought this DVD was very well made. I liked it very much. Would recommend it to anyone.