Customer Reviews

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries - Set 3

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This is Volume 3 of the British TV anthology series devoted to the one and only Ruth Rendell, and it's a mixed bag. The first 2 volumes covered the early 1990s seasons in the series, and they were very good--well-directed, well-acted adaptations of her books and short stories, with familiar British actors and a fine sense of atmosphere. Volume 3 covers 1997-2000, and it's not as strong as the earlier entries.

There are 3 novels and 2 short stories here, and not one of them really stands out. The Wexford mystery, "Harm Done," is probably the best of the lot, with George Baker (Wexford) and Christopher Ravenscroft (Burden) solving a connected series of domestic abuse mysteries in Kingsmarkham. The dramatization of Rendell's award-winning novel, "The Lake of Darkness," is also okay-but-unremarkable, as are the 2 short stories here, "The Fallen Curtain" and "You Can't Be Too Careful." But then there's the long (3-part, nearly 3-hour) adaptation of one of her weakest novels, "Going Wrong," and it is an appropriate title. This shrill, unpleasant story of romantic obsession and murder just goes on and on, and nothing about it is distinguished.

These later seasons of THE RUTH RENDELL MYSTERIES didn't seem to have the great actors and directors of the earlier ones, and I wonder why. At any rate, Rendell fanatics like me will want to complete their collections with this box, but newcomers should first check out the superior Volumes 1 and 2. Semi-Recommended.

"The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Set 3,"is the latest installment of the popular British mystery television series, based on the work of Rendell, an English master of the twisted suspense thriller. It presents us five new psychological crime dramas based on the author's best-selling, bounteous, award-winning fiction, including one based on her Harm Done - An Inspector Wexford Mystery. The series, made by Granada TV for Britain's Independent Television (ITV), was broadcast here, in syndication, on public television in the late 1990s. But a warning note: there are no subtitles, and Rendell's well-bred characters speak softly.

The episodes are:

"Going Wrong."Guy (James Callis--Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5;Bridget Jones's Diary); and Leonora (Josephine Butler) are wild teenagers, and she makes promises. But life doesn't work that way, does it, and handsome Guy, who's made himself rich in the interval, just can't accept it. He goes too far. The longest of the episodes, at nearly three hours, and slow on its feet.

"Harm Done." Detective Chief Inspector Wexford (George Baker), a man of few words, has his hands brim-full. A pedophile has returned to town (from prison) to live with his-- the pedophile's -- daughter, on a roiled-up council estate. Also,there's an odd series of abductions of teenagers, returned unharmed. And a wealthy couple's toddler daughter has disappeared from her bedroom. About an hour and a half long.

"The Fallen Curtain." Based on an Edgar-award winning short story. Teenager Richard Clayton (Ben Brazier) remains strangely haunted by a few unaccounted-for hours when he went missing as a boy. Barbara Ewing costars as his mother, whose hysterical reaction is no help. A bit less than an hour long.

"The Lake of Darkness." The book on which it's based (The Lake of Darkness)won an Arts Council National Book Award. This is the most fully-realized of the episodes, at a bit more than an hour and a half long, and it's value-packed. Good acting, shocking turns of plot. Boring bisexual accountant Martin Urban (Jerome Flynn) can't believe his luck: he's won the lottery, and met the beautiful, mysterious Francesca (Sadie Frost, An Ideal Husband) at virtually the same time. But luck always turns, doesn't it, especially in Ruth Rendell's work.

"You Can't Be Too Careful." A rather light-weight, short, two-character study. A security-obsessed woman (Serena Evans) takes on a new flatmate (Jane Hazlegrove) from the office. She shouldn't have: these are two women who were never meant to live together.

By and large, Rendell's works are unsettling; she knows how to ratchet up suspense, and they end up in places you never expected. Furthermore, these scripts appear to be fairly faithful to their origins. The author's work is, perhaps, an acquired taste; but one that lots of readers and viewers have acquired.

There is no doubt that the Ruth Rendell psychological stories are excellent. The problem is that the best of her stories feature Inspector Wexford, and, so far, only three, of the 26 or so stories, are available on DVD. Why? It can't be lack of sales as all Ruth Rendell's stuff sells well. Whoever has the mastertapes, lets have some more Wexford.

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries DVD series comes out in either a DVD with a full set of all the films in the series or each individual two and a half hour film by itself. I have the latter. Therefore this review is on the macabre film Going Wrong. Ruth Rendell writes two kinds of books and has two very different audiences. One set focuses on the cases of a British police officer and is for the most part very similar to the general British police genre, except that she frequently adds a psychological twist, like a juicy olive in a martini, and her writing is much better than average. The second set are psychological dramas about people where at least one and sometimes several people are severely disturbed, perhaps not psychotic, but close to it. The person or persons have strange ideas and do unusual things. The story is dark, gloomy, moody, full of tension, yet interesting. Usually the person is involved in a crime or crimes. Both sets of her work are very good and worth reading. Going Wrong belongs in the second group.

Going Wrong is about a young man, Guy, who meets a young woman, Leonora, and becomes infatuated and obsessed with her. He and his two friends and Leonora commit crimes together, but when the crimes esculate and he takes stronger illegal drugs, she breaks up with him.

Eight years pass. He becomes rich by hiring good artists to copy famous pictures that he sells for about a thousand dollars each. He meets Leonora again and she agrees to date him every Saturday for a meal together. They also talk daily on the telephone. He keeps trying to intensify the relationship, but she refuses. He has a girl friend with whom he has sex frequently and who loves him, but he can't give up Leonora. He finds out that she is marrying another man. He arranges a contract to kill this man, but cancels the contract. However, while cancelling the contract, he wonders who could have told Leona bad things about him - for he thinks, wrongly, that this is the reason she doesn't want to marry him - and writes the woman's name on a piece of paper. The killer sees the paper and thinks that he now wants the woman killed, and does so.

Viewers will be intrigued to find out if Guy can overcome his obsession. They will wonder who has the greater mental problem: Guy with his obsession despite Leonora telling him that she wants to marry another man, or Leonora who decides to marry another but continues to hold on to Guy, talks to him daily nicely, and meet him weekly for a meal, or both. They will also wonder if he will face charges for the woman's murder.

You are on the edge of your seat to decide the culpirt of the nasty crime. A Number one writing.

Didn't really care much for these myseries -- certainly not in the same league with Midsomer Murders or The Blue Murder mysteries.