Customer Reviews

Ruth Rendell Mysteries - Simisola / Road Rage

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

 

 

This is part of the Ruth Rendell Inspector Wexford series and as with all Inspector Wexford stories this held me in suspense all through the program. Acting is brilliant, George Baker is marvelous as Wexford as usual. The English scenery is good and Ruth Rendell throws in plenty of red herrings to keep the viewer on the edge of the seat.

"Simisola," an unvarnished slant on race relations and immigration in England, is a 108,000-word, 120-character police procedural with a novelette-sized core. Serious readers are forced into constant back-referencing to keep tabs on this multitude. But forget the book. Adapted to film by Alan Plater, directed by Jim Goddard, with "dubbing editors" and a film editor, the DVD production staff deserves lots of credit, the adaptation surpassing the novel: Tens-of-thousands of words involving Inspector Rexford's family life and all but 35 credited characters and related irrelevancies are trimmed away to produce the lean 103-minute 1996 TV production whose quality and style is comparable to an average Midsomer Murders TV episode.

If it weren't for Rendell's annoying MO (both in Road Rage and Simisola) of not saying something in 100 words if 300 will do, this reviewer might recommend reading Road Rage in lieu of the 1998 197-minute TV adaptation, the 110,000-word novel being far more cohesive and substantive than Simisola. Yet another police procedural, Road Rage deals with the kidnapping of hostages by a group opposing the environmental and other havoc threatened by a new bypass road. Adapted by George Baker (who also plays Inspector Wexford!), and directed by Bruce MacDonald, much of the book's excess verbiage was trimmed and the cast whittled down to 34 credited characters. Though the essence of the novel is preserved, it's too bad the producers didn't fall back on the proven Plater/Goddard team for the adaptation.

To illustrate: The novel's kidnap holding cell window (boxed-in to obstruct the view and high up on a side-wall) was changed to an open ceiling vent with a clear skyward view, gutting an intriguing clue in the process. Dora accusing her husband of breaking a promise when she learns of a certain event is silly. The role of Andrew Struther and interactions with his parents was changed for no good reason. There are others.

Picture, sound quality (thanks to re-dubbing) and lack of excessive accents (for American audiences, except for a few lesser players) is adequate. The DVD keep-case has an inner leaf, each film having its own DVD.

very good movie kept me on the edge of my seat through out the movie,wife felt the same way.

the series seemed to drag in the beginning and if your patience it comes clear it was ok