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Post by andydecker on Jan 26, 2017 20:03:49 GMT
I would love anything you care to share from "The Curse of Amenhotep," Lord Demonik. I'll watch or read anything involving ancient Egyptian magic. And that reminds me that I finally got around to viewing the "Power of Atep" serial from ACE OF WANDS, which is really going back a ways... almost all the surviving episodes are now on Youtube, it seems. cheers, H. We may have to be patient on that score. The Curse of Amenhotep is episode 2 season 3 and the BBC are currently running through season 4. However, have managed to grab these from a promo. Particularly like the spectral mummy on the lawn. Trailer is suggestive of an Indiana Jones piss take. We just got Midsomer Murder series 17, we are basically a year behind. And I have to say that it seems rather tired and not so well made as it used to be. The budget seem to have shrunk, the plots are ever more blah and not so well constructed as they used to be. Or am I just jaded? I think I might appreciate it more if they'd retired the brand name with the departure of John Nettles & Co. and relaunched under a new title, John Barnaby Investigates or some such. With the exception of the Hammer Horror outing, can't say I've been particularly thrilled by any of the new episodes since Jason Hughes quit. Yes, I miss Jones too. The new guy seems to be a Scott, typical rebound gofer.
I saw Curse of Amenhotep. It was a pretty good one. I try to see most historical series. Some are pretty lightweighed, like Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries or The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries. The most succesful are for me Poirot and Foyle's War. I hear good things about canadian Murdoch Mysteries. Unfortunatly it didn't get bought - normally they buy every nonsense for Pay TV -, and the DVD are ridiculous expensive.
Father Brown is well made. Here in Germany there also was a Father Brown series, which was radically different from this period piece. A bit in a comedic vein, each episode 90 minutes, very slow. 22 episodes in 10 years, starring Ottfried Fischer, a large man who used to weigh 170 kilogram. It was a typical family friendly crime show. Of course this didn't have much to do with the books.
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 26, 2017 20:16:32 GMT
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Post by dem bones on Jan 26, 2017 20:41:16 GMT
Yes, I miss Jones too. The new guy seems to be a Scott, typical rebound gofer. Jones, now a Detective Inspector, makes a special guest appearance in the recently broadcast Last Man Out (series 19, episode 3). He's working undercover, playing on the Lower Pampling cricket team whose star all-rounder is brutally done to death on the eve of a tournament. Sport is murder, etc.
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Post by valdemar on Jan 26, 2017 21:56:52 GMT
I beg to differ - in several of G.K. Chesterton's stories, Father Brown is seen as no threat, or a figure of fun by other characters. In the same way as Columbo was seen to be a scruffy bumbler; in the same way as The Doctor's second incarnation was witnessed by 'experts' as a figure of fun. In all of these you do so at your own risk [hint: if you do, you lose]. Brown is a small, timid-seeming priest who will find the truth and ruin your day if you are a criminal. Mark Williams has played many comedy characters, usually of a vague or bumbling nature, but his Doctor Who character, Brian Williams, seemed to be a bumbler, but actually was a meticulous thinker who helped solve clues leading to an alien invasion plot. Looking at him, as Father Brown, you wouldn't be worried by him, would you? That's why I like him. To be quite frank, Brown's appearance, in the stories, at the exact time he was needed did seem improbable to me, and a tad annoying, a bit like David Banner in 'The Incredible Hulk', or the little dog in 'The Littlest Hobo'. I can see why the show rooted him in one place, and it's a simple and winning idea, that I like to call 'The Midsomer Effect'. How many awful crimes can happen in a small area? Likewise, how many awful crimes can happen in a small Diocese? Most viewers probably have no idea that the show is based on a series of stories, and probably don't care, either. I like the show, whatever. Now I would like to see a new show based on Edgar Wallace's J.G. Reeder stories. Another character you ignore at your peril.
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Post by helrunar on Jan 26, 2017 22:26:42 GMT
Those photos are fab. Thanks, Demonik! I wonder if that series has ever aired in the US. I haven't had a signal for years and when I hear folk discussing current broadcasting, the proliferation of channels is a veritable babel of hellish meaningless acronyms and chirpy nonsense.
cheers, H.
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Post by pulphack on Jan 27, 2017 6:21:51 GMT
Andy - I've caught some of the Murdoch Mysteries over here, and they're fairly gritty and nicely played, but maybe not worth the investment unless you can preview them. Another good period crime drama is The Dr Blake Mysteries, an Australian series with Craig McLachlan (a Neighbours stalwart of past decades) as a liberal Doctor returning to his father's practise in a very conservative Australia. I have no idea how truthfully it reflects the times, though from what I've read it seems generally accurate (James?). Along with the crime, there are a couple of good story arcs relating to his experiences as a prisoner of war, and also to the possibility that the death of his parents may not have been an accident. It airs here in the early afternoon, and also evenings on another channel, yet despite this I've only caught it intermittently - enough to make me want to see more, though.
On the subject of arcs, Mrs Bradley is a very odd series, and not necessarily in a good way. It has some good parts, but I could never get my head around Diana Rigg as a glam Mrs Bradley, when Gladys Mitchell's original was a leering, tetchy and deeply unattractive old bag (but very clever, mind) who used her alienating qualities to good effect. The chauffeur with whom Mrs B was covertly getting it on was an invention, too. I can see why they changed to these from the original for TV, but what I never got at all was the background arc about Inspector Christmas, the policeman revealed to be some kind of mastermind serial killer by the end of the series. Not only did it get in the way of the plots at times, but there was no such character arcing through the books. So what was the point? And it also rankled with me that they changed the end of the first story, Speedy Death (originally from 1929). The ending here was innocuous, whereas in the book Mrs Bradley kills the loopy god-daughter was was the murderess in order to prevent her killing again, and then gets off in court defended by her own KC son! Now THAT'S plotting...
As for Father Brown - well, I make both Valdemar AND Jojo correct: FB does turn up out of nowhere as if some angel or sprite sent from the ether, a kind of elemental force of good, and his habit of speaking in allusion and allegory does add to this. Yet he does also appear to some of the other characters in the stories as bumbling and vague, as they cannot understand his viewpoint: this is his strength in some of the stories, and to me this is Chesterton making a point about perception and understanding of the human condition, and mistakes we make in focusing on the mundane rather than the divine.
Reducing this to a kind of 50's Midsommer is a bit crap, really (and wrong on period by 20-30 years). But if you allow that they need a constant setting to be viable as a series, it works on its own level. And the cast are very enjoyable. I would also add that the Kenneth More series (which was how I discovered Father Brown as a boy, as my mum watched it and there was only one TV in the house in those distant days) is actually readily available on DVD from Acorn, and can be had for about £20, Mr V.
I'd be interested in a new JG Reeder series, too - Reeder is one my long-standing favourites, and the Hugh Burden series was released by Network about 8/9 years ago. It stands up pretty well, mostly because of the acting, though you can see the budget was cheap and some of the scripting suffered from having to shoehorn the original stories into the budget restrictions. I love it, actually, but cannot be blind to its faults. With a Poirot styled budget, well...
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Post by Shrink Proof on Jan 27, 2017 10:49:34 GMT
Particularly like the spectral mummy on the lawn. Interesting, but are you really sure that it's a spectral mummy? Looks like a shot of me returning home after a particularly heavy all-nighter...
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Post by valdemar on Jan 29, 2017 0:28:54 GMT
Twenty quid, eh? Right. Once I've paid for the repairs to my bike [chain jumped off whilst descending hill; ate spokes, and bent derailleur into scrap, before depositing me on my 'arris at the side of the road - not hurt, but very surprised], that will be my 'February essential purchase'. Cheers.
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gloomy sundae
Crab On The Rampage
dem in disguise; looking for something to suck
Posts: 25
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Post by gloomy sundae on Feb 11, 2017 7:27:49 GMT
Egypt, 1928Additional screencaps from The Curse of Amenhotep, certainly the most Midsomer-esque of the episodes of Father Brown I've caught to date. It's also vaguely reminiscent of the Saint's confrontation with The Convenient Monster in that the perpetrator uses the family legend as a cover for his crime, only to come to grief by means of the 'supernatural' agency they have no belief in. Amenhotep walks again! Sir Raleigh Beresford (Nicholas Farrell), Kembleford's answer to Howard Carter, is unlucky with wives. His first died in 1928 during the excavation of Amenhotep's tomb, and now twenty-six years later, her successor, Caterina Beresford (Poppy Corby-Tuech), a very glamorous young floozy demonstrably no better than she should be, breathes her last following an encounter with a reanimated mummy. Has the curse struck again? Scandal, poison, a rowing boat, vengeance from the deep, etc. Fatal flashback: The first Lady Beresford (centre, wearing blazer) photographed moments before her doom.- dem.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 21, 2017 6:11:44 GMT
Woo-hoo! Caught the Amenhotep episode over the weekend. Tremendous stuff. Apart from the wandering red-eyed mummy, there's even a hint of the salacious via the Egyptologist's ridiculously young 2nd wife - plus Father B ending up in the sarcophagus. Great! Thanks to these comments and photos, I've decided to start watching Father Brown. BBC Canada is showing them all day; I just enjoyed "The Eve of St. John" and am now watching "Ghost in the Machine". 6 more to go after this one, sadly no "Curse of Amenhotep". Next Saturday I can look forward to "The Lair of the Libertines"... Father Brown embraces his inner sinner in The Hand of LuciaLair Of The Libertines will see you alright for some afternoon phwoar! and they don't come much raunchier than The Daughters of Jerusalem. Other episodes reference witchcraft, voodoo & the zombie drug, swingers parties, porn films, transvestitism, homosexual blackmail, and the cult of Lulu and Lucia (several unsubtle hints throughout series' three and four suggest that unhappily married Lady Felicia is up for some girl on girl action). Marianne Delacroix (Gina Bramhill), the arch villain Flambeau's long lost daughter, enjoys a Bettie Page moment in The Daughter of AutolycusEvery one in a blue moon the writers ease up on the frightful sordidness and, while never exactly bleak, some story lines are commendably downbeat. In The Resurrectionists, a desperate young man meticulously fakes his own death (by decapitation !) and survives premature burial in a trick coffin, only to be undone by the one contingency he'd not planned for. The Standing Stones sees an entire community resort to witchcraft & human sacrifice in a bid to end a polio epidemic. Perhaps the grimmest of those I've seen is The Hangman's Demise in which retired public executioner Henry Lee resolves to make amends for swinging an innocent man by framing the real killer. The Crackpot Of The Empire. Music hall legend Uncle Mirth is an unwilling participant in a killer's Edgar Allen Poe role play fantasies
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Post by Swampirella on Apr 8, 2017 23:30:24 GMT
Woo-hoo! Caught the Amenhotep episode over the weekend. Tremendous stuff. Apart from the wandering red-eyed mummy, there's even a hint of the salacious via the Egyptologist's ridiculously young 2nd wife - plus Father B ending up in the sarcophagus. Great! Thanks to these comments and photos, I've decided to start watching Father Brown. BBC Canada is showing them all day; I just enjoyed "The Eve of St. John" and am now watching "Ghost in the Machine". 6 more to go after this one, sadly no "Curse of Amenhotep". Next Saturday I can look forward to "The Lair of the Libertines"... "Amenhotep" was worth the wait and now I've just seen "The Shadow of the Scaffold"; a nicely nasty story of a pig farm and people who disappear from it. Don't watch this right after dinner!
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Post by valdemar on Oct 24, 2017 3:54:53 GMT
I do seem to remember reading some biographies in the Rutland Weekend Television book, one of which was for an actor who played a detective (whose name I can't remember, having lost the book ages ago), who appeared in some shows entitled something like: 'Detective Smith's First Case' 'Detective Smith's Last Case' 'Detective Smith Is Shot Through The Head And Retires For Ever'. Why don't they just do that with Midsomer?
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Post by valdemar on Nov 9, 2017 5:17:50 GMT
An addendum to my last post: I believe the character's name was 'Inspector Dull', as in 'Dull of the Yard'. Funny, but nowhere near as funny as (The late, great) Mel Smith, and Griff Rhys Jones' 'Porno and Bribeasy'.
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