Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries - Gaudy Night (The Lord Peter Wimsey-Harriet Vane Collection)
by Michael Simpson
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DVD details
Actor: Carol MacReady, Edward Petherbridge, Harriet Walter, Richard Morant, Sheila BurrellDirector: Michael Simpson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 150 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-05-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Warner
DVD Reviews of Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries - Gaudy Night (The Lord Peter Wimsey-Harriet Vane Collection)
DVD Review: An Unquiet Place
Summary: 5 Stars
"From women's eyes this doctrine I derive: they sparkle still the right Promethean fire; they are the books, the arts, the academes, that show, contain, and nourish all the world."
-Love's Labour Lost
This is the third Dorothy L. Sayers novel in which mystery writer Harriet Vane has been pursued by Lord Peter Wimsey, but this one has the added attraction of being set at Shrewsbury, an all-women's college at Oxford. Oxford is much more than just a backdrop, however, as it is one of the few places (c. 1930) where women live and are encouraged to live independent lives. Independence, namely her own, is one of the things that Harriet Vane want to preserve. When Harriet, an Oxford graduate, returns to her alma mater to attend a yearly celebration known as "gaudy night", she is re-visiting a stratified and stuffy world full of ancient traditions and customs that she knows very well. Although the university seems like a sanctuary from the concerns of an unquiet world, Harriet is soon informed that things are not as idyllic as they might seem to an outsider, and that something is amiss at Shrewsbury. Previous to her arrival, a series of poison-pen letters have been delivered to various faculty and an unfamiliar sense of menace and threat now intrudes upon the hallowed lives of the university's female fellows. The administration decides not to compromise the reputation of the college by alerting outside authorites, instead they have decided to try and discover the source of the letters themselves, with the help of Harriet of course. Although she's a mystery writer, some of the faculty have decided that being a woman, an Oxford graduate, and an imaginative writer are qualifications that make her their ideal investigator. But not all of the fellows agree, and some are openly hostile to Harriet. The thrill of this mystery is in gaining admittance to the cloistered world of women's higher learning and scholarship, and access to some very effectively and cleverly drawn dons. Every conversation had among their number is full of well articulated views carefully advanced with the support of a wealth of historical knowledge and steeped in rich literary allusion for good measure. Granted, the independent and freethinking female students (they casually smoke cigarettes and openly discuss their affairs) find the female dons to be "nutters". And even the freethinking Lord Peter Wimsey has his suspicions about this closed community of women scholars and he suspects that the anonymous author of the poison-pen letters may be one of their own. Peter expresses these suspicions to Harriet:
"Academically cloistered together, celibate, some sexually ambivalent, [the institution is] bound to throw out the odd hysteric."
But Harriet is not so quick to judge this community that his its own rigorously followed codes of behavior. While conducting her investigation, Harriet finds out many things about the college, as well as many things about her own temperament. She is adivsed by one colleague that her detachment is "disconcerting", and told that if she should ever meet a man that appreciates and respects her dispassionate nature that she should consider herself lucky. Of course, we all know that she has found that man in Lord Peter Wimsey. Much is made of women's instinct and nature and this gaurded community slowly comes to treat Harriet as one of their own and in solving this case she also comes a good deal closer to solving the mysteries that motivate women, as well as the mysteries that lie at the center of her own being. Peter Wimsey, with his razor sharp instincts, may be the one who ultimately solves the mystery(s), but he could not have done so had he not been inspired to do so by Harriet who is the source of the "Promethean fire" that warms his heart and sparks his mind.
Extremely literate and extremely enjoyable mystery!
DVD Review: POOR CASTING
Summary: 1 Stars
I beg to differ with the other reviewers. I have read a couple of the Sayers books (Gaudy Night and The Nine Tailors come to mind). I don't remember much about the books, except that I wasn't keen on reading them all. But I love mysteries and I've seen all the Wimsey eipsodes made for television, those with Ian Carmichael and those with Edward Petherbridge. The Carmichael episodes are far better, for my money. Carmichael's Wimsey is charming, sparkling, a little quirky and fun, a man you want to know. Petherbridge is glum, looks very tired and bored. I don't believe he's attracted to Harriet, no matter how many times he says so. There is nothing in his eyes. And Harriet!!! There's a snotty cow. Usually looks like she's revolted by a nasty smell. Nope, nothing anybody could fall in love with there either. Whether it was a careful recreation of the characters in the books or just the casting of two particularly unsympathetic people, it just doesn't cut it.DVD Review: A Mystery To Me
Summary: 3 Stars
While enjoyable, it was "a mystery to me" why footage was cut from the version I saw on Mystery. I definitely remember the scenes about the chess set when I saw this story on TV.
Why, oh why, was it cut? It captured a major awareness, on Harriet's part, concerning her feelings for Lord Peter.
I feel cheated, as when we purchase such a product, we expect to see the ENTIRE work. If that does not matter to you, then this incomplete work stands alone as better than nothing.
DVD Review: We came, we saw, they conquered!
Summary: 5 Stars
This series concludes in a most excellent way, with a challenging whodunit set amidst the antiquities of Oxford.
The way these characters were portrayed introduced me to the world of Dorothy Sayers' post-WWI England, and my only regret is that Talboys was not introduced as a subsequent episode.
Whenever I read (and reread) Dorothy Sayers, it will always be the portrayal of Peter Wimsey by Edward Peterbridge that I envision. Of all the actors who have taken on this role, *this* version is the finest I've seen.
DVD Review: A Deep Disappointment
Summary: 2 Stars
Gaudy Night has long been my favorite Lord Peter Wimsey--or perhaps I should say, Harriet Vane detective story. There's no doubt Sayers recreated Oxford lovingly and with extreme vividness. Harriet Vane fully comes into her own in this story. The TV adaptation, however, is truncated, simplified almost beyond recognition. The various characters are cardboard stereotypes. The deepening relationship between Wimsey and Harriet is reduced to cliches. Why in the world were 4 episodes lavished on a much lesser story, "Have His Carcase" and only three on "Gaudy Night". This version simply doesn't do the original story justice at all.
Description of Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries - Gaudy Night (The Lord Peter Wimsey-Harriet Vane Collection)
The third installment of Dorothy L. Sayers's famous Harriet Vane mysteries, Gaudy Night unfolds at the all female Shrewsbury College at Oxford. Upon returning to Oxford for the first time in years for a school reunion, Harriet Vane is asked by her old professors to turn her talents as a detective writer to practical use. Someone is terrorizing the faculty and students of the college by sending vicious anonymous letters, eventually leading to the destruction of collegiate property and the attack of faculty members. Harriet struggles with the realization that the perpetrator may be a professor as well as the realization of her growing feelings for Lord Peter Wimsey.Malicious mischief infects an Oxford college in the Dorothy L. Sayers classic Gaudy Night, which happily reunites Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. Wimsey, deftly played by Edward Petherbridge, is still proposing marriage at frequent intervals. Harriet (Harriet Walter), though unable to say yes, is also unable to send Lord Peter entirely away. But enough with the romance. As Wimsey heads off for some foreign service work, Harriet visits her alma mater and lands smack in the middle of a poison-pen scandal. Harriet's status as a mystery writer, naturally, means she's the one who should investigate. Sayers clearly had fun writing this one, using Harriet to gently tweak her own profession, at the same time both parodying and defending the cloistered life at a women's college. The production is beautifully done and the performances are terrific, and Gaudy Night brings a satisfying end to the story arc begun with Strong Poison and Have His Carcase. --Ali Davis
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