I don't know that what I am about to write really constitutes a "spoiler", but if you haven't read the novel or seen the film, you might want to opt out of reading this until you have seen or read, as the case may be.
The BBC did an excellent job of presenting nearly all the denizens in and around The Bellona Club, which as Latin scholars all, you will recognise as a club for former officers of His Majesty's armed services. A dead body is discovered in the library on "Remembrance Day" (as the Brits tend to call "Armistice Day", November 11), and since there is no "Poppy" pinned to the old general's lapel, "Lord Peter Wimsey" immediately realises that "It's Murder!".
You don't see the connection? Well, see this nice BBC film and you will. There are many excellent portrayals, over and beyond Ian Carmichael's insouciant "Lord Peter", not the least of which is Anna Cropper's "Ann Dorland". One minor cavil (and here we are approaching the possible "spoiler") is that at the end of the novel there is the suggestion that "Ann" and "Robert Fentiman" may possibly be constituting "an item" in the near future, which little touch is omitted from the film. I wonder why.
What I really want to discuss, especially after seeing this entry in the five-part Ian Carmichael series of "Lord Peter" TV films, is the prodigious consumption of alcoholic beverages by the characters of the story. "Lord Peter" and his upper class friends, including usually the ladies, are seldom seen without a glass of "Scotch and splash", "brandy (Napoleon 1800, of course) and soda", or Sherry clutched in their aristocratic hands. The lower orders, except "Bunter", who, of course, drinks whatever "Lord Peter" drinks, will be seen swilling down a large pint (Imperial, that is) of bitters, cider, or other potent brew. How in the world did Dorothy imagine her characters could remain sober with all this boozing? The BBC may have exaggerated a bit, but what they have shown is pretty much what Dorothy wrote. While watching this series, I found it very difficult to follow my doctor's orders!
The BBC did an excellent job of presenting nearly all the denizens in and around The Bellona Club, which as Latin scholars all, you will recognise as a club for former officers of His Majesty's armed services. A dead body is discovered in the library on "Remembrance Day" (as the Brits tend to call "Armistice Day", November 11), and since there is no "Poppy" pinned to the old general's lapel, "Lord Peter Wimsey" immediately realises that "It's Murder!".
You don't see the connection? Well, see this nice BBC film and you will. There are many excellent portrayals, over and beyond Ian Carmichael's insouciant "Lord Peter", not the least of which is Anna Cropper's "Ann Dorland". One minor cavil (and here we are approaching the possible "spoiler") is that at the end of the novel there is the suggestion that "Ann" and "Robert Fentiman" may possibly be constituting "an item" in the near future, which little touch is omitted from the film. I wonder why.
What I really want to discuss, especially after seeing this entry in the five-part Ian Carmichael series of "Lord Peter" TV films, is the prodigious consumption of alcoholic beverages by the characters of the story. "Lord Peter" and his upper class friends, including usually the ladies, are seldom seen without a glass of "Scotch and splash", "brandy (Napoleon 1800, of course) and soda", or Sherry clutched in their aristocratic hands. The lower orders, except "Bunter", who, of course, drinks whatever "Lord Peter" drinks, will be seen swilling down a large pint (Imperial, that is) of bitters, cider, or other potent brew. How in the world did Dorothy imagine her characters could remain sober with all this boozing? The BBC may have exaggerated a bit, but what they have shown is pretty much what Dorothy wrote. While watching this series, I found it very difficult to follow my doctor's orders!