Years ago, when I was still watching TV, I taped 'A Dark Adapted Eye'. Over the passing years I have returned to it over and over with increasing pleasure, it does not lose any of its extraordinary power to intrigue and move.
What a wonderful script! Even with a cast less gifted than this superb group shown here it would still have been a fascinating event. This appeared on 'Mystery' but I'm not sure if it is a mystery so much as it is a Greek tragedy set in modern clothing, for the 1940s through early '70s that is.
Tim Fywell and his team have done such a superb job that I never for one moment thought about the fact that I was asked to believe I was back in WW2 England, it was absolutely real in this instance, set in the peaceful Sussex countryside mostly as well as Oxford, London and at the end Venice, Italy.
A spoiler would occur if I were to comment on any of the action so I won't, but will be content to shower dewdrops on the cast. Helena Bonham-Carter has done nothing better, and that is saying a great deal, a very gifted actress. Having said that I was blown away by Celia Imrie. She will probably be best remembered as Lady Gertrude, Countess of Groan in Gormenghast, a role full of menace, humor and bizarre eccentricity. She was also a fine comedian in an episode of 'Absolutely Fabulous'. In 'A Dark Adapted Eye' she has opportunity show the gamut of her huge range, from wacko control-freak to dry humor to great tragedy. Imrie throws herself with abandon into this very difficult role and touches the heart and mind deeply.
The whole cast is excellent, notably Polly Adams, as the half-sister to Vera (Imrie), Eden (a beautiful and bitchy Sophie Ward), and their brother John (Robin Ellis). The young actors playing some of the characters as children are also very good, nothing twee or obnoxiously precocious about any of them.
'A Dark Adapted Eye' is what you'd call a "heavy" film in that it makes you think, you have to pay attention and be patient, that's what mysteries are all about anyway. The ultimate meaning of the story at first seems ambiguous but upon further thought and viewings it comes into clearer focus and is all the more powerful.
The photography is wonderful, nothing over-done or over-colored, just natural and beautiful, and the score is fabulous.
I will never understand why American companies can't, or won't, make television like this; why we are so addicted to shallow flap doodle, sex, vulgarity and stupidness.
I don't know how the BBC is doing these days as I have given up on television altogether, cable being ridiculously expensive given the crap they offer, but when 'A Dark Adaped Eye' was made they hearkened back to their glory days of 'Brideshead Revisited', 'I Claudius', 'Poldark', 'The Jewel in the Crown' and the many others that poured out of various studios in England in the 70s and 80s.
If you love quality film-making then don't miss this wonderful work of art, TV or no TV. It's out on DVD now and I've just ordered it to replace my worn out home-made video.
What a wonderful script! Even with a cast less gifted than this superb group shown here it would still have been a fascinating event. This appeared on 'Mystery' but I'm not sure if it is a mystery so much as it is a Greek tragedy set in modern clothing, for the 1940s through early '70s that is.
Tim Fywell and his team have done such a superb job that I never for one moment thought about the fact that I was asked to believe I was back in WW2 England, it was absolutely real in this instance, set in the peaceful Sussex countryside mostly as well as Oxford, London and at the end Venice, Italy.
A spoiler would occur if I were to comment on any of the action so I won't, but will be content to shower dewdrops on the cast. Helena Bonham-Carter has done nothing better, and that is saying a great deal, a very gifted actress. Having said that I was blown away by Celia Imrie. She will probably be best remembered as Lady Gertrude, Countess of Groan in Gormenghast, a role full of menace, humor and bizarre eccentricity. She was also a fine comedian in an episode of 'Absolutely Fabulous'. In 'A Dark Adapted Eye' she has opportunity show the gamut of her huge range, from wacko control-freak to dry humor to great tragedy. Imrie throws herself with abandon into this very difficult role and touches the heart and mind deeply.
The whole cast is excellent, notably Polly Adams, as the half-sister to Vera (Imrie), Eden (a beautiful and bitchy Sophie Ward), and their brother John (Robin Ellis). The young actors playing some of the characters as children are also very good, nothing twee or obnoxiously precocious about any of them.
'A Dark Adapted Eye' is what you'd call a "heavy" film in that it makes you think, you have to pay attention and be patient, that's what mysteries are all about anyway. The ultimate meaning of the story at first seems ambiguous but upon further thought and viewings it comes into clearer focus and is all the more powerful.
The photography is wonderful, nothing over-done or over-colored, just natural and beautiful, and the score is fabulous.
I will never understand why American companies can't, or won't, make television like this; why we are so addicted to shallow flap doodle, sex, vulgarity and stupidness.
I don't know how the BBC is doing these days as I have given up on television altogether, cable being ridiculously expensive given the crap they offer, but when 'A Dark Adaped Eye' was made they hearkened back to their glory days of 'Brideshead Revisited', 'I Claudius', 'Poldark', 'The Jewel in the Crown' and the many others that poured out of various studios in England in the 70s and 80s.
If you love quality film-making then don't miss this wonderful work of art, TV or no TV. It's out on DVD now and I've just ordered it to replace my worn out home-made video.