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James's extensive, pre-murder set-up survives a script translation, and the terrific cast infuses urgency into the story of a forensic scientist (Geoffrey Palmer) bludgeoned to death by any one of many suspects: among them a hostile ex-lover (Meg Davies), her brother and the victim's boss (Barry Foster), and an angry cousin (Brenda Blethyn) living as "a friend" with the deceased's ex-wife. So many possibilities, and the rather dour but thorough Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgliesh (Roy Marsden), burdened by the recent death of his wife, sifts through them all with deceptive impartiality and quiet self-disapprobation. --Tom Keogh
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Herbert Wise |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 01 January, 1983 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Wellspring Media, In |
| MPAA RATING: | NR (Not Rated) |
| FEATURES: | Color |
| TYPE: | Mystery / Suspense |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 2 |
| UPC: | 720917800820 |
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Customer Reviews of P.D. James - Death of an Expert Witness
Ouch ! Low budget, bad camerawork, bad acting, rotton production all around. I'm sure the story is terrific but the show is just so awful that you have a hard time getting past all the flaws. Someone else said this one was the worst produced one adn the rest are better; well they'd have to be! Really, only get this is you've alreay seen other examples because this one is enough to put you off the series for life.
A good one but not typical
If this is the 1st ITV PD James adaptation that you see, keep in mind that it is a bit slower, a bit more 1980s-ish, a bit more choppy and the acting (excepting Marsden) a bit more caricature-ish than many of the others. So don't decide the Dagliesh series isn't for you just based on seeing this one. "Death of an Expert Witness" IS a great story and this does a good job with the story, but it definitely feels low budget relative to others.
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>My favorites among the other adaptations include "Shroud for a Nightengale" and "A Taste for Death" both of which include a bit faster pacing and some excellent acting by supporting cast members.
The one that made P.D. James famous
Death of an Expert Witness was, I believe, the first Adam Dalgliesh book adapted for television. The novel, which appeared in 1976, made James famous in Great Britain and well known in the U.S. There are good reasons why this one, of them all, should have had such success: the brooding atmosphere of the Lab and the Fen country; the plot, complex but not ridiculously so; the essential care and fairness towards each character. Later mysteries often feature extended social statements and preaching by James, with Dalgliesh acting like the Angel of Judgment. This shows an earlier, more empathetic side of both author and detective. For those of you familiar with more recent P.D. James mysteries, this one bears some resemblance to "Devices and Desires", which I think of as a companion story. Please note that the editorial review contains a spoiler, so don't go back and reread it!
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>Now to the DVD-- At 295 minutes it is leisurely enough to do justice to the book. It features a rather long set up- it is nearly an hour and a quarter before murder strikes- but it rewards the wait. Filmed in 1983, it is sufficiently old that I have never seen it on American television. The video techniques are a bit more primitive than today's, but I was pleasantly surprised, after reading the editorial review above, at how good everything looked. The strong lighting and pale features of the cast tend to make all the characters look blotchy and not quite well-- but that's how people can look in real life as well. The performances are good. The success of this video led to all the subsequent Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, and one can see why.
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>The combination of length and age mean that you are unlikely to find "Death of an Expert Witness" on television, or at the library, or at your local vidoe rental. This makes it a perfect dvd for you to buy, own, and view at your leisure. It can, of course, be purchased as part of an omnibus set including many, but not all, of the other P.D. James mysteries. One caveat: the back of the dvd case simply fell apart the day after I received it and is now held together with rubber bands. Be very gentle!