I’ve recently rediscovered Dorothy L. Sayer’s Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. I read a couple of them years ago when I was a mere miss of 17-18, and have only come back to them in the past few months; I’m enjoying them much more now, as a grown-up.
Some of the video catalogs I receive have 2 sets of tapes/DVDs for sale:
“Lord Peter Wimsey.” Stars Ian Carmicheal in “Clouds of Witness,” “The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club,” “Murder Must Advertise,” “Five Red Herrings,” and “The Nine Tailors.”
“The Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries.” Stars Edward Petherbridge in “Strong Poison,” “Have His Carcase,” and “Gaudy Night.”
I’ve never seen either series, but I’m considering buying one set or the other, maybe both. Has anyone seen either? Are they good adaptions? Decent casting? Can anyone recommend them, or tell me not to waste my money?
Also, if anyone wants to talk about the novels, I’d be more than happy to. I’ve read most of the titles listed above. (But please don’t spoil “The Nine Tailors” for me; I just started reading it Friday night and have only gotten up to the point where they find the body in the churchyard.)
I was never a huge fan of Dorothy Sayers’ Peter Wimsey mystery novels, but I rather enjoyed the BBC television productions. Just as David Suchet gave real life and zest to Hercule Poirot (a rather flat character in Agatha Christie’s books, I always thought), both Ian Carmichael and Edward Petherbridge did nicely as Lord Peter Wimsey.
Their approaches were rather different, however, and among the mystery aficionados I know, there was great disagreement. MOST peopl who take the mystery genre seriously preferred Petherbridge, who gave Lord Peter an air of sadness and world-weariness. Carmichael seemed to have more FUN, with the role, however, and played up Lord Peter’s foppish, dandyish streak.
So… I suspect that die-hard fans of the mystery genre will prefer Petherbridge (“Gaudy Night” was especially good, I thought)… but non-fanatics will probably find Carmichael more entertaining.
Personally, I found Carmichael much better at capturing the essense of Sayers’ creation. Petherbridge never really had the foppishness that Wimsey affects (albeit as a false front, which was evident the way Caarmichael played it). I also felt that Carmichael interacted with Bunter so much better than Petherbridge. I also felt that Carmichael also handled the dialect so much more believably than Petherbridge.
As a die-hard mystery (especially Sayers) fan, I much preferred Carmichael. My two favorite have to be The Nine Tailors, which is also my favorite novel by Sayers and Murder Must Advertise which is my least favorite novel by Sayers, but the BBS series with Carmichael really made it work for me.
One final knock on Petherbridge. I have friends who claim that (in the Petherbridge series) the actors for Wimsey and Bunter should have been reversed. They say it would have been better casting.
I can’t say I’m a die-hard mystery fan, but I have been reading Agatha Christie on and off for years. I also like David Suchet’s Poirot, as well as Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple (I recently saw the film version of Murder on the Orient Express and, after Albert Finney’s shouting and arm-waving, appreciate all the more what a good Poirot Suchet can be).
At this point, I don’t have a very strong idea of what Lord Peter should be like–beyond the descriptions we’re given, that he looks like “someone called Algy” or “Bertie Wooster.” So I have a general image someone who appears to be an upper-class twit, but of course is much sharper and athletic.
Gaudy Night is my favorite of the novels so far; it’s the one I think will be the most re-readable, since the mystery really wasn’t central to my enjoyment. (I was nearly 300 pages along before I realized that no one had been murdered yet!) I liked that it was Harriet Vane’s problem to solve, with Wimsey off on the edges for most of it, and that it was set at the women’s college; the look at 1930’s-style feminism was interesting.
Strong Poison also has a special place in my heart, since I managed to solve who done it, as well as why and how. This doesn’t happen very often.
The Sayers novel I’ve liked least so far was not actually a Wimsey mystery, but one titled The Documents in the Case; my sympathy was with the murderers most of the time, and I was somewhat irked when they were caught.
Having seen both series on the telly, I would agree with the consensus. I prefer Carmichael’s version, since he plays up the foolish part of Wimsey much better (Wimsey comments that it’s mostly an act anyway, as it allows him to gather his clues while he may.)
The Petherbridge series is noted more for including the novels with Harriet Vane in them.
If I had the money, I would get both series. Neither of them are stinkers, you know.
As for the books, the later ones are much better than DLS’ earlier works. “Gaudy Night” is considered the best, especially by those who prefer its “novelistic” aspects (by that, I mean that GN is more concerned with character, atmosphere, and DLS expousing about attitudes toward educated women, rather than the mystery elements).
I would argue for “The Nine Tailors” being her best work, both as a mystery, and for its wonderful setting. The parson in the book is based partially on Sayers’ father. “Murder Must Advertise” is very good at showing what British advertising was like in the interwar period. Sayers worked at an agency and she put a lot of her experiences into this book.
Finally, a bit of a plug: I’ve been annotating the novels and short stories and putting them on my Web site. It’s incomplete at present, but several of the novels (not Nine Tailors yet, but Gaudy Night has been done) and some of the short-stories are there, along with links to another site with has some more. The link below will take you to my home page.
I love all DLS’s books except “The Five Red Herrings.” I’ve tried twice, and just haven’t managed to wade my way through that one. Is it worth trying to get through?
My problem with Carmichael was that he was too old and too, ah, overweight. The scenes in Murder Must Advertise with him running around in the harlequin outfit were… embarrassing.
I thought Petherbridge LOOKED more like Wimsey, but I agree that the Carmichael acting and series were generally better. My wife, however, likes Petherbridge better because he’s closer to the physical description. She says that a young Fred Astaire should have played the part, alas for what never was.
In any case, they are two different Peter Wimseys, after all. Carmichael’s series are from the earlier books, when Wimsey is more foolish and less mature; Petherbridge is from the last three books, when Wimsey is more mature and aging.
My suggestion is to check with your local library, which may have some of the videos, and that would allow you to see them and test them out without having to buy. I’d start with Clouds of Witness or The Unpleasantness at the Belonna Club
Lucky you, coming to this wonderful book for the first time! In my opinion it’s the best (in fact I don’t have much time for many of the others. But The Nine Tailors is terrific. I love it, I can re-read it again and again. And the TV adaptation is excellent, they made very few changes from the book.
I agree, Ian Carmichael was a LITTLE old to play Wimsey. But he had the character absolutely right.
I’ve been considering this casting question since I last wrote, and I found myself thinking of Leslie Howard–sort of a modern Scarlet Pimpernel. Or perhaps Anthony Andrews? I was not as happy with his version of the Pimpernel, but certainly he’s the right physical type, or would have been in the 1980’s.
Agreed.
In Whose Body, which I think is the first Wimsey novel, there is a scene where Lord Peter is deeply disturbed when he realizes how the missing man’s body was disposed of. He has a flashback to the War and wakes Bunter up in the middle of the night, thinking that they’re back in the trenches; Bunter calls him “Major” and very gently puts him back to bed. It’s a vulnerable side to Wimsey that we never see in the later novels, where he’s always so poised and suave no matter what grisly situation he’s faced with.
The local library doesn’t have them, but I will look around.
I’ve only seen the Carmichael series–didn’t know about the other. My fave is Murder Must Advertise. I always believed that’s how ALL British people lived–upper class drug parties. My least favorite books were any of the ones with Harriet Vane. To me, Wimsey should be a man who doesn’t get involved romantically with woman. Not gay, mind you, but rather emotionally distant. I always got the feeling of an underlying sadness in his personality.
I beg leave to differ… the thing which distresses Wimsey so much that he has his wartime flashback is not the disposal of the body, but the realisation that he knows the answer to the problem, and now has to follow through with the consequences - which, of course, include having the murderer arrested, tried and hanged. It’s the point at which the mystery stops being a mere intellectual game to him, and becomes something profoundly consequential.
And, although Wimsey comes to terms with this as his career progresses (one of the strengths of the books is the way he develops as a character), his moral difficulties with, as I think he puts it, “making a hobby of police-work” do continue to be explored, from the second book (Unnatural Death, where he has a lengthy conversation with an Anglican priest about it) to the conclusion of Busman’s Honeymoon (which, if you haven’t read it, I won’t spoil).
I don’t have the book at hand anymore, and read it about 3 months ago, so I concede I may have misremembered what it was exactly that set Wimsey off.
However, my point was more related to his extremely emotional response to a stressful situation, which he no longer shows in later novels, than to what caused that response, so I don’t think it takes too much off the point. Although the question comes up again several times, as you note, it doesn’t disturb him to the same extent.
I also remember it being discussed in one of the Harriet Vane novels, but don’t recall which one. Gaudy Night, I think.
No, I haven’t read Busman’s Honeymoon yet; I did check it out of the library at my last visit, so it’s up next.
I finished The Nine Tailors last night. Yes, very good mystery… and a disturbing solution.
I had an idea who the dead man was early on, and when Cranton turned up alive, I was certain of it. But, as Lord Peter said at the beginning of Part III, “I can’t quite make out who did that, or how.”
It wasn’t until I read Cranton’s story that I realized how he must have died–and my first thought was “Can a person actually be killed that way?” However, I think Sayers’ description at the end makes it entirely believable. I also thought, until the Thoday brothers began to talk, that it was done deliberately.
I’m off to the local library later this morning to see if either set of tapes is available somewhere else in the county system. Thank you all once again for your help.
It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, and I suspect the answer is no. It’s a traditional “railway timetable” mystery, which doesn’t make it very interesting. Monty Python did a parody of this style of mystery and it was outrageously funny.
Just chiming in to say I love Nine Tailors, think Five Red Herrings reads like it was done to prove that she could write railway timetable mysteries, and loathe Busman’s Honeymoon. Sayers didn’t write it. A friend of hers wrote it as a play, which you can tell especially at the end, when stage directions are simply written into the text. Bunter is turned into comic relief. Sayers hated Wimsey by then, and didn’t want to ever write another novel about him, but was forced to for financial reasons. She used her friend’s play and fleshed it out a bit, mostly with the “poetry game.”
The only thing worse is the abomination that is Thrones, Dominions. ::shudder::
One of the minor themes of the books is that Wimsey’s detectin’ is actually a form of therapy for his shell-shock from the Western Front, and the moral responsibility he bore for the enlisted men under his command. Whose Body? is the first novel, when he’s closest in time to the horrors, so it’s not surprising that it triggers a relapse. The emotional problems are referred to occasionally in the later books, but Wimsey is gradually getting better at handling the moral responsibilty of stirring up a dirty pond, as he puts it in the Belladona Club case.
The Dowager Duchess discusses it with Harriet in Busman’s Honeymoon, and attributes much of Wimsey’s recovery to Bunter, but since you’ve not read it yet I won’t go into details.
I started it last night and, since I couldn’t get to sleep, read about 100 pages in–once again, up to the point where they find the body.
I didn’t know this, but I can tell from what I’ve read so far that the tone is more comic: the sitting room becoming more and more crowded with visitors, the singing chimney-man, Bunter covered with soot.
Since I feel certain that everyone’s eagerly waiting to find out what I’ve decided to do regarding the videos, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. There are apparently single sets of the Carmichael videos scattered around the public libraries of Montgomery County, but nowhere near enough that I was inclined to drive to yesterday. Instead, I went to the mall, just down the street from the library, and checked in Suncoast. They had The Nine Tailors on DVD, for $20 less than the videotapes I’ve seen in the catalogs, so I bought it.
I watched it yesterday afternoon and enjoyed it very much. Since the book was fresh in my mind, I can say it was a good adaptation. I liked most of the show-not-tell approach regarding the history of the emerald theft, and the insertion of Lord Peter into that history, although I do wish they hadn’t shown so much of what happened to Deacon after his escape from prison. And I loved the vicar; he was just what I had imagined.
I see now what you all mean about Carmichael being too old and heavy for the role. This didn’t bother me much in the main part of the story, but it was rather funny in the part set in 1914 when the old gentleman addressed him as “Young Wimsey” (I thought, Um… no.)
Suncoast can also get me the DVDs of Clouds of Witness and the Petherbridge set, so I’ve ordered the one and will probably get the others later on. They also offered me Five Red Herrings, but since that is the one book I haven’t read (and, from what’s been said, I gather I haven’t missed anything), I decided to pass on it.