The Nine Tailors

Of all the novels by Dorothy Sayers, this is the best for mystery and surprise. This Masterpiece Theater production does it full justice. Carmichael is almost tolerable as the insufferable Peter Wimsey and a competent cast supports well, but the real star is the plot and is thoroughly engrossing and entertaining.

A young Lord Peter (Ian Carmichael) informal uniform on his way to the war. He is standing in for his brother The Duke of Denver at a wedding. Mischief is afoot and an emerald necklace was pinched. Where it was stored for safekeeping, I cannot say. It looks like the perpetrator was winged by a well-placed shot. We get the inside story and know the truth.

All in the first chapter we see the crime and the fate of the perpetrators. We also get a first-hand view of the meeting and growing relationship and Wimsey and Bunter (Glyn Houston.) As fate would have it Lord Peter finds himself once again in Fenchurch St. Pauli. This time as providence would have it just in time to replace a sick bell ringer on New Year's Eve.

Three months later a body is found in and Lord Peter is invited to the inquest.

This film is based on a Dorothy L. Sayers novel of the same name with the screen adaptation by Anthony Steven.

At first, you are not sure that this is the same peter Wimsey when you see the blond hair and mustache. However, if you look closely, they made little attempt to cover the wrinkled face.

If you have, an opportunity to view this film before reading the book you will not be distracted by the deviations and omissions from the written story.

If nothing else we learn about anemic bananas and The Spanish Flue.

In the 1970's several of Dorothy L. Sayers's "Lord Peter Wimsey" mysteries were made into TV series, starring Ian Carmichael. This is probably the best of them.

There is, to a purist, one error; in the book, the identity of the corpse (an obligatory element of whodunnits) is carefully concealed by means of red herrings and misleading information, while in the TV series, the viewer is given so much information in the first episode that the identity is almost too easy to guess. Even with this lead, there is enough for the viewer to puzzle over and try to work out.

There is some very good acting, especially by Carmichael, who successfully portrays a twenty-something young officer and a fortyish sleuth in the same episode. The location shots give a good idea of the flatness and bleakness of the Fen country of Eastern England.

This series is well worth watching, for its content.

Some rate THE NINE TAILORS as Dorothy's best "Lord Peter" novel. It is certainly very good, but I like GAUDY NIGHT for that encomium. Well, no matter, this BBC film may be the best in Ian Carmichael's 5 film series. It has quite a bit going for it, including giving one a chance to hear what the cacophony of change ringing really sounds like. There's some nice camera glimpses of the "Fen Country" of eastern England, spotted with a generous selection of local characters excellently portrayed by BBC's cast. The introductory material is good of itself. In the novel, most of what we actually see here is related in conversations and interrogations. BBC shows the action taking place, with the result that Ian Carmichael plays young "Lord Peter" as a subaltern about to ship over the channel to take part in The Great War, and the adult 15 or so years later, solving a mystery that had its roots in the wedding party he attended in 1914! We also get to see "Sgt. Bunter" rescuing "Major Wimsey" after he was buried when an artillery shell scored a direct hit on his dugout. Later, we see "Bunter" applying for the job as his lordship's valet, and getting it. It's a very effective adaptation.

Dorothy's tale as it unfolds in THE NINE TAILORS is a complicated one, which it is almost impossible to discuss without giving away plot elements important to beating "Lord Peter" to solving the mystery. I will say nothing beyond that it reminds me of many of Ross MacDonald's "Archer" novels, all of which involved events of usually many years previous to the current mystery, and which were responsible in good part for those current events.

Oh, what was Dorothy's egregious error relating to change ringing? Well, the rules are strict that the ringers who start the peal must complete it without any help or relief. Otherwise,the "record" cannot be certified. Vicar "Venables" stood in for several ringers during their 9 hour peal.

The Nine Tailors is an engaging four part mystery. In my opinion it's the best of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels, and perhaps the best of the dramatisations. It's an intriguing mystery, which spans two decades, Wimsey returns twenty years later to Fenchurch St Paul, where a set of valuable emeralds are stolen.

It's a gorgeous production, it looks fabulous, terrific scenes inside and out of the Church, and also the scenes of the water rising up. Carmichael as always is excellent as Wimsey, he's very well supported by the great cast, Glyn Houston marvellous as always as Bunter, I thought Donald Eccles was particularly good as The Vicar.

It's a wonderfully engaging mystery, there are stacks of red herrings, twists and turns, you think you know what's happening, but expect the unexpected. 9/10