Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders

In the 1960s and 70s, actor Khigh Dhiegh repeatedly guest starred as the evil Red Chinese agent, Wo Fat. Here, Dhiegh stars in a film about ancient China. While he was quite good and looked right to be playing a Chinese detective, Dhiegh is actually NOT Asian at all!! As for the rest of the cast, they are a variety of Asian-Americans of Chinese, Japanese and Korean heritage.

The fact that there was ever a made for TV movie based on the world's first detective story is unusual because so often films are based on western stories....and this one is from 7th century China. It's the story of a Chinese judge who must unravel a murder and find a missing woman...and as the story progresses, bodies keep piling up! The story is interesting and enjoyable...especially the ending that involves a bear!

This is an enjoyable film and the only real deficit is that it's a bit talky and occasionally slow. Still, worth seeing and available on YouTube.

Dear All, This is an excellent movie that was part of an excellent series of books before that.

I hope it will be on DVD at some point, as I would like to own it. I always look for it on TV and never see it any more.

It has an excellent cast. One of the best Oriental casts I have seen for any movie. They all play there roles well, and are believable.

The plot is very interesting. With all the CSI stuff, isn't it nice to see how they may have done it with out equipment, beyond a brain.

Also I love the monastery spookiness, atmosphere. It is a wonderful period piece as well.

Bill

This is an excellent movie. I only wish they had done a series of these and that they were available on DVD. If you like murder mysteries, the BBC Mystery Theater, or especially movies like "The Name of the Rose", you will enjoy this movie. This takes place in China and the cast, sets, music, and story are all first rate. A Chinese Judge must solve a murder mystery at a Monastery. Cast includes Khigh Dhiegh and Mako. Don't miss this one!

Watching this movie with my family was pure enjoyment. The movie does full justice to van Gulik's masterful creation: fidelity to the original story, good casting, perfect dialog, taut pacing, authentic atmosphere, etc.

Lord Sun Ming was particularly interesting: flawless acting and an arrogance to match his reputed past power. Judge Dee has a voice so like David Jason of Inspector Frost fame that at times, I thought I was listening to Jason!

It was sheer enjoyment by immersion into another world. Urbane, entertaining, cerebral, and riveting.

Unbelievably faithful adaption of the. Robert van Gulik novel- something as rare in the seventies as it is today. Many of the lines of dialogue taken directly from the novel. The tone and the pacing completely authentic, and Khigh Dhiegh, playing Judge Dee, exactly mimics the exacting nature that character exhibits in the novels, down to side glances and puzzled looks, which often led to eventual brilliant insights into crimes. It would be nice to have been a fly on the wall during production meetings , because there was definitely someone in control who was a real enthusiast of the Dee books. Even with the patchy quality of the video it was a pleasure watching.