The Ice House

"The Ice House," a British mystery/police procedural just before the era of DNA evidence analysis, held my attention if only for the youthful star quality of Daniel Craig who appears in almost every scene but doesn't get top billing - I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him here assisting in a homicide investigation. He does most of the legwork; his boss is familiar with this address because the man of the house disappeared 10 years before - has his body been found, at long last, in the ice house on the property by the gardener? The ice house is nothing more than a hole dug out of the earth; the gummy remains (without clothing) have severe damage to the chest. What puzzled me most about "The Ice House" is the vague info from the medical examiner over the course of this 3 hour mini-series - he cannot ID the body for sure, the teeth are missing, the cause of death was a gunshot or maybe wild animals chewed on the chest - and the person has only been dead a few months or was it longer? Much longer? The program includes much talk about sexual activities - too much for my taste but overall, I liked this dated mystery and was quite surprised by the ending.

I find it hard to believe that The Ice House was made back in 1997, watching it again I was surprised at just how fresh it feels. Only the cars and hairstyles seem to date it. The book is a great read, there's always a worry that something gets lost in translation when it's made for TV, not the case here, justice was done. It's a deep story, with more going on then meets the eye. At no point does it feel slow or padded, the characters are brilliantly brought to life, Downie, Redgrave and Craig all particularly good, but the surprise package for me was Kitty Aldridge, not an actress I knew a great deal about, but she was fantastic. Each Minette Walters adaptation that the BBC made I enjoyed, if only this kind of show was still being made. 9/10

The cover photo on the box has changed: it's now Daniel Craig, solo, to capitalize on his success as James Bond. And he is the one who makes this long--three hours--show work. I've rarely seen a man play a drinker better than Craig does here. At one point, he drops to the floor in exhaustion--he hasn't eaten all day--and Aldridge has to make him eat a candy bar to get his strength up. Truly, Sgt. McLaughlin needs some caring soul to look after him.

The story sometimes lags a bit; three hours is a lot of time to devote to a fairly simple story after all. But the acting is generally excellent. Kitty Aldridge is very good as the one-time Communist newspaper reporter who has a lot of secrets to keep from the police. Penny Downie, whom I last saw playing Gertrude to David Tennant's Hamlet, is really moving at times; she is playing a mother of adult children whose father abused them. Corin Redgrave will make you shudder at times: he's playing the lead officer in the investigation who has harassed some of the characters in the past. The supporting cast is generally good, save for the young woman who has to yell 'Lezzies' too many times for my liking. All in all, a good evening's entertainment.

'The Ice House' is a truly remarkable venture, both in terms of plot and of characterization. As far as the slowly unfolding plot is concerned, the film is second to hardly any of the British (TV) mysteries of recent years such as Inspector Morse etc. The main characters are portrayed in a convincing yet cinematically appropriate way. Right from the very beginning the film psychologically probes the dark sides of human nature keeping the viewer in tight suspense right to the very end. Worth seeing !

Would you have cast the Daniel Craig of The Ice House as James Bond? Craig's acting in this British TV mystery is of such a high caliber and the role he plays is so anti-Bond, you would have had to have been a truly gifted casting director with a crystal ball to have envisioned Det.-Sgt. McCloughlin as 007. In The Ice House, Craig is a decidedly unheroic copper who will drink anything with an alcoholic content. He is also a brilliant detective -- not the Sherlock Holmes type -- but an indefatigable bloodhound. The Ice House is definitely not a warm, cozy Midsomer Murders type of mystery. It explores the darkest reaches of the human soul. It chills while it thrills. And yet it is intensely watchable, even enjoyable. (Some of the dialogue is laugh-out funny. And some of it is quite blue.) :Part of its attraction may be the level of the writing. The symbolism of the Ice House becomes apparent early on, but doesn't call attention to itself. Indeed, it adds to the cold passion and frozen emotions that coat each frame of this film like frost on a window in deepest winter. At whatever level you choose to watch The Ice House -- as an intelligent, traditional British murder mystery; as a complex love story; as wry social commentary; or as carefully wrought fiction and acting in a setting as multifaceted as an ice crystal -- keep your eyes on the very cool Mr Craig.