marklyn50

Anyone who has a feeling for, or understanding of Sicilian culture, will be aware of the deep reverence and love in which the Art of Theatre is held in Sicily. In this final episode they pay fulsome tribute to that glorious tradition, well aware that this coda had to be more than just a murder mystery.

Direction, acting and cinematography is superb as always, with excellent performances from the supporting cast as well as the lead players. The makers pay tribute to Shakespeare and Agatha Christie and by extension their British fans, who like all Montalbano afiionados will sorely miss this superb series.

Methinks the previous comment doth protest too much. The show was far funnier than the our jaded friend from Minnford gives it credit for. Booker(who founded Private Eye)and Brahms were no mean script writers. One sketch featuring David Kernan as a bus conductor trying to break into opera was especially trenchant. John Bird was outstanding as Wilson. One sketch in particular, brilliantly satirised Wilson's Walter Mitty fantasies. Without skipping a beat, Bird transforms Wilson into Churchill, complete with siren suit. His was one of the most uncannily accurate impersonations of a politician of all time. His African dictators were particularly sharply observed. Even Gerald Kaufman was clever and witty. Granted Tynan could be silly, but he is hardly in any position to watch his mouth, he has been dead for twenty seven years.

The writer Bill Bryson once described watching This is Cinerama as one of the most enjoyable two hours of his life. Moreover it was as close to experiencing time travel as it was possible to get.

Unfortunately, "This is Cinerama" contains scenes of cultural content such as opera and ballet which may be distressing to persons of an attention span of five nano seconds or less.

The wheel has come full circle and the process lives on in State of the Art flight simulation systems for military and civil applications.