inge001's reviews

I always loved "Murder, She Wrote" on TV, and that is why I bought several season box sets. During the television broadcast of the series I must have missed most of the episodes which were only introduced by Angela Lansbury and which featured several of J. B. Fletcher's "friends." So I was disappointed when the sixth season seems to overflow with these substitutes. I like Jessica solving crimes and not Bill Boyle, Michael Haggerty, Harry McGraw, Jake Ballinger or whoever else the writers came up with. For this reason and for this reason only I will not be buying any sets after the sixth.

I would like to clarify that this has nothing to do with the fine actors who portray these people or with the quality of the writing. I am just stating my personal preference for J. B. Fletcher's unique style of solving crimes.

When this series ran on GermanTV here in the US, both my husband and I liked it very much because we both loved anything to do with flying. So we found little to criticize. I liked it so much that, after the demise of GermanTV, I bought all 11 seasons of the series on DVD and have been watching most of them several times. I had noticed slight discrepancies in continuity when some things were done or said which were not compatible with events that had happened earlier. As I have no medical knowledge whatsoever, I cannot comment on the medical jargon used (for which I am glad), but in Episode 11 of the 10th season a really ridiculous mistake was made. According to police, rescuers and hospital personnel, a young couple who stayed overnight in their car was said to suffer from carbon dioxide poisoning. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is found in carbonated soft drinks as well as in beer, champagne and other alcoholic beverages. It is not poisonous. The toxic gas is carbon monoxide (CO) which becomes dangerous when an internal combustion engine or a stove is operated in an enclosed space with no ventilation. I find it difficult to imagine that neither the actors nor the staff noticed this mistake.

Naturally, there have to be changes when a book is made into a film. But traditionally most of the alterations are cuts made either by taking out minor characters or shortening a long scene or a series of scenes. But in this film they actually added a few things that make no sense at all. Whoever had the idea of making the grandfather come into the village to sell his cheese obviously does not know anything about him. This man does not wish any contact with the people who despise and malign him. And where would he get all that cheese from 2 measly goats?

Another problem is Miss Rottenmeier. Of all the Heidi films I have seen, only the Shirley Temple version presented her as really bad. In most of the others as well as in the book she was just very strict and did not even try to understand the child. However, in this movie she seems quite nasty and full of hate.

One of the reviewers commented on Heidi's hair, and I have to agree. No child of that day would have been allowed to have her hair hanging around so untidily.

While the Alpine locations are beautiful, the fancy neighborhood in Frankfurt is definitely a poor choice. From the windows of the elegant Sesemann house one looks at several dilapidated buildings with plaster coming off the walls in huge slabs.

All in all, in spite of these shortcomings, I'm giving the movie 7 stars, mostly for the writer Johanna Spyri and to the mountain scenery.