Inspector Morse: The Sins of the Fathers (1990)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Written by Jeremy Burnham, based upon the novels by Colin Dexter
Directed by Peter Hammond
Starring John Thaw, Kevin Whately, John Bird, Lisa Harrow, Alex Jennings

Features:

• Selected fimographies
  
• Trivia
  

Released by: BFS
Region: 1
Rating: NR
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format

My Advice: Mystery and ale fans should buy it.

Inspector Morse has been solving mysteries and murders for years, delighting fans of PBS’ venerable show Mystery the entire time. This time, ale-loving Morse is sent to investigate a murder at a family-run brewery. Unfortunately, the brewery is also undergoing a hostile takeover at the hands of Farmers of Banbury, a multi-national brewery run by Morse’s old friend George Linacre. Was the murder victim, a current board member, done in by financial politics and expediency? Or was it more about family politics or even personal revenge?

The acting in this episode/movie is as good as it always is; Thaw is excellent as the cranky bachelor Morse, and Whately, the sincere, dedicated sidekick is a wonderful compliment to the jaded Thaw. Lionel Jeffries and Isabel Dean are similarly strong as the parents of the victim, bringing a humanity to their roles, and also being at times appropriately sinister.

The writing is very well done, based this time upon a novel by Dexter instead of just the characters. Burnham does an exemplary job of converting a complex text to the screen; it can’t be easy to translate the usual labyrinth of a mystery to a format that prevents readers from referring back to previous scenes and so on, though of course with the DVD version instead of the TV broadcast, viewers can do just that--go back to see what they’ve missed after they learn the identity of the murderer.

The audio and video quality are on par with a series made in the late 1980s/early 1990s. The colors are usually strong and bright, but are sometimes a bit sunbleached. The show, however, not being directed by Kurosawa or Vincent Ward, depends more upon the cast and the clever writing than on these visual details, which is good for buyers of the DVD.

The features are nice, if not outstanding, and the fact that they exist on a DVD release this relatively obscure and inexpensive is a testament to the good will and professionalism of the production company. Kudos to them for bothering.

In short, if you love mysteries, especially police procedurals, you’ve spent a lot of time in and around Oxfordshire, England, or you just want to see someone more bitter than yourself, then you will love Inspector Morse. This particular mystery does even more to develop Morse as a human being, with all the attendant failures, problems, and personality quirks, without leaving Lewis out of the loop.

Just don’t forget to check out the Morse Drinking Game created by some enterprising and obviously underworked Oxford students.