Inspector Morse: Second Time Around (1990)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Screenplay by Daniel Boyle, based upon characters created by Colin Dexter
Directed by Adrian Shergold
Starring John Thaw, Kevin Whately, Kenneth Colley, Pat Heywood, Ann Bell, Oliver Ford Davies, Christopher Eccleston

Features:

• Select biographies
  
• Select filmographies
  
• Trivia
  

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

My Advice: Rent it. Mystery buffs should buy it.

In Second Time Around, Morse (Thaw) finds himself investigating the mysterious death of an ex-Deputy Police Commissioner, known for his splendid record of convictions and cases. When it is discovered that a chapter of the victim's memoirs is missing, links begin to appear between this case and a case from eighteen years previous, a case that went unsolved...and involved the murder of a child. Morse and Lewis (Whately) must solve not only the murder of today, but the murder of yesterday with scant clues and a few too many suspects...since it seems that everybody has a secret to conceal.

The acting is, with all of the discs in this show, excellent. The leads, Thaw and Whately, know their roles and know how to play them to the hilt...all without over-playing them. Davies as the lead suspect Frederick Redpath is by turns sharp and pathetic--perfect for the long-suffering character. Colley as Chief Inspector Dawson is delightfully irritable and arrogant. You'll love to hate him and dream of smacking him silly...even when he's right. Eccleston as the mentally unstable Terrence is nicely shaky. Be sure to keep an eye out for Colin Dexter in this one, too; this time, he plays a man at the Trout Inn, when Morse goes to grill Barbara Redpath. Everyone on the project knows how to properly blend menace, innocence (both faux and real), and knowledge they wish they didn't possess.

The character of the medical examiner, played by Peter Waddington, is delightful--absolutely hysterical. If you liked Albert in Twin Peaks, you'll appreciate this wackier take on an M.E. as well.

The audio and video of this disc is comparable to good quality television in the 1990s. The colors are perhaps not quite as crisp as today's digital HDTV or a high-budget film, but it looks just fine for casual viewing. The focus is on the mystery and the plot, not the "look" of the show, and none of the clues rely upon your ability to see every pixel.

The disc has a number of nice features, as well. We get biographies of each of the major players, including author Dexter, as well as the associated filmographies. We also get a decent selection of trivia that will be especially delightful for fans of Dexter and the original books, as well as fans of the show. It would have been good to have gotten a PDF of the original novel Second Time Around from which the screenplay was taken, but you can't have everything.

Fans of police shows like CSI, Prime Suspect, or even Police Story will love the approach Inspector Morse takes to solving crimes and how the authors focus on the how of solving crimes instead of the virtuosity of a single detective. Mystery fans who like police mysteries will of course also like the Morse mysteries and should check them out.