Product Description

Cadfael, a Benedictine monk at an abbey in Middle Ages Shrewsbury, solves crimes and murders.
Genre: Mystery
Rating: NR
Release Date: 29-AUG-2000
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75764 in DVD
• Brand: JACOBI,DEREK
• Released on: 2000-08-29
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 75 minutes

Amazon.com
Derek Jacobi's Brother Cadfael is a different kind of detective: a 12th-century monk, a healer and herbalist, and former soldier of fortune. His résumé gives him an interesting perspective on the puzzling murders that seem to plague the rural county of Shrewsbury. In "The Devil's Novice," from the second season of the television series, Cadfael defends the order's newest novice, an intense young man who harbors a haunting secret, against a murder charge. Once again he fights dogmatic superstition in the monastery's ranks and even battles the church hierarchy willing to sacrifice an innocent man to bring closure to the murder of a cleric. The generic mystery relies on familiar family melodramatics and romantic complications and even echoes elements of the more compelling Cadfael mystery "The Virgin in the Ice," but the backdrop of cloak-and-dagger intrigue and church politics infiltrating provincial Shrewsbury is compelling. Cadfael's mix of spiritual wisdom and worldly experience makes him a riveting character, and Jacobi invests him with empathy, passion, and a perceptive, clear-eyed vision of the secular world.

The DVD also features a short audio-only interview with Derek Jacobi, a biography of author Ellis Peters (a pseudonym for Edith Pargeter), and a small stills gallery of production photos. --Sean Axmaker

From the Back Cover
Twelfth century Shrewsbury comes dramatically to life in Ellis Peters' story of Brother Cadfael - a good man in an evil world. Seen on the PBS Mystery! series, this tale of cowardice and treachery stars Sir Derek Jacobi as Brother Cadfael, the intuitive crime-solving monk of medieval Shrewsbury. Cadfael questions the motives of a young man who turns up at the abbey to join as a novice, and suspicions are heightened when the half-burnt body of a missing cleric is uncovered in the woods. While the young man admits to the crime, Cadfael's investigation flushes out untruths and a tortured family history. DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE exclusive audio comments by Derek Jacobi, Ellis Peters biography and booklist, production scrapbook, captions for the hearing impaired and more.

Customer Reviews

UNREQUITED LOVE, UNBLEMISHED HONOR, UNHOLY HOMICIDE
Peter Clemens is no ordinary monk; no homespun and sandals for him. He is garbed and bejeweled like a nobleman. His horse's trappings even match! Cleric Clemens is on the King's business when he stops to visit his cousin, Leoric Ashby, whose manor lies near Shrewsbury....

Sir Derek Jacobi's Cadfael is superb. He utilizes every tool in an expert actor's bag to turn Ellis Peters' paper and ink character into a three-dimensional Medieval monk, full of life, wisdom, and wit. Eion McCarthy (Hugh Beringar) is seen briefly, but the tall, handsome gentleman commands one's attention when he is on screen. Being an abbot cannot be an easy job, but Terrence Hardiman (Abbot Radulfus) makes it seem effortless with his fine acting. Michael Culver (Prior Robert) and Julian Firth (Brother Jerome) are never boring and provide occasional moments of mirth with their zealous piety. Mark Charnock (Oswin) is energetic and endearing as usual. In this episode, Albie Woodington (Sergeant Warden) has the opportunity to show off his thespian talents.

As Leoric Ashby, Julian Glover is somberly solid. Christien Anholt (Meriet) succeeds as a beleagured brooding youth. Ian Reddington (Peter Clemens) is an arrogant politico; you like to dislike him. Ian McNeice (Canon Eloard) is an adroit emissary. Louisa Milwood-Haigh (Isobel) is refreshing and charming. Why Meriet is infatuated with Rosanna when this lovely, intelligent and vivacious young woman is around is a mystery. Praise to Chloe Annett for her Rosanna. Patrick Toomey (Tristan) may be handsome and the favored first son, but he is a sorry excuse for a nobleman, and that's not easy to be. Daniel Betts (Janyn) is deceptively good as Rosanna's brother and Meriet's best friend.

Directed by Herbert Wise with screenplay by Christopher Russell, "The Devil's Novice" is wickedly entertaining and intriguing. Producer Stephen Smallwood is to be complimented on the consistent quality of the Cadfael series.

Mostly in light of the faithfulness of the adaptation
Screenwriter Christopher Russell also adapted A MORBID TASTE FOR BONES and THE ROSE RENT. Here Russell has left the main framework of the story intact, but the characterization has been watered down, and as in the above named adaptations potential motives of passion are blown out of proportion. Little changes have been made in many background details, such as renaming several characters and compressing/combining scenes (easier on the budget and on short attention spans, but oversimplifying the story). Since the characters and the subtleties of their relationships are the key to the novel's quality, the fact that the actual events of the story have been faithfully adapted isn't enough to carry the adaptation for me.

Rather than trimming the beginning of the story, Russell has added material, starting with Peter Clemence's arrival at "Ashby Manor" (Aspley in the book). Of the household, the father (Leoric) is interpreted fairly accurately, as is his younger son Meriet (soon to be the title character), although their stormy relationship is something we hear about rather than see. The elder son, "Tristan" (Nigel) looks too old for his part, and fails to convey the character's supposed charm. His betrothed, "Rosanna" (Roswitha) has been reinterpreted from a vain but harmless flirt to a mercenary seductress who went far past propriety with Clemence. "Isobel" (Isouda) isn't the clear-eyed pillar of strength of the novel, and the adaptation doesn't even try to convince us that she dismisses "Rosanna" as of no account. As for Janyn, "Rosanna"'s brother, he's actually present at the dinner, and he's later used to introduce the possibility that Clemence might have disappeared voluntarily.

Harald, the runaway serf-suspect, has an expanded role, now shown snooping about "Ashby" and an independent witness to Clemence's movements as the bishop's envoy to the earl of Chester spends an evening with the "Ashbys", distant relatives. As in the original, Clemence is something of a ladies' man, despite his priesthood. His annoying arrogance toward his country cousins can be justified from the book, although it's far less explicit there; he's well-played, apart from being too casual about his vows of chastity.

Soon after Clemence continues on his way to resume his diplomatic mission, Leoric brings Meriet to the abbey as a novice. Brother Paul, the perceptive novice master, has as usual been eliminated, as have the other novices and the secular students - along with the character development that in the novel gradually shows us Meriet's virtues together with his cross-grained nature, admirable but ill-suited to the cloister. A lot of scene compression takes place, so that Meriet's noisy nightmares and his outraged counterattack on Brother Jerome for burning his keepsake of "Rosanna" follow very closely on one another. (Meriet's punishment under the lash, of course, is shown on camera at the hands of a brother rather than off-camera via a lay servant, as in the book - Russell doesn't miss a trick that way for dramatic scenes.)

Clemence's superior, Canon Eluard, differs from the book on two important points: blatant immediate suspicion of Meriet's sudden vocation, and a desire to see a quick rather than correct resolution to the Clemence problem. As for the secular investigation, Beringar has been written out of the story apart from 1 scene at the beginning; Will Warden is in charge while Beringar's away at court. (Warden did indeed appear in the novel MONK'S-HOOD as a man too quick to jump to easy conclusions, but the adaptations over-use him; the novels have more respect for the brains on the side of the law.)

The adaptation moves much faster than the original story. Meriet's assignment to the leper hospital at St. Giles happens on the very day the corpse is found; he has no time to put his sufferings in perspective with those of the patients. (Since the adaptation uses Brother Oswin rather than Mark, Meriet lacks a perceptive mentor at St. Giles, of course.) Harald is arrested just as the body is found, over Cadfael's protests - and with Warden rather than Beringar in charge, the threat of an unjust conviction is much more serious than in the original story. (I grant that this strengthens the motivation of various honorable characters who finally begin producing testimony - I won't say how much is *true* testimony, though.)

The final confrontation's dramatic climax in the original story has been exchanged for a tidier tying up of loose ends, although it removes some of the necessary historical background that set the scene for the next novel, DEAD MAN'S RANSOM. However, the adaptations were not made in chronological order, so from that point of view continuity is less of an issue.

Broadly correct adaptation, but lacking the subtleties of the original novel, and moving at a faster pace removing some of the finer points of the puzzle.

All the films are worth seeing.
I truly enjoy a murder mystery of the classic who-done-it type, and the Brother Cadfael series is absolutely perfect. The author Ellis Peters (Edith Pargiter, 1913-1995), like Agatha Christie, Nagio Marsh and Dorothy Sayers, was popular during the early to mid-20th Century and wrote prolifically during that time. There are some 20 Cadfael books. Athough the writer is not an historian, she is remarkably well researched and has a genuine feeling for life during her character's time period.

The setting of these stories is 12th Century England, a period of particular turmoil. Henry I had died without a legitimate male heir, and he had designated his daughter Matilda as his successor, binding his nobles by oath to support her. Although many of them did, including her very able half brother, an illegitimate son of Henry made an Earl by his father, many of them threw their support behind her cousin, Steven. Matilda, or Maud as she is referred to, was a granddaughter of William the Conqueror and no push over herself. She fought her cousin from a base in coastal France, where the family held land in fief of the King of France and where marriage alliances had placed her as wife of Geoffery, the Duke of Anjou. With her Norman support in France and her loyal factions in England, she made enough of a threat to Steven's rule to ultimately obtain a guarantee of succession to the English throne for her son Henry, ultimately Henry II. Until that time, warfare turned most of England into a battle ground and life for everyone a matter of ceaseless uncertainty. Added to this was the rancour still apparent in the social divisions between the largely Saxon population and their Norman rulers. The fall of the Saxon monarchy was only a hundred years previous and hostility still existed. The different orders of society: nobleman, servant, military man, tradesman, artisan, abbott, monk, and priest are carefully wrought to produce a period piece with more detail and clearer dialogue than a Shakespearean play. It would be a wonderful way of introducing young people to history.

Cadfael, the central character of the series, is a Dominican monk and herbalist, and Dereck Jacobi is the perfect personification of him. He has a presence which suggests strength, wisdom, and compassion. Unlike most of the other brothers, Cadfael had spent most of his life in the secular world where he participated in the crusades, had adventures, fell in and out of love, and took his order after finding the ways of the world wanting. He comes from a different culture, that of Wales, and sees that of England through an outsiders more objective eyes. His experience with life and the motives of men and his keen awareness of detail makes him the perfect sleuth, and when murder is committed, the civil authorities are more than willing to have him clear things up for them.

In the Devil's Novice an unpleasant cleric is murdered en route to a meeting with the Earl of Chester-a distant relative of my own which makes the story come even more alive for me-with whom King Steven wishes to come to an understanding in his on going discord with Empress Maude. When a homeless man is accused of the murder, a young novice who is a kinsman of the victim, admits to the crime. Brother Cadfael, with his shrewd judge of character and observation of the facts comes to the youth's aide, bringing harmony back to a tortured family.

The film is authentic, Brother Cadfael engaging, and the mystery captivating. An enjoyable way to spend a little time.