Campion - The Complete First Season
|
List Price: $79.98
Our Price: $59.59
Your Save: $ 20.39 ( 25% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
Starring: Peter Davison, Brian Glover, Andrew Burt, Moray Watson, Iain Cuthbertson
Directed By: Martyn Friend, Michael Owen Morris, Robert Chetwyn, Ronald Wilson
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 9780790775906
Format: Box set
ISBN: 0790775905
Label: BBC Warner
Number Of Items: 4
Publisher: BBC Warner
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2003-05-13
Running Time: 428
Studio: BBC Warner
Theatrical Release Date: 1989-10-12
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: In a world where most of us will never be invited to supper, at least we might be murdered
Comment: Is it possible that the English upper classes could simply be too well bred for their own good? Probably not as long their money holds out. But for a mystery series, maybe. With Campion, a BBC series that ran two seasons in 1989 and 1990, we have Peter Davison as Albert Campion, bespectacled, balding, well bred, well educated and well off. In the stylish world of 1930s wealth and society, Campion has dedicated himself to solving crimes and catching villains. These crimes almost always put him among equally well bred and well-off members of the upper class, in their stately homes and country houses, amongst their daughters and their horses, and amongst their black-sheep relatives.
The series is drawn from the mystery novels of Margery Allingham who, as so many British mystery writers of the Twenties and Thirties did, specialized in civilized crime. When the mysteries were good, they were very good. When they weren't (or when they became dated), they usually seemed to represent a way of life we are well rid of (except, of course, we aren't. It's just the cut of the dinner dress and the price of the vices that has changed.)
For me, the Campion television mysteries are a mixed blessing. On the plus side, Peter Davison makes an engaging, intelligent and sympathetic protagonist. He's one of the most likable actors I've ever seen, whether he's playing a young country vet in All Creatures Great & Small: The Complete Series 1 Collection or a put-upon, middle-aged detective constable in The Last Detective - Series 1. The mysteries are often satisfyingly complicated and the production looks like a million dollars (or pounds). The BBC spent what it took to make the upper classes' dress, their homes, their gardens and their cars look as if it were all theirs by right. Campion drives a red (Triumph, I think) roadster I'd be tempted to sell my children for. On the down side, Campion sets his traps with cleverness, but much of the time he spends listening with his eyebrows slightly raised. Combined with the excruciating gentility of the world he moves in, the episodes, which run close to two hours each, more often than not had me dozing off now and then. I'll admit to being something of a Leveler, but those who worry unduly about whether to send the port to the left or the right have always seemed more silly than sympathetic.
Campion and his manservant, the ex-burglar Magersfontein Lugg (Brian Glover), find themselves involved in four cases in this first season. One is a standout and another is very good. My favorite is Police at the Funeral. Campion finds himself in a country home stuffed with good breeding...but also stuffed full of resentments old and new, and with bizarre murders that seem to have no solution or rationale. Campion also must deal with the singularly stiff upper lip of the ancient doyen of the family. Mary Morris, 75, tiny, spare and wrinkled, plays this authoritative woman. She dominates the proceedings. Morris died shortly after production was finished. Forty-eight years earlier, in 1941, Mary Morris played Ludmilla Koslowsky, the young woman Leslie Howard, playing Professor Horatio Smith, fell in love with in Pimpernel Smith, If you can track down this old movie, it's still a great one. A nice job also is done with Death of a Ghost, a tale of more resentments and murder, this time mixed with envy and famous paintings. Campion nearly gets himself killed by being too clever.
I've not read any of Allingham's mysteries so I have no idea how well the BBC brought Campion to life with Peter Davison. If you enjoy well-bred detectives and murderous doings amongst those who'd never, ever invite you to supper, you'll enjoy these four programs. On balance, I did. But now I'm returning to Ross Thomas. I'm half way through Briarpatch.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Campion-The Complete First Season
Comment: I enjoy mysteries that surprise me. This one does! It gives you all the clues, but I seldom know "who done it". It's light and fun---enjoyable!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poor/Impossible recording quality
Comment: The first disc in the set was recorded so poorly I can not view it on my DVD. How do I replace one disc in a set?
Deeply disappointing
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful series, wish there were more
Comment: We have both series one and two. I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying an evening with Campion and his great manservant Lugg. It takes a bit to be able to understand the dialect. I guess it was their language first. That goes for all the BBC series. We do like them all.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Good & The Bad
Comment: If you love British TV and a good mystery and good story line ~ Get the Campion series. However this provider ASTRO VIDEO leaves something to be desired. One DVD in the set was visibly damaged in this Christmas present and although we have written to customer service on 3 occasions ~ we still have no response or resolution! I gues you have to take the good with the bad ~ so we have one mystery that has not been solved ~ how to get the bad DVD replaced.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: In a world where most of us will never be invited to supper, at least we might be murdered
Comment: Is it possible that the English upper classes could simply be too well bred for their own good? Probably not as long their money holds out. But for a mystery series, maybe. With Campion, a BBC series that ran two seasons in 1989 and 1990, we have Peter Davison as Albert Campion, bespectacled, balding, well bred, well educated and well off. In the stylish world of 1930s wealth and society, Campion has dedicated himself to solving crimes and catching villains. These crimes almost always put him among equally well bred and well-off members of the upper class, in their stately homes and country houses, amongst their daughters and their horses, and amongst their black-sheep relatives.
The series is drawn from the mystery novels of Margery Allingham who, as so many British mystery writers of the Twenties and Thirties did, specialized in civilized crime. When the mysteries were good, they were very good. When they weren't (or when they became dated), they usually seemed to represent a way of life we are well rid of (except, of course, we aren't. It's just the cut of the dinner dress and the price of the vices that has changed.)
For me, the Campion television mysteries are a mixed blessing. On the plus side, Peter Davison makes an engaging, intelligent and sympathetic protagonist. He's one of the most likable actors I've ever seen, whether he's playing a young country vet in All Creatures Great & Small: The Complete Series 1 Collection or a put-upon, middle-aged detective constable in The Last Detective - Series 1. The mysteries are often satisfyingly complicated and the production looks like a million dollars (or pounds). The BBC spent what it took to make the upper classes' dress, their homes, their gardens and their cars look as if it were all theirs by right. Campion drives a red (Triumph, I think) roadster I'd be tempted to sell my children for. On the down side, Campion sets his traps with cleverness, but much of the time he spends listening with his eyebrows slightly raised. Combined with the excruciating gentility of the world he moves in, the episodes, which run close to two hours each, more often than not had me dozing off now and then. I'll admit to being something of a Leveler, but those who worry unduly about whether to send the port to the left or the right have always seemed more silly than sympathetic.
Campion and his manservant, the ex-burglar Magersfontein Lugg (Brian Glover), find themselves involved in four cases in this first season. One is a standout and another is very good. My favorite is Police at the Funeral. Campion finds himself in a country home stuffed with good breeding...but also stuffed full of resentments old and new, and with bizarre murders that seem to have no solution or rationale. Campion also must deal with the singularly stiff upper lip of the ancient doyen of the family. Mary Morris, 75, tiny, spare and wrinkled, plays this authoritative woman. She dominates the proceedings. Morris died shortly after production was finished. Forty-eight years earlier, in 1941, Mary Morris played Ludmilla Koslowsky, the young woman Leslie Howard, playing Professor Horatio Smith, fell in love with in Pimpernel Smith, If you can track down this old movie, it's still a great one. A nice job also is done with Death of a Ghost, a tale of more resentments and murder, this time mixed with envy and famous paintings. Campion nearly gets himself killed by being too clever.
I've not read any of Allingham's mysteries so I have no idea how well the BBC brought Campion to life with Peter Davison. If you enjoy well-bred detectives and murderous doings amongst those who'd never, ever invite you to supper, you'll enjoy these four programs. On balance, I did. But now I'm returning to Ross Thomas. I'm half way through Briarpatch.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Campion-The Complete First Season
Comment: I enjoy mysteries that surprise me. This one does! It gives you all the clues, but I seldom know "who done it". It's light and fun---enjoyable!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poor/Impossible recording quality
Comment: The first disc in the set was recorded so poorly I can not view it on my DVD. How do I replace one disc in a set?
Deeply disappointing
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful series, wish there were more
Comment: We have both series one and two. I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying an evening with Campion and his great manservant Lugg. It takes a bit to be able to understand the dialect. I guess it was their language first. That goes for all the BBC series. We do like them all.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Good & The Bad
Comment: If you love British TV and a good mystery and good story line ~ Get the Campion series. However this provider ASTRO VIDEO leaves something to be desired. One DVD in the set was visibly damaged in this Christmas present and although we have written to customer service on 3 occasions ~ we still have no response or resolution! I gues you have to take the good with the bad ~ so we have one mystery that has not been solved ~ how to get the bad DVD replaced.
Behind his distinctive owlish glasses and gentle, deceptive naivete, Albert Campion conceals a passion for excitement and danger. Peter Davison (All Creatures Great and Small, Doctor Who) plays Margery Allingham's enigmatic sleuth, with Brian Glover as his loyal but slightly shady manservant in these classic mysteries set in the 1930's.
|
|
|
- Ask about this healthcare product "Campion - The Complete First Season" in the forum
- Give review on this healthcare product "Campion - The Complete First Season" in the forum
- Search related information in the forum
|
|
|
|
|
|
