Just a little over a year after the release of ORSON WELLES GREAT MYSTERIES – VOL-1 comes VOLUME 2 and I found it to be consistently more satisfying than its predecessor. As the series was not released in its original broadcast order, it contains only 2 well known authors (W. Somerset Maugham, Dorothy L. Sayers) and is more consistent in tone which is why I found it more enjoyable. The acting is also of a higher caliber with several of the episodes being character studies. The American actors also give better performances this time around. Victor Buono is priceless in MONEY TO BURN.
My favorite episodes are on Disc 1. In addition to MONEY TO BURN, there are 2 very well acted two character dramas… BATTLE OF WITS with Ian Bannen & Brewster Mason and COME INTO MY PARLOUR with Claire Bloom & Anne Jackson. There are also a couple of humourous episodes…THE INSPIRATION OF MR BUDD with the one and only Hugh Griffith and THE DINNER PARTY featuring a surprisingly good Joan Collins. It ends with DEATH OF AN OLD FASHIONED GIRL which has a great twist ending.
Disc 2 contains only 5 episodes (instead of 8) and while they are also well acted, I found the stories to be less engaging. Of course there’s only so much you can do in a 24 minute episode but the Disc 1 stories made better use of their time. Still A POINT OF LAW with Alec McCowen & Anna Massey and THE ICE STORM (with Claire Bloom again) were quite enjoyable. Only THE POWER OF FEAR about a plumber/blacknmailer (? !) proved to be a real disappointment.
Now that all the episodes are available, I plan to go back and watch them all in the order that they were broadcast to get a better feel for how the series evolved. You can make a list from the broadcast dates on the DVDs or just get the list off of Wikipedia. Once I got past my initial letdown with VOLUME 1 and having finished VOLUME 2, I can say that the ORSON WELLES GREAT MYSTERIES are not only very entertaining but they provide us with an early look at some celebrated performers, some great 1970s fashions, and those great Orson Welles comments.
The Capsule Critic 