I've loved the book of Gaudy Night for years, so when I discovered there was a filmed version I was very enthusiastic and bought it on eBay. Bad mistake. It didn't cost me much but boy did I waste my money. The script is deadly, much of the acting is wooden and a lot of the casting is completely wrong. Peter Wimsey has the right look and dress style but instead of foppish he comes across as camp, while Harriet Vane doesn't appear to be a strong, dependable woman but someone very self-doubting and almost timid. I saw no chemistry between them whatsoever. The actor playing Bunter looks completely wrong and lacks the essential hauteur. While some of the female dons are portrayed well, many of the small parts are attacked with skills reminiscent of The Art of Coarse Acting. And where, oh where is all of DL Sayers's sparkle and wit? The scriptwriter pulls the odd chunk of text verbatim from the book, then proceeds to drown it in long, turgid scenes jammed with his own dialogue. This would be fine if it did any good, but much of what I saw was unnecessary to the plot and wasted good scenes and story lines in the process. So much of this seemed to be going through the motions. It was very sad to see and tremendously disappointing. Perhaps someone will take Gaudy Night on again one day and do a better job??? To be frank, I made it less than halfway through the 150 minutes. I just couldn't bear to watch it any longer.
Review of Gaudy Night: Episode One
