Wimsical

ColumbusGal and I are fans of various mystery series and other genres on DVD, all the ones you would expect, Prime Suspect, Jeeves and Wooster (Bertie was played by this great guy who seems to have just disappeared).

Sadly, we just exhausted a series that was profoundly well done but alas too short, and so lately we've found "Lord Peter Wimsey," and with it bizarro world.

Begin with the technical point that it's filmed in videotape (it's an early 70's product) except outdoor scenes, which are filmed. No bones against either, except when you throw them together.

Then proceed to the fundamental issue, the character. Imagine Batman, except without the hidden identity or any of the fantastic flourishes that might allow you to suspend disbelief, and without any flaws or difficulties whatever, unless being a wealthy lord who is kindly, popular, and intelligent and sensitive beyond all plausibility is a problem (he's the kind of character any teenager or G. Gordon Liddy would create).

Then imagine the main character played, earnestly, by (or at least as) a sixty-year-old man (who at one time played Bertie himself) right down to the dentures, whose main means of conveying discovery, curiosity, adventure, arousal, tea time and chagrin is raising his moderately bushy eyebrows. This might be fine for a lord, but, in addition to being a lord, he's also an apparent action hero who woos women easily (and seemingly disinterestedly) and performs extraordinary and sustained feats of derring-do--always in his three-piece suit.

One of his few endearing quirks is he has a monocle, a naked one, a mere lens with no frame or attachment, which he keeps in a vest pocket and pulls out frequently when he reads or examines a thing closely. (I've wondered how he keeps the fingerprints off it.) Of course he can't raise that eyebrow then, so during those moments his acting chops are limited to the other brow.

We've watched one series and have proceeded to the second; in this one, Lord Peter is in disguise. What is his disguise? He uses a different monocle. One with a frame and a fob.

Lest you think this is merely a small change in setting from one series to the next, no, no, no. Because whenever he's alone, he pulls out his naked monocle and shoves it under his brow and gets to work. And whenever someone barges into the room and catches him, he hastily drops his true monocle into his vest pocket, and shoves the disguise monocle under his brow. Then he says something to divert attention from his suspicious behavior, such as "Caught me in the act, what?"

And several characters have remarked directly to him that his tailor is fine and his shoes cost more than his annual salary. (A 60-year-old lord, who by the way is famous, is investigating the death of a 25-year-old copy editor by taking his job.) Lord Peter throws them off by adopting his fool persona and saying, "Tally ho! Good job that!" followed immediately by an earnest and conspiratorial, "So, why do you think Deeds died?"

I've never quite appreciated it before, but I'm beginning to think that the British are not merely subtle. They're more than subtle. Indeed, I suspect they're over-subtle. What?