Season 2 - The Moonstone (1972-1973)
Do you ever randomly get an intense need for Wilkie Collins in your life? I assume it's just not me, but then again, it might just be me. Thankfully for me, and hopefully for you as well, there's a plethora of adaptations to fill the void when you just don't have the time to read or reread one of his books. The thing that I love about Wilkie Collins adaptations is that they have this very solid core structure and then the actors have fun imbuing the characters with traits that might not even seem logical but are at the very least original. Just look to Charles Dance and Ian Richardson's different takes on Mr. Fairlie in their respective adaptations of The Woman in White. Both are so delicate yet over the top. They are both brilliant in their own special way. Though in recent years Sarah Hadland as Miss Clack in the 2016 version of The Moonstone might win as my favorite. This version of The Moonstone from 1972 has a charm all it's own. It sticks pretty faithfully to the book and has the distinct honor of having two of the heartthrobs from the day, Robin Ellis and Martin Jarvis, vying for the hand of fair lady. Robin Ellis brings his trademark taciturnity while Martin Jarvis gets to die for annoying me so greatly in The Forsyte Saga. Yes, I keep track of actors who annoy me and take great joy in watching them come to bad ends in other shows. Though there's nothing as satisfying as them dying IN the production they are annoying me in. Yes, I'm looking at you Sam Neill in Reilly, Ace of Spies. Also, if you're a longtime reader of my blog I'm sorry for how much I mention my hatred of that show. I just really hate it. Moving on, this adaptation of The Moonstone very much feels like a seventies adaptation. Which isn't a bad thing. There's something about the sets that date it and give it such a nostalgic feel that I can't help but love each and every second of it. Plus, can I say, that the way they painted the door made SO MUCH more sense than the 1996 version. Why are they painting the outside of the door in the 1996 version where she can't admire it when she's in her room? But that is a mystery not for me but for Sergeant Cuff! And this, I can definitively say, is the best Cuff of the lot. I adore John Welsh. He is a consummate professional and has somehow always looked in his late seventies despite dying at only seventy in 1985. He's been in so many series I honestly couldn't name where I first saw him. And he's literally been a part of Masterpiece since the beginning, playing John Forsyte in The Forsyte Sage with the previously unlamented Martin Jarvis. The Moonstone, along with Country Matters, The Edwardians, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, The Duchess of Duke Street, and To Serve Them All My Days are the Masterpiece shows he featured in only during the first decade of the show! But I personally always refer to him as Merriman, the venerable elderly head waiter of the Bentinck Hotel, from The Duchess of Duke Street. Whenever he shows up on a show it's like seeing an old friend. So even in my bleakest hours lately watching The Citadel, at least when Merriman showed up I knew, for the moment, things were looking up. He just brings such gravity and intelligence to the role of Cuff that I fully believed in the role. Sometimes the casting makes the copper to retired rose horticulturist a tad unbelievable. Here, here I buy it. I buy it all.
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