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She Fell Among Thieves
She Fell Among Thieves is a classic British mystery thriller. It has everything. Beautiful yet evil criminal masterminds, disgraced priests, forced marriages, impersonations, daring escapes, poisonings, suicides and most of all stalwart aristocrats with their loyal body servants. This is a fun film, not intended to be taken too seriously, and it delivers many innocent thrills, smiles and diversions.
The tale is set in the French Pyrenees, in 1922. Jenny (Karen Dotrice) is a young heiress whose deceased father's will specified that his fortune would go to her step mother Vanity Fair (Eileen Atkins) only if she gets married prior to her eighteenth birthday. If she does not tie the knot prior to her majority, everything goes to charity. Unfortunately for Jenny, her step mother is an international criminal, who very likely murdered her father, and is dead set on forcing Jenny to marry whatever fellow happens to be convenient.
Seemingly all is lost, until the intervention of the dashing aristocrat Richard Chandos (Malcolm McDowell), who happens to see the dead body of a man killed by Vanity Fair floating in the river, and reports this to the British embassy. Chandos is quickly recruited by intelligence officer Mansel (Michael Jayston) to infiltrate Vanity Fair's household and... Well, what his mission might be is not terribly well defined, nor is the reason he leaps into dangerous spy work with barely a question or hesitation. Needless to say, everyone wants to bring Vanity Fair to justice and, when they discover her plight, to rescue the fair young Jenny.
Vanity Fair quickly figures out that Chandos is not a simple traveler, idling away a few days in her chateau while his Rolls Royce gets repaired, and the battle of wits begins. Twists and turns, betrayals, misinformation and escapes abound as the relatively short (around ninety minutes) story plays out. Each side will gain the upper hand briefly, and then face reversal, all the while maintaining the stiff formality and decorum befitting England's upper classes. The cast of characters is never fleshed out much, and consists of a selection of comfortably familiar stereotypes that act, for the most part, exactly as we would expect. Since She Fell Among Thieves never attempts to be anything other than a light mystery / adventure, this is not too much of a problem. All the actors are talented and natural performers. McDowell, Atkins and Jayston all give effortless performances that keep the tone easy and fun, and there are really no bad turns among the supporting cast either.
For an afternoon of light entertainment, it would be hard to beat She Fell Among Thieves. It asks very little in way of mental effort on the part of the viewer, and provides easy, accessible pleasure. This is not a great film or a work of deep insight and moral complexity. It is, however, a diverting hour and a half of inoffensive entertainment.
The DVD
Video:
The video is presented in 4:3 full screen, and is mediocre. The image is bright and crisp, but the colors tend to be dull. There are quite a number of dust particles, scratches and other artifacts visible throughout the film. Most of the time they are unobtrusive, but on a couple of occasions (particularly during the end credits) they are very visible and distracting. Except at these few isolated moments, this is easily ignorable, and does not appreciably detract from the enjoyment of the film. Considering that She Fell Among Thieves was filmed for television by the BBC in the seventies, it looks as good as can be expected.
Sound:
The sound is Dolby 2 channel, and is competent but unexciting. The dialogue is always clearly audible. There is no hiss or overpowering background noise. There is no alternate language track, and subtitles are available in English only.
Extras:
The extras are disappointing in their absence. There is merely a trailer for other Acorn offerings, mostly British television fare, and a text only filmography for Malcolm McDowell, Eileen Atkins, Michael Jayston and Karen Dotrice. The disc could have benefited greatly from some contemporary interviews with the cast, or even a short segment about Dornford Yates, upon whose novel the film was based. Instead, there is virtually nothing.
Final Thoughts:
She Fell Among Thieves is a fast paced British mystery / thriller, that makes few demands but delivers lots of fun. Malcolm McDowell and Michael Jayston are perfectly suited as the chivalrous upper class heroes, and Eileen Atkins clearly enjoys herself as the perfidious and ingenious Vanity Fair. This is light entertainment that can be enjoyed safely with the whole family, but nothing that would require much investment in either time or money. This is one to rent.
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