Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49750 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-09-09
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 309 minutes

Special Features
English
Region 0
Dolby Digital English
Dolby Digital
Interview With Sir John Mortimer
Biographies
Complete Booking Listings
Filmographies
Scene Indexing

Synopsis
Leo McKern stars in this long-running series as Horace Rumpole, an eccentric London defence lawyer. Rumpole must contend with various difficult cases and, of course, his wife. This release features the entire first series.

Customer Reviews

The Irrepressible Rumpole Returns
Seeing this DVD was like seeing an old friend again. Leo McKern plays Rumpole so brilliantly that one forgets Rumpole's only a figment of John Mortimer's imagination. The plots are clever and the images unforgettable down to the smallest details : Rumpole quoting Wordsworth as he walks through the leaves on his way to chambers ; "dying" in bed (from a cold) and then when he gets word from his clerk that he's got a brief, jumping out of bed to put on his battered hat, still in his pajamas ; "Oh frabjous day, calloo, callay," he exults.

In court, his 40-year-old wig perilously perched on his head, his collar slipping off, he rolls his R's as he plays to the jury and mutters if the judges attempt to thwart him; he is never inanimate, never unimpassioned.

As rigorously as he defends the rights of his often disreputable clients, he is also unbending in defense of his principles and the truth. In the process he often dismays his wife Hilda - She Who Must Be Obeyed - and his chamber mates who would prefer him to be more malleable, that he dignify chambers by giving up criminal cases and attracting a more presentable clientele,or at the least buy a new hat.

The occasions to laugh are plentiful, but the issues are serious and still current ; there are poignant moments without oversentimentality. Rumpole has the courage to face unpleasant truths, to express what most of us would be afraid to, to lose sometimes. He has the courage to carry on and an invincible spirit.

All the cast is excellent, the characters are well rounded and the writing superb. These series can be watched over and over again with delight. What's more, there is a lovely interview with the author, Sir John Mortimer, included with the episodes.

The Genius of Rumpole
There is little that you can add to the previous review, except to say that in Horace Rumpole John Mortimer has created a character who is as funny, forceful, poignant, uplifting - call it what you will - on screen as in the printed word. Both in books and on the screen, he is a creation of genius. Whay else is there to say?!