Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Lord Peter becomes embroiled in a mystery one morning at his club, when he finds an old man dead in front of the fire, and his sharp eyes notice something very wrong.


The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club is the second of five Dorothy L. Sayers, Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries produced by the BBC in the 1970s. It is composed of four approximately 45-minute long episodes presented on two DVDs with no additional material worth mentioning. It stars Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter, and Derek Newark as Mervyn Bunter, his trusty manservant.

What?!!

Yes, astonishingly Derek Newark replaces Glyn Houston as Bunter, which is a surprise considering how perfect Houston was in the role. However, after some research, I believe that Houston was unavailable since he was playing Tom Corby in The Long Chase, a 13 part TV series, at the time Bellona Club was being filmed. Apart from Houston, all the other actors that were in Clouds of Witness have reprised their roles.

Luckily, due to the vagaries of the public library system, this was actually the first show in this series that I saw, and so I did not know about the other Bunter, nor spend overmuch time lamenting his loss. Derek Newark fulfilled his role admirably under the circumstances.

Lord Peter becomes embroiled in a mystery one morning at his club, when he finds an old man dead in front of the fire, and his sharp eyes notice something very wrong. The old man's has died apparently of natural causes while asleep, unaware that, in a strange coincidence, his sister had died the night before. However since a large inheritance lies in the balance, the exact time of the two deaths is extremely important.

While it would seem clear that the sister was the first to die, Wimsey has his doubts. The Bellona Club is a club for former officers of His Majesty's armed services. The body is discovered on Remembrance Day, November 11. Wimsey reasons that, if the retired general had walked from his home to the club that morning, he would certainly have been wearing a Poppy in his lapel.

While this has the same high-quality cast, costumes, sets and settings as the first presentation, it has a vastly smaller cast and is filmed almost entirely indoors. Consequently, it is a much lower cost production. However, that is not a bad thing. The smaller cast and tighter storyline ends up with much better pacing, and you do not need a scorecard to keep track of the characters. Anna Cropper and Phyllida Law are particularly memorable in their roles.

This is one of Dorothy L. Sayers' better mysteries, made more interesting by the fact that the various adversaries are all pretty decent people trying to do what's best. Even the villain would be a good person, had they not made one tiny mistake. This is really a perfect morality tale.

While the plot acting and production are all first rate, the show suffers slightly from having the wrong Bunter, so I can only give it four stars, but it is still extremely enjoyable.


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Mervyn Bunter

Sergeant Mervyn Bunter meets Major Peter Wimsey in World War I, where he serves as his batman. However, they are separated in 1918 when an artillery shell hits the bunker in which Lord Peter is sheltering. Bunter digs Lord Peter out, saving his life. Lord Peter is sent home to recuperate from his injuries.

After the war, Bunter seeks Lord Peter out to volunteer to be his valet, an arrangement to which Lord Peter gladly agrees. Despite the difference in classes and the master-servant relationship, their natural compatibility and their experiences in the war have made the two lifelong friends. This is just as well for Lord Peter, since the pragmatic and reliable Bunter usually saves his life at least once per novel.

As well as being a valet and personal servant of considerable skill, Bunter has many talents. He has an easy charm and manner, and his ability to talk with other servants and tradesmen gathers much useful information for Lord Peter's investigations. Bunter is also a keen amateur photographer which comes in handy on many occasions.

However, despite his obvious importance to the stories, Dorothy L. Sayers was somewhat fixated on Wimsey and Vane. It was not until Jill Paton Walsh completed Thrones, Dominations published in 1998 from an outline by Sayers, that Bunter finds a wife, unsurprisingly a professional photographer, and they have a son, Peter Meredith Bunter born in 1937. During World War II, while Lord Wimsey works for Military Intelligence. Bunter, now too old for regular service, forms a Home Guard Battalion. However, under the guiding hand of Walsh using a series of letters written by Sayers, Bunter, Lord Peter and Harriet get back together for one more mystery. And so it goes...


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The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1972)

Directed by Ronald Wilson

Written by:
Dorothy L. Sayers (Novel)
John T. Bone (Screenplay)

Cast:
Ian Carmichael - Lord Peter Wimsey
Derek Newark - Bunter

Mark Eden - Detective Inspector Parker

Terence Alexander - Robert Fentiman
Anna Cropper - Ann Dorland
Vivien Heilbron - Sheila Fentiman
Arthur Hewlett - Woodward
Sheila Keith - Mrs. Mitcham
Phyllida Law - Marjorie Phelps
Donald Pickering - Dr. Penberthy
John Quentin - George Fentiman
Clifford Rose - Pritchard
Ralph Truman - General Fentiman
John Welsh - Mr. Murbles

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD