Search - Inspector Morse - The Wolvercote Tongue on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 3/1/2023...

High Amazon ratings but dragged like a snail. Watch at your own peril.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.....

Dianne Foster | USA | 07/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The WOLVERCOTE TONGUE is a pin that fits into a buckle-an elaborate and beautiful Anglo-Saxon buckle of the sort excavated at Sutton Hoo. The bejeweled tongue is the most beautiful part of the buckle that once clasped the waist of a mighty lord. The matching buckle is on exhibit in the fabled Oxford University Ashmolean--the oldest museum in England. The tongue, long ago separated from the buckle, is owned by a rich American woman who has traveled with a group of tourists to Oxford, where she plans to present the pin to the Ashmolean. The afternoon of the presentation, after too much touring about the city has tired her, the woman goes to her hotel room to take a nap from which she will never awake. Her husband discovers her body and that the Wolvercote tongue has gone missing. Never fear, Endeavor Morse, Detective Chief Inspector of the Thames Valley Police and his trusty sidekick Sgt. Lewis are soon on the case.This is a lovely film, and a vicarious thrill for Anglophiles who have spent hours and hours in Oxford or wish they had. The colleges, the shops, walking along behind Merton, the Botanical garden, punters on the Thames, the Ashmolean-it wouldn't matter to me if the plot made sense or not (it does), or whether the characters were fully developed or not (they are). Oxford's gleaming spires in the dying light of the afternoon sun and John Thaw-who could ask for anything more."

Morse is actually quite funny throughout this film

o dubhthaigh | north rustico, pei, canada | 03/20/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Extremely well written, this mystery has Morse and Lewis on the trail of a murderer when all the evidence points to death by natural causes. In the course of the story Morse must deal with all sorts of wealthy American tourists, and one wonders whether this film had any impact on the screenwriters of GOSFORD PARK. Whether it did or not, and whether the actors are really Yanks or not, the cultural clashes are more overtly funny than this series usually gets, Morse is very nearly Basil Fawlty in several scenes.
By this time in the series, Whatley and Thaw were really hitting their stride and their natural ease with each other made these films entirely believeable. Dexter set out to write these stories because he thought he could do a better job than what he had read in the genre, and he did just that. Morse and Lewis are every bit the match for Holmes and Watson.
Anyway, this is a great story, brilliantly written for the screen, and one in which Morse's caustic humour is let run rampant over each and every person with whom he collides. Oh yeah, a jewel is stolen and a woman is dead. Who done it..... that would be telling."

After Watching the Movie Check out the Book !

Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 08/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you haven't read the book this DVD version is fine if not the best of the series. If you've read the book, titled The Jewel That Was Ours, you probably will find this version of the story disappointing. You'll certainly find it simplified. The author apparently was very unhappy with much of the plot, and how poorly his puzzle pieces fit together. And there are some jagged edges indeed. The new upgraded book version entertains an entirely new emphasis, as convoluted as possible and luxuriating in the expansive - Dexter throws out more red herrings than a Danish fishmonger. Moreover, the book offers far more of Morse and you have a much more tightly written (and much more surprising)detective story thrown in for good measure.

The Kirkus reviewer must have gotten out of the wrong side of the bed prior to reviewing the book - missing a gaggle of charming little touches, from curious and deceptive chapter quotes, to vastly improved charaters. At least from the point of view of the television model - the novel raises the bar a great deal."