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To call Leo McKern's caricature of Horace Rumpole a Dickensian creation of the highest regard isn't just an obvious assessment - it's a modern-day miracle.
This ìOld Bailey hackî (as he calls himself) sits like a blob in chairs too small for his plump frame and expresses his disdain for those who don't share his respect and empathy with the ins and outs of the law. To a Yank like yours truly, he embodies the iconography of an uber-Brit; he's smart as a tack, polite yet violently honest, and full of so much proper intention that it takes a true friend or a wife to ever get a chance to see the lovable bear underneath the barrister attire.
The first two sets of Rumpole of the Bailey have been out for months, but its final incarnation as a series is just hitting stores this week, and this is both a reason to celebrate and to mourn the series' passing. I don't mean to give the impression that Rumpole is God's gift to television mystery - for every moment of unadulterated genius it portrays, it gets mired in the minutiae of its increasingly labyrinthine plot constructs - but for what it is, Rumpole is a deliciously entertaining slice of legal dramedy from across the pond that works just as well today as it did when it first hit the telly in the late ë70s.
Unlike Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot, his contemporaries in the British crime game, McKern's on-camera persona is more frustratingly endearing (and, therefore, Dickensian) than anything else, and this challenge both opens up the series dramatically and puts a ceiling on it. Rumpole isn't afraid to let viewers dislike ìOld Bailey hackî immensely in one scene and then choose to look the other way and want to give him a giant platonic kiss on the lips in the next. Like the most memorable characters in Oliver Twist or David Copperfield, Rumpole's heart is not on his sleeve - it's resting very nicely, thank you, behind his undershirt, dress shirt, vest, coat, and folded arms. Horace can spar with the best of them, and in that regard he's an animal, but this is also a man who would take a bullet for just about anyone he felt an earnest interaction with.
Yet with 35 hours of Rumpole of the Bailey, it's pretty easy to burn out. While Rumpole's team of legal eagles is always fun to watch, after a few episodes of even the best parts of Rumpole of the Bailey, the element of novelty wears thin. It's a show to enjoy in fits and spurts, not marathons.
And enjoy fans will. These three box sets of Rumpole of the Bailey cost a pretty penny, but to have the entire series - with the exception of a couple other Rumpole relics that exist in other DVD packages - in one place allows for a thorough and wondrously enjoyable romp through some of the most beloved and famous British television the 20th century ever saw.
The Video: How Does The Disc Look?
Anyone excited about picking up these DVD box sets probably knows that the video quality of these episodes isn't exactly where your money is going. This is late ë70s and early ë80s British television; everything looks pretty flat and bland. But what A&E has done with these box sets is to preserve every video hiss and color imbalance evident within the series and gloss it up as well as possible. Color contrast, fine detail quality, and black level consistency are all poor here, but it's easy to be happy about the fact that regardless of that, Rumpole has never looked this good.
The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
The stereo sound mixes here are predictably flawed, but endearingly so. Dialogue and music both sound fine - if perhaps a bit tinny - and effects and atmospherics can hardly be discerned. But as far as preserving the British show's original charisma and spark, these mixes do all they can.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
All three sets house episode introductions with John Mortimer as well as some text additions: A John Mortimer biography; a selected bibliography and credits section; some info on the Old Bailey ; and, some text on the Official Executioners of Newgate Prison.
Set One's big unique addition is the bonus movie, Rumpole's Return. Set Two's huckleberry is an interview with John Mortimer called Mortimer's Musings .
Set Three gives us the most, though; we get a featurette showcasing Leo McKern's daughter Abigail (McKern's Memories), a montage of Mortimer's impromptu moments on the show (Spot the Barrister), and an up-close-and-personal featurette on the actual text Rumpole reads as part of his evening paper in Newspaper Evidence.
Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?
There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.
Final Thoughts
Transfers and mixes on these Rumpole of the Bailey sets are not going to impress, but the nice wealth of included extra features definitely make this an easy recommendation for fans of the beloved series. Those who haven't experienced the show before might want to rent and sample different episodes before they buy, but I'd wager that more than a few of you out there who haven't witnessed the power of Rumpole will get a kick out of these episodes.
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