Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Series 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

The Lady with the Golden Gun

Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 31, 2013

Britain has Holmes, Poirot and Marple; Canada has Murdoch; and America has Philip Marlowe and Lt. Columbo. Who is Australia's signature fictional detective? A leading candidate is Phryne (pronounced "Fry-nee") Fisher, the heroine of a series of popular novels and stories by prolific author Kerry Greenwood and now of a television adaptation that began airing in February 2012. Response to the initial run of thirteen one-hour episodes by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation was overwhelmingly favorable. A second season is currently filming.

Greenwood set the mystery series in her native Melbourne, a city on whose history she had become an expert. Like many popular detective stories, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries takes place in the past, specifically the 1920s, when World War I had swept away the old world's certainties, and winds of change, both good and bad, blew from all directions. Greenwood conceived of Phryne Fisher as a shameless nonconformist, which makes her the ideal person to take advantage of such an environment. Brazen, direct, unconcerned with how others judge her (just as long as they don't make the mistake of ignoring her), equally comfortable in a man's world and at ease with her own femininity, and defiantly committed to remaining a "Miss", Phryne is a woman so ahead of her time that anyone who opposes her doesn't stand a chance.

As the extras on this Blu-ray set confirm, Greenwood worked closely with the creators of the TV series, Deb Cox and Fiona Eagger, and has repeatedly declared her satisfaction with the result. Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries appears to be one of those rare page-to-screen translations where both the author and the fans feel that everyone involved got it right. The only significant change was requested by the international distributor, All3Media, which asked that the name "Phryne" be dropped from the title so that they wouldn't have to keep explaining how to pronounce it. (For the record, the name is Greek and belonged to a famous courtesan.)

The first episode, "Cocaine Blues", serves as the series pilot. It opens with the return of Phryne Fisher (the phenomenal Essie Davis) to Melbourne after many years abroad, during which she experienced numerous adventures and picked up a wide array of skills. (Her years in Paris are the subject of Episode 7, "Murder in Montparnasse".) Like almost everything Phryne does, her arrival is an event, as massive trunks are unloaded at the dock, to the amusement of Phryne's old friend, Dr. Elizabeth Macmillan a/k/a "Dr. Mac" (Tammy MacIntosh). Phryne checks into the Windsor Hotel, where she receives a luncheon invitation from another friend, Lydia Andrews (Miranda Otto, better known as Middle Earth's Eowyn).

But when Phryne arrives at the Andrews home, she discovers that Lydia's husband, John (Brendan Parry Kaufmann), has died suddenly, while one of the servants has left abruptly the same morning. Lydia is in shock, while the whole state of affairs scandalizes Phryne's very proper Aunt Prudence (Miriam Margoyles, in a recurring role), who was also invited to attend. Matters take an even more serious turn, when John's death is ruled a poisoning, and a young Catholic housemaid, Dot (Ashleigh Cummings), is arrested for the crime by Detective Inspector John Robinson (Nathan Page), whom everyone calls "Jack", and his assistant, Constable Collins (Hugo Johnstone-Burt).

By the time the episode concludes, Phryne has exonerated Dot and revealed the true culprit, but not before exposing a drug smuggling operation, a house of prostitution and an illegal abortionist. In the process, she has decided to open a detective agency and picked up several key members of the inner circle upon which she will come to rely: cab drivers Cec and Burt (Anthony Sharpe and Travis McMahon), who are handy fellows for tailing suspects and making inquiries, and the aforementioned Dot, who becomes Phryne's maid and eventually her all-around companion. Another member joins their group in Episode 2, "Murder on the Ballarat Train", when Phryne moves into her newly procured mansion in the suburb of St. Kilda, where the house is overseen by a proficient butler, whose name, appropriately enough, is Mr. Butler (Richard Bligh).

Already in the pilot episode, however, key elements of Phryne Fisher's character have been established. Despite the flirtatious surface and the glitzy flapper wardrobe, she is not someone to be taken lightly. She enjoys her wealth but never takes it for granted, because it's not something she grew up with. It came to her unexpectedly (along with a title she rarely uses), because numerous relations died fighting in World War I, leaving her elderly father as the sole claimant. Because Phryne knows what it means to be poor and helpless, she has resolved to enjoy to the fullest every freedom and opportunity that wealth allows her.

At the same time, when Phryne sees someone helpless and disadvantaged, as Dot is in the pilot episode, she cannot stand idly by. Her wealth gives her the privilege of picking her cases, which is why she so often ends up investigating matters that concern neglected children (Episodes 2 and 9), working women (Episodes 8 and 10), striking workers (Episode 4) or minorities (Episode 3). She goes where she senses injustice.

Phryne Fisher learned about evil at an early age, when her younger sister, Jane, was abducted and presumably murdered (a body was never found). Her reason for returning to Melbourne is the apprehension and imprisonment of Murdoch Foyle (Nicholas Bell), the man Phryne believes to be her sister's killer, though his arrest was for an unrelated charge. Phryne intends to use every resource at her command to ensure that Foyle never leaves prison, and in the pilot she visits Foyle to tell him so. Foyle responds that he has never admitted to harming Jane Fisher, whose unresolved fate has tormented Phryne for years. In Episode 11, "Blood and Circuses", a new case brings her back to the scene of Jane's disappearance, and additional facts emerge. Will the truth finally be revealed?

If Murdoch Foyle is the dark male shadow in Phryne's life, he is counterbalanced by the presence of DI Jack Robinson, whose initial resistance to the interference of "Miss Fisher" in police matters is quickly replaced by first grudging, then bemused and finally charmed admiration at her skill and persistence. A private, buttoned-up civil servant, Jack is the perfect foil to Phryne. The more she tries (and fails) to get a reaction from him, the more interested she becomes in what makes Jack tick. The two are, of course, wholly incompatible, but that's why they're fun to watch. By the end of the season, almost every exchange between them has become hypercharged.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Series 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

IMDb lists the shooting format of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries as the Sony CineAlta HD camera, which is consistent with the look of the final product. The series' cinematographer is Australian veteran Roger Lanser, whose varied credits include numerous films with Kenneth Branagh. In the extras, Lanser says that he looked at sources including HBO's Boardwalk Empire and various films by the Coen Brothers to develop the period look of the series.

Acorn Media's 1080i, AVC-encoded Blu-rays for Miss Fisher offer a generally superior image, with a few minor negatives that I'll get to in a moment. As with most digitally acquired projects, the image is generally sharp, clear and detailed, with good black levels and nicely balanced contrast. The color palette is consistent with the distinctive credit sequence in which drips of water (or is it blood?) expand into delicate watercolors of the main characters. Digital color grading has cast a cheerful historical sheen over much of the scenery, even when the subject matter turns dark. Stronger, more saturated colors are used for some of Phryne's more daring outfits, although the alert viewer will notice that, when Phryne wants to be noticed, her signature hue is white.

The minor negatives in the picture are slight but recurrent video noise, primarily in long shots, which may be a function of the 1080i formatting, and a few fleeting "combing" artifacts that would almost certainly be eliminated by 1080p treatment. The latter should not discourage anyone from acquiring the series, because they are so infrequent and flash by so quickly that most viewers will not see them. As the spouses and families of reviewers will confirm, we sometimes (as Horatio said of Hamlet) "consider too curiously".

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Series 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The original stereo mix for Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is presented in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0, and it sets exactly the right tone for the series, because it's most important constituent is the period soundtrack consisting of original tunes from the 1920s (pops and static included) and the stylistically complementary score composed by Greg Walker, who is also responsible for the catchy opening theme. Dialogue is clear and centered, and as seems to be typical of Australian TV, no heavy accents are heard. There is occasional gunplay in Miss Fisher and a few events that might qualify as action sequences, but most of the sound cues are environmental in nature, and the soundtrack handles them capably and gracefully.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Series 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Although the Blu-ray jacket indicates that the extras are 480i, they have been formatted on the disc at 1080i. To my eye the resolution appeared to be that of standard definition which has been upconverted.

• The Look (19:01)
• Third assistant director Ian "Scooter" Welbourn describes the task of organizing extras for a period series, which involves extensive logistics, because of the makeup, hair and costumes.
• DP Roger Lanser discusses the lighting and color palette.
• Costume designer Marion Boyce describes Phryne's wardrobe.
• Tony Tilse, who directed the first episode and several others, talks about establishing the tone of the series.
• Scott Zero of Chroma Media discusses the series' visual effects.
• Production designer Robert Perkins talks about creating Phryne's house and other major sets.
• Makeup designer Anna Karpinski describes the challenges of recreating Phryne's look as Greenwood described it in her novels.



• Meet the Creators (4:47): Interviews with Greenwood, Cox and Eagger.



• Set Tour (3:38): Greenwood walks through various sets, admiring the detail.



• Cast Interviews (8:36): Interviews with Davis, Page, Johnstone-Burt and Cummings.



• Vehicles of the Series (2:06): "Bob", the owner of the red Hispano-Suiza car that Phryne drives in the series, describes the vehicle's advantages—and its rarity today.



• Steam Train Experts (1:29): A brief conversation with Jim Murty and Steve Lumsden, the pair of eccentrics whose job it is to provide the antique steam train used in Episode 2, "Murder on the Ballarat Train".



• Locations of Melbourne (4:12): A series of clips from various episodes, with the name of the district where each location was found.



• Photo Gallery (2:00): A slide show of production photographs.



• St. Kilda Tribune pdf: Accessible only in a BD-ROM drive, this one-page Adobe Acrobat document is formatted as the front page of a mock newspaper dated May 13, 1928. Some of the items are real (e.g., the article on costume designer Marion Boyce), and some are clearly not (such as the ad for Drummonds: "For the Best Murder Weapons This Side of the Pacific—We've got 'em all").



• Trailers: At startup, disc 1 plays trailers for Acorn Media, Agatha Christie's Marple and Cloudstreet, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Series 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Miss Fisher's plots can't compete with Agatha Christie's for the intricacy of their puzzles and the cleverness of their red herrings. Their strength lies in the evocation of an era and an array of memorable characters vividly brought to life by a talented cast. Acorn Media has scored another hit with a classy presentation of a distinctive and original series. Here's hoping that Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries marks the beginning of a greater availability of Australian TV, of which too little has been released in first-rate versions in Region A. Highly recommended.