The Cater Street Hangman

I think it was a fantastic movie all the actors and actresses were really great and it was a gorgeous film and it showed just how people were treated who were in a lower class and how the rich treated them as well.

I enjoy Anne Perry's novels, both Thomas Pitt and also William Monk (which would have also made good material for a movie). But I had in mind someone more like Alan Rickman in his younger days. Is there no one able to speak as he does, coming up in the ranks of actors? The character of Charlotte would have been better with someone a little stronger in ability to make Charlotte the determined character she was. I am sure everyone pictures their own ideals when reading a book, but changing the story a bit doesn't bother me as much as making the characters not fit the story. Thomas Pitt was described as having a beautiful voice and brown, not blonde, hair. Anyway. I do so wish they would try a movie using William Monk and his friend, a nurse from the Crimea. (By the way, AP's books have also become audio books, the best ones read by David McCallum, another gentleman with a talented and wonderful voice). I do believe they may have tried making this one because it is the first of the Inspector Pitt series. The stories get better as time progresses. Making one like Pentecost Alley, or Ashworth Hall would be much more entertaining. To have pitted the future of other dramatizations on this one book, was not a good idea as can be seen.

The characters were far from stereotypical...with the exception of Charlotte's father and mother. Of course, this was the intention...Mr & Mrs Ellison represented the mores of the day while Charlotte and Pitt were representative of a new day.

While the movie stayed fairly close to the book, I have to admit to being disappointed that the motive was sanitized. The fact that the motives in Perry's books are sometimes rather seamy make them stand out from other mysteries dealing with the Victorian era. Possibly that has something to do with Anne Perry's own history. If the book had ended the way the movie did, I probably wouldn't have bothered reading any of her others.

I enjoyed this movie. I thought it was very well done and I cannot wait to see more shows. The acting was great. Mr McCarthy and Ms Hawes did an excellent job of bring the lead characters to life.

While the Victorian social and moral notions are roasted as thoroughly as a movie can without losing sight of the murder mystery plot, I especially welcome the degree of detailed accuracy enforced in the wardrobe, the accessories and hair. The stiffness of the fabrics, the bustles, the cropped fringes and the minimal makeup reinforced the feel and look of the rising middle classes in 1880s Victorian London. Kudos to the staff and departments ruling those decisions. Thankfully that very realism makes this production very tricky to date so little of the movie's contemporary make-up and hair styling filtered through.That is too rare these days...that I had to look the date up.