Dick Francis Mysteries (In The Frame/ Blood Sport/ Twice Shy)

Four stars may be a little generous, but these are good entertainment. While a close inspection of the novels' main characters over the course of these three stories would be unlikely to yield serio-comic actor Ian McShane, exactly, you need to remember that this is the movies. The silver screen with booming sound, with (British-) Hollywood cliche writ large. Which by definition means license.There are similarities in both versions of each tale--the written and the filmed--enough to make the latter effort worth watching. Often key scenes are re-located, possibly for the sake of budget or regional availability of preferred actor. Likewise the screenplay often omits what I consider crucial links in plot development (though a veteran of the related novel may grudgingly connect the dots well enough).The point of this little essay, with its somewhat kvetching praise, is to encourage you to enjoy this video production. But enjoy it as three pretty good films with intrigue and plausible character development, not as really accurate renditions of the novels whose titles they bear.

As others have said Ian McShane is fun in the lead role, and Patrick McNee makes for an entertaining (if slightly wooden boss cum side kick in two of the stories).Things have changed a bit from the books but I'd guess that is mostly to do with the Irish/Canadian influences on location filming!The style of filming and music is rather dated now but that doesn't detract from the entertainment too much.What does detract from enjoyment is the DVD transfer quality. It looks and sounds as though it has been produced from an old VHS recording. Do you remember the slightly wobbly audio on VHS prior to the introduction of NICAM ?? Well that is what the sound often sounds like. The pictures are grainy and in 'Blood Sport' there were obviously some tape tracking issues or tape damage as there are a few brief episodes where there are distortions and interference typical of a poorly tracked VHS tape.Overall I have given it 3 stars because the stories are worth watching but the audio and visual quality of the DVD transfer pulls down the score for me.

three Dick Francis novel to telly-movies McShane did in a joint Ireland/Canada venture. So you are getting three full length movies in this set. Upfront, this is mainly for McShane fans rather than Dick Francis fans. They will be grumped because of the changes in the books. However...McShane is gorgeous as Francis' David Cleveland, Jock Club Investigator, who becomes involved with three mysterious outside of the track.In the Frame - Cleveland helps an old friend who has been robbed and his partner's wife is killed. The only trail to solving the murder is a painting that may be a forgery.Blood Sport - a multi-million dollar stallion was stolen and never seen again. Why would someone steal a horse they could not race or breed?? David is drawn into the mystery in Canada, where he must ride to save his life.Twice Shy - finds David helping his nephew's guardian. Her husband was killed in a rock climbing accident, and now someone is harassing her. Kidnapping, ransom and a special code of picking winners lead David on a merry chase.Any McShane fan will wish to add this super buy to their collection.

three Dick Francis novel to telly-movies McShane did in a joint Ireland/Canada venture. So you are getting three full length movies in this set. Upfront, this is mainly for McShane fans rather than Dick Francis fans. They will be grumped because of the changes in the books. However...McShane is gorgeous as Francis' David Cleveland, Jock Club Investigator, who becomes involved with three mysterious outside of the track.In the Frame - Cleveland helps an old friend who has been robbed and his partner's wife is killed. The only trail to solving the murder is a painting that may be a forgery.Blood Sport - a multi-million dollar stallion was stolen and never seen again. Why would someone steal a horse they could not race or breed?? David is drawn into the mystery in Canada, where he must ride to save his life.Twice Shy - finds David helping his nephew's guardian. Her husband was killed in a rock climbing accident, and now someone is harassing her. Kidnapping, ransom and a special code of picking winners lead David on a merry chase.Any McShane fan will wish to add this super buy to their collection.

I happen to like Ian McShane as an actor and I always loved Dick Francis as an author. This compilation is a very nice one. Keep in mind that these are older movies so be prepared for some irregularities in the filming. That is normal as far as I am concerned. These were entertaining movies and I am sure I will watch them again.

I guess I was late getting to the Ian McShane fan club. I fell in love with him during his raunchy turn as Al Swearengen in HBO's Deadwood series. I don't apologize for that; he made that role. He was absolutely brilliant and 100% convincing. He's also fun to watch as David Cleveland, a Jockey Club investigator in these 3 Dick Francis mysteries. Cleveland is a far cry from the booze-swilling, whore-mongering, potty-mouthed Swearengen, but he still has the "lady's man" thing going on. These mysteries are a bit dated (hairdos, clothing styles), and a bit corny, but they're enjoyable enough on a rainy Sunday afternoon when the track at Aqueduct is too sloppy to watch on TVG.

the dvds were made in conjunction with irish rather than british filmakers ... the plots are fun, the hero is a bit flash for modern times but Mc Shane plays the part well .. and the stories are all fun to watch - even if not too close to the original stories.dvd quality fine but sound a bit dodgy in that there were odd seconds when there was no sound. this did not diminish the enjoyment of the film for me cos I thought the price very reasonable ... and you gets what you pay for. Happy to deal with vendor again ... service fast and efficient and product still in original wrapper. He could not have known of the sound issue ... and for the price charged ... a great little purchase.

Good service,good product.

Any relation to Dick Francis's books is purely accidental. I was very dissapointed in this series. The tone of the series is so different to the books. They are much more violent and do not impart the feel of the books. I guess it is just a case of loving the books and not the way they were adapted. Ian McShane is much better than this.

great album /dvd

al ok