Search - Foyle's War - Set 3 on DVD

Nina E.
Reviewed on 5/27/2016...

As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.
Creator: Anthony Horowitz
Stars: Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Anthony Howell. Each episode is a Who's Who of British acting talent.

This set has 4 episodes - All outstanding

"The French Drop" - In occupied France, a British agent named "Facteur" is killed when he steps on a mine after parachuting in near Rouen. The agent is linked to a tense standoff between Major General Sir Giles Messinger of MI5 and Colonel James Wintringham of Special Operations Executive. Back in Hastings, a body is found after an explosion in a bookshop. Although it seems apparent that Messinger's son William committed suicide, the facts available are inconsistent. Following the trail to SOE, and their "dirty warfare" training centre at Hill House, Foyle meets Wintringham and Hilda Pierce, and with the help of Milner and Stewart, is slowly able to uncover the true identity of the body and the story behind it. Foyle then reveals that William and Facteur are the same person, and that the explosion and body-theft were part of a cover-up in order to avoid SOE being shut down by MI5. He decides to remain quiet over SOE's blunders regarding the "Facteur" mission, and accepts accusations of mis-investigation from Messinger, losing the naval job but believing he has best aided the war effort

"Enemy Fire" - The RAF requisitions Digby Manor as a burns medical unit led by surgeon Patrick Jamieson and Dr. Brian Wrenn. Group Captain Lawrence Smythe disapproves of Jamieson's unconventional yet effective methods. The owner, Sir Michael Waterford, and his housekeeper, Mrs. Roecastle, are troubled at the eviction but comply. Numerous acts of sabotage then occur at the manor, and investigations reveal it to be work of the housekeeper, upset at the requisition. Meanwhile, Peter Preston, the new ARP warden informs Wrenn of his wife's affair. Andrew Foyle is relieved when his friend Greville Woods is sent on a night reconnaissance mission instead of him. The mission ends after Woods crashes and suffers serious burns, and Andrew goes AWOL in Stewart's flat, suffering from severe exhaustion. Gordon Drake, the central figure in the story, being somehow connected to everyone, is murdered. Foyle and Milner are able to determine that even though Wrenn initially assaulted him, it was Preston, his brother-in-law, who killed him over his harsh treatment of his sister.

"They Fought in the Fields" - After an air raid, two Luftwaffe airmen, Sabartovski and Schimmel, are captured and handed over to the POW interrogation service's Major Cornwall. Meanwhile, on Hugh Jackson's farm, his son Tom (who works as a guard at the POW camp) finds his father shot dead in an apparent suicide. Also on the farm are two Land Girls, Rose Henshall and Joan Dillon, and wood selector Barbara Hicks. Soon, another German airman, Weiser, is found nearby with his pistol missing, and he is taken to the camp's infirmary by Cornwall. However, irregularities come to light after examining the farmer's body, and Foyle finds blood while Milner finds a pig carcass in a freshly dug grave, revealing black marketeering at the farm. After Foyle learns Henshall is pregnant with Hugh Jackson's child, they also find Andrew Neame, the man who supposedly ran away with Jackson's wife 11 years ago. He denies running away with her, and the truth is revealed - Jackson killed and buried her, and that Weiser is actually a secret agent sent to silence Sabartovski, and he shot Jackson after being discovered.

"A War of Nerves" - Seeking to crack down on organised crime, Milner goes undercover in the building business, which leads Foyle's team to possible racketeering at the Talbot Shipyard. Assistant Commissioner Rose directs Foyle to investigate communist leader Raymond Carter, who is in Hastings with his fiancée and Rose's daughter, painter Lucinda Sheridan. Carter rebukes Foyle for his inquiry, and Sheridan goes on to explain his commitment to the People's Convention. The story then follows Royal Engineers Captain Hammond, Jack Archer, and Ernest Jones, who are called to the shipyard, and find a cache of money which they steal. Foyle later learns from a shop steward and union agitator, Derek Woodgate, that only 200 people work at the yard, while the Talbot brothers have been receiving wages for 400. Later, the body of Jones is found, killed by Talbot henchmen, and Hammond decides to booby trap a suitcase, ending up killing himself and the Talbot brothers. The money is then returned to the government.

?For more nuanced performances watch the DVDs and not the sh

Rudolf Schmid | Kensington, CA | 09/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"?Series 3 of the excellent series Foyle's war was first telecast in the U.S. on PBS on 11, 18, 25 Sep. and 3 Oct. 2005 and was released on DVD on 1 Nov. 2005. However, watching the DVDs of all series is preferable if one wants to see the unexpurgated episodes. Here are the first telecast dates for series 1-4 of Foyle's war:
series 1: telecast UK Oct.-Nov. 2002, US in Feb. 2003 (on Masterpiece theater, with Russell Baker introducing)
series 2: telecast UK Nov.-Dec. 2003, US in July-Aug. 2004 (on Mystery)
series 3: telecast UK Oct.-Nov. 2004, US in Sep.-Oct. 2005 (on Mystery)
series 4: was filmed in spring 2005 and will be telecast in 2006
The PBS broadcasts in the US are edited for a 90-minute period, which includes the Mystery (or Masterpiece theater) opening-closing sequences, between-program promos, etc. This means that each episode is really only 85 minutes long at best. Region 1 DVDs (U.S., Canada), in contrast, are about 100 minutes per episode, as are the region 2 DVDs (Europe--see www.amazon.co.uk): specific values for the 4 episodes on series 2 are (for region 1) 98.5, 97.9, 98.3, 98.3 minutes. Thus in the U.S. for the proper, more nuanced episode watching Foyle's war on DVD is essential and preferable to viewing it on PBS.

Note: In a 28 Sep. 2004 interview with creator-writer Anthony Horowitz, he was asked: "Do you realise that the show is edited to pieces when it's shown on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the states?" Horowitz replied: "Yes we're very sorry about that. It's not something I'd choose to do. It's American networking. I'd advise all American fans to get their hands on the English DVDs to see them in full." I note here that American fans need only get the *American* DVDs to see the episodes in full. Also, if you first watch the shortened PBS telecast, you may later wonder about some lengthier scenes when you watch the DVDs."

A Trip Back in Time: Solving Murders Amid the Bane of War.

mirasreviews | McLean, VA USA | 11/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Foyle's War" is as much an exploration of the era in which it takes place as it is a series of murder mysteries. Writer/creator Michael Horowitz based the stories on real institutions and circumstances of World War II, as they were experienced by the 2 generations of Englishmen and women whom we see in the films. The attention to detail in dress, speech, and production design is extraordinary. Series 3 takes place in 1941 and incorporates the Women's Land Army, the early years of Special Operations Executive, and the military's pioneering burn treatment centers into the mysteries. Michael Kitchen stars as quiet, perceptive Detective Superintendent Christopher Foyle, a widower and veteran of the First World War, who feels he should be contributing more to the war effort in spite of his great success as a crime-solver. Sergeant Paul Milner (Anthony Howell), a veteran who lost one leg and perhaps his marriage, is Foyle's right-hand man. And Samantha "Sam" Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks) is Foyle's spirited, youthful driver. "Foyle's War" is a wonderful trip back in time, where ever-popular murder mysteries are set against the intriguing background of a world at war.

The DVDs (Acorn Media 2005): PBS cut these episodes down to 85 minutes for American television. The DVDs contain the full 100-minute versions, which truly are better. There are 4 DVDs, with one episode per disc. Bonus features on Disc 1 are: "The Making of Foyle's War" (24 min) which follows one day of filming "Enemy Fire" on an RAF airstrip in Buckinghamshire, including filming the crashing spitfire. "Production Notes: Anthony Horowitz" (text) comments on history and characters. This was also on the PBS web site. "The Truth Behind `The French Drop'" (text) discusses the SOE that was created by Churchill in 1940 for purposes of sabotage and subversion. In "Cast Reflections" (text), 6 cast members comment on their characters and the series. There are also "Cast Filmographies" for 6 cast members.

"The French Drop" finds Foyle still dissatisfied with being a police detective and trying to get a transfer to Naval Intelligence. He's distracted from his discontent when a young man is found blown to bits in a book depository, apparently a suicide. The only clue to his identity is an engraved gold pocket watch, which indicates that he is William Messinger, son of Major General Giles Messinger (Ronald Pickup) of MI5 and an agent himself for the super-secret Special Operations Executive (SOE), specializing in "the arts of ungentlemanly warfare". Foyle tangles with William's commanding officer Colonel James Wintringham (Samuel West) and interdepartmental rivalries in the intelligence community to unravel this complex case in which no one seems to be who they say.

In "Enemy Fire", the Royal Air Force has requisitioned Digby Manor, the stately home of Sir Michael Waterford (John Wood), to use as a burn treatment center under the administration of the unorthodox Dr. Jamieson (Bill Paterson). Dr. Brian Wrenn (Jonathan Slinger), a surgeon at the center, has become frustrated by a rash of petty accidents that appear to be sabotage. Meanwhile, DCS Foyle's son Andrew (Juilan Ovenden), an RAF Spitfire pilot, is showing signs of battle fatigue from constant sorties and sleep deprivation, exacerbated by an incompetent mechanic, Gordon Drake (Shaun Dooley). Violent and predatory, Drake makes enemies left and right. So it's no great surprise when he's found dead. In Foyle's words, "It seems half of Hastings decided to do away with him at much the same time."

"They Fought in the Fields" refers to the volunteers of the Women's Land Army, who kept Great Britain in meat and potatoes throughout the war in exchange for a pittance wages. Two Germans airmen bail out of their plane as it crashes in the English countryside and are picked up by Detective Foyle and Sergeant Milner. On the nearby Jackson farm, Rose (Paula Jennings) and Joan (Jenny Platt) of the Women's Land Army assist elderly Mr. Hugh Jackson (Nigel Terry), while their outspoken tenant, pole selector Barbara Hicks (Stella Gonet), takes a dim view of men. Mr. Jackson is found murdered in his home, and another German parachutist is found dangling from a tree. Sam joins Rose and Joan on the farm in search of clues to Jackson's murder. And Foyle suspects something is going on between those 3 Germans at the POW camp where they have been incarcerated.

In "A War of Nerves", Foyle's undercover investigation into stolen black market supplies is interrupted when Assistant Commissioner Rose (Corin Redgrave) insists that he investigate left-wing activist Raymond Carter (Peter Capaldi), who has come to town for a meeting of "The People's Convention". Unexploded German bombs are falling all over. When Captain Hammond (Dugald Bruce-Lockhart), Jack Archer (Samuel Oatley), and Ernest Jones (Fergus O'Donnell) of the bomb disposal unit enter an abandoned machine shop at Talbot's ship yard to diffuse one of them, they find a stash of cash and decide to keep it. But Earnest is abducted, Commissioner Rose is putting pressure on everyone everywhere to incriminate Raymond Carter, and all roads seem to lead to the shipyard and its owners, the brothers Talbot (David Westhead & Matthew Flynn)."

BETTER AND BETTER

GEORGE RANNIE | DENVER, COLORADO United States | 12/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This series just keeps getting better and better. I loved Series 1 and 2 and didn't perceive that there was anyway Series 3 could be any better. I'm pleased to say that I WAS WRONG! Series three is awesome. The characters are more intriguing maturing in a most realistic manner with the stories being even more fascinating. A fine example is "A war of Nerves" that episode truly kept me on the edge of my seat. Likewise, "A French Drop" is spectacular!
If you're into "Good" mysteries, you can't get any better than this. So buy this disc; you'll love it!
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