Average Rating: 
Rating: - An Absolutely Brilliant Adaptation Of Potter's Screenplay!
I'm hesitant to call this a musical, though that's precisely what it is. Dennis Potter wrote several musicals over the years, using different eras of music. This one is, by far, the best! The music here is from the 1940s. The drama, however, is actually a contemporary one. A (failed?) mystery writer named Philip Marlowe is hospitalized with a severe case of psoriasis...more corrrectly, psoriatic arthropathy (which Potter also suffered from). He has this one great novel in his past, though..."The Singing Detective." Marlowe's illness is terribly severe, and throughout the film we join his delirium as he relives events from his childhood, falls into a fascinating fantasy based on his novel, and comes back (from time to time) to the events currently happening in the hospital. These three streams are brilliantly intertwined, and the resulting story is absolutely THE BEST THING *EVER* TO HIT TELEVISION! This is *not* hype or exaggeration! The other reviewers are completely correct in making this same claim. If you've never seen this one...well, it's your loss....Dennis Potter died a few years ago from pancreatic cancer. He was simply a GREAT writer. He wrote *many* screenplays...dramas for both TV and film, as well as the "musicals" noted above. He also wrote novels. His best, I think, are brilliantly detailed studies of a mind either gradually breaking down, or gradually coming back from some kind of breakdown. "The Singing Detective" falls into the latter category. That alone would be enough to recommend this video...but the fact that it's *also* a "musical" is what makes it utterly remarkable! I honestly don't think I have the words to be able to say just how it transcends to the level of something almost divinely inspired. At the risk of saying it one too many times, folks, this one is TRULY GREAT! If you're able to find it, there's an interview with Dennis Potter that was originally broadcast on the Bravo channel shortly before his death. He was quite sick at the time, and he took occasional sips from his flask of pain medication during the interview. He talks some therein of "The Singing Detective." Yes, Marlowe shares the diagnosis of psoriatic arthropathy...but, he's an entirely different personality than Potter himself. Based on truth...expanding into the realm of the literary. It's an interesting insight into the brilliance of Potter as a writer. Meanwhile, "The Singing Detective" is something you really *must* see! *VERY* HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
Rating: - Joy and Sorrow
A work of genius - rich, multilayered, poignant and funny.Michael Gambon plays Philip Marlow, a writer of mystery novels who is lying in a hospital, disfigured by psoriasis and crippled by psoriatic arthritis. Tormented and angry, he launches caustic tirades against anyone who draws near. As he drifts in and out of delirium, we are allowed unique access to his mind. We watch a detective story he is creating unfold on film, interwoven with memories of his childhood and interjected with fragments of present events. It all flows together seamlessly, combining past and present, fantasy and reality. The journey into Marlow's psyche is far from pretty. Sex and death intermingle in a way that is not always pleasant. Be forewarned.
The Singing Detective is a vast and complicated work; it cannot be done justice in a brief review. I wish to point out but one of it's accomplishments. Bill Paterson portrays a psychiatrist who treats Marlow. Their interaction is genuine in a way that has no parallel in the history of cinema, not to the best of my recollection. No sappiness and not a hint of fakery. The interaction between the two is an honest meeting of two brilliant minds - one calm, one agitated. It's funny, too. Marlow: 'Are you pretending to be eccentric or are you genuinely cuckoo?'. The doctor : 'mm Hmm.' The sentimental musical score is a vehicle for that side of Marlow that he does not express directly. We learn through the music that the rough exterior is not all there is to the man. The music is deftly set, with an ironic edge, a sweet accompaniment to bitter scenes. It serves to underscore the pain that lurks beneath boisterous exteriors, and in doing so, gives us a sense of the inner torment of the hero. In the seventeen years since I first saw this, the voice of the young Marlow has reverberated always in my mind, as only sounds which work their way into your unconscious will do. It was a day of joy when the DVD arrived. Eagerly I ripped off the wrapping and placed it in the player. Oh, the dismay. The transfer is awful. Simply awful. The picture blurs whenever there is movement. If you halt the DVD at such a moment you can see lines streaking across the picture - a sign of a very poor transfer. Also, there are wavy lines flowing across the screen - as one would see in a VHS. Dennis Potter, along with the director Jon Amiel and the cast of brilliant actors, created something that is as close to perfection as one can get. This horrendous DVD does his memory a great disservice.
Rating: - Heartrending - compelling - brilliant - THE BEST EVER
For some years, I've been bending my friends' ears about "The Singing Detective". I entirely concur with those other reviewers who called it the greatest television production of all time. Potter used everything he had, most notably the long running time of the series, to create a one-of-a-kind masterwork that may never be topped. I've visited London many times since first seeing TSD, and every time I'm in the Tube, I find myself looking towards the tunnel entrance and hearing, "PHILLLLLLIIPPPP!!!" Aside from that, Michael Gambon may have many years of brilliant performances left in him, but this will be his monument. Robert Downey Jr., indeed. It is to laugh.Release this film on DVD now! Are you listening, BBC Films? Give it to Criterion and let them do the job they do best - give us a "Singing Detective" set on DVD with a ton of extra material on Dennis Potter, too! If you haven't seen this, drop what you're doing and order it. You definitely won't regret it.
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