A Taste for Death - 1988 - Why is a key scene cut?
Movie girl: ATFD is one of the finest P.D. James series. I think all of the characters and the situations are very well-handled, though I do find that the church murders are extremely gruesome. If we do not view the series in this respect, we find ourselves impressed with the people and the murders and motivations all tying in together. Each character is intriguing and integral to the plot.
I found myself really liking Paul Berowne and his kindness to others. Though he was a cabinet minister, he still had time to befriend the nurse or companion to his mother, empathize with a drowning victim, hastily befriend a priest and join another church he had never belonged to and maybe assisted a lonely and misunderstood hobo.
Of course his faithless wife did not care. Money and position mattered to her and she could not see a frightening possibility which may have been a driving force in the murders. Both Paul and the hobo are gruesomely murdered in the church he recently attended, and Paul's mother, a crusty aristocratic type of woman really loved her son and turns to AD to solve the murders.
One thing that really disappointed me was the fact that a key scene was cut from the finished print! When I first viewed the series in the late 80's with my husband, an important scene with Father Barnes was there. Unfortunately, I was short of VHS tapes and used the tape for something else after viewing it!
So the scene was missing on a professional boxed set I bought on VHS later! Sadly, the DVD set has the same problem. Yes, it is still a very good and scary mini-series, but does not carry the same inherent impact it did when I first viewed it. Of course the storyline in the book contained the elements I am referring to.
No spoiler here, but the character of Father Barnes was very significant in the story. Yes, he is still to be seen in the series now, but a very important scene was actually cut pertaining to him! A reader of the book would notice at once (if watching the mini-series) which seen I am referring to. I will only say that it occurs in the last third of the book and also once occurred later in the series!
Does anyone know why these wonderful series are cut? The same thing happened in Shroud for a Nightingale, but was not quite so relevant to the story! I think the directors and screenwriters may feel that these mini-series are too lengthy, so they go on through cutting scenes they do not deem to be necessary! Wish I had been there to take a vote on it! P.D. James is my favorite author and I did enjoy both books and mini-series!