Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders (1974) (TV)

Director:

Jeremy Kagan

Writers:

Nicholas Meyer (writer)
Robert van Gulik (novel)

Release Date:

29 December 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Plot:

China, 7th century. On their way to a provincial centre Judge Dee and his three wives spend the night at a taoist monastery...

Plot Keywords:

Judge | Monastery | Murder | 7th Century | China

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Khigh Dhiegh	...	Dee Jen-djieh (Judge Dee)
Mako	...	Tao Gan
Soon-Tek Oh	...	Kang I-Te
Miiko Taka	...	Jade Mirror
Irene Tsu	...	Celestial Image
Susie Elene	...	Miss Ting
James Hong	...	Prior
Beverly Kushida	...	Bright Flower
Ching Hocson	...	White Rose
Yuki Shimoda	...	Pure Faith
Robert Sadang	...	Tsung Lee
Keye Luke	...	Lord Sun Ming
Frances Fong	...	Mrs. Pao
Tommy Lee	...	True Wisdom
Richard Lee-Sung	...	First Driver

Also Known As:

The Haunted Monastery

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

ABC Circle Films

Trivia:

In the novel "The Haunted Monastery", on which this movie is based, Jade Mirror is the name of the dead, embalmed former abbot. In the movie, this name is given as that of Judge Dee's first wife. In the 16 Judge Dee books written by Robert van Gulik, Dee's first and second wives' names are never mentioned. His third wife is only mentioned by her family name, (Miss) Tsao, prior to her marriage to the magistrate. Her personal name is never given.

Very pleasant period-piece mystery

All the signs were there that this would have been a series, and I am sure I would have watched and enjoyed it, just as I watched and enjoyed the "Ellery Queen" series of about the same vintage, and the later (and better) "Nero Wolfe" on A&E. This one shares their format of an interesting setting used to lay out the facts of a classical-style mystery story, and you get the chance to solve it yourself. But, for some sad reason, even though mysteries are an enduringly popular genre in print, this type of TV just never quite catches on.

The decision to set the story in old China was clever, but maybe the audience in 1974 expected a kung fu movie (which, much as I like that genre too, I was glad to see they had the courage to almost completely set aside in favor of another type of story). No idea where you might get to see this one today, but if it shows up on late-night TV, set your VCR.