“A
long way from her native Australia,
a female detective has come to Morocco
to rescue a young Bedouin woman who
is being held prisoner for daring to insist
that a natural event, a violent sandstorm
that wiped out her village, had not been
the cause of her family’s death but had
covered up their murder in the enjoyable
and amusing period mystery romp Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears...” IF
YOU HAVE ENJOYED WATCHING the popular Australian Miss Fisher mystery
series set in the 1920s and starring Essie Davis (The Babadook; True History
of the Kelly Gang) as the hot and sassy detective Phryne Fisher, then you
will also enjoy this movie spin-off from the series.
And if you have yet to experience the delightful Miss Fisher, here is your chance.
Feisty, determined, unconventional and enterprising, this female detective is
full of surprises. She will never give up on her cases, even in the most perilous
of situations.
“Marvellously
tongue-in-cheek
period adventure with
a very original
glamorous flapper
detective…
Great Fun!”
It
is 1929 in a Jerusalem still under Colonial rule, some years after a sandstorm
wiped out an entire desert village; the only survivor a small child who remembers
that she was collecting honey from the mountains when three men rode up and
her family and the rest of the villagers were shot. Soon afterwards, the sandstorm
covered up all trace of the crime.
Shirin Abbas (Izabella Yena) is now grown up and has been arrested as an agitator
for insisting that her family were murdered rather than killed by the natural
disaster. She wants justice but there are those who strongly maintain it never
happened and was just a tragic accident.
Phryne has come to Jerusalem on a mission to save Shirin from her prison cell
and deliver her to her uncle, Sheikh Kahlil Abbas (Khaled Naga: Tyrant),
who is staying with Phryne's friend Lord "Lofty" Lofthouse (Daniel Lapaine:
Catastrophe; Black Mirror) at his stately home in England.
Fearlessly tackling countless obstacles, including crossing swords with the
tricky Sir Vincent "Monty" Montague (Ian Bliss) — who accuses her, among
other things, of mixing with "undesirables" — Phryne eventually reaches
Shirin and escapes with the young Bedouin on a dramatic chase through the streets
and out into the desert, where they boldly drop onto a moving train (with the
glamorous Phyrne in high heels!) on their way to the safety of England. Or are
they?
Lofty, his wife Eleanor (Jacqueline McKenzie: Romper Stomper; Deep Blue Sea)
and Lofty's younger brother Jonathan (Rupert Penry-Jones: MI-5; Black Sails;
Spooks) all welcome Shirin, but she is reluctant to stay in England as she
wants to go back to Palestine to get justice for her family.
Believing that Phryne has been killed while on the roof of the train, her Aunt
Prudence (the redoubtable Miriam Margolyes: Harry Potter; Call The Midwife)
and Phryne's friend DI Jack Robinson (Nathan Page: Underbelly; The Secret
Life of Us) have turned up at Lofty's stately home for a memorial service.
A man claiming to have information for Shirin is shot before he can reveal his
part in Shirin's past. She believes he is her guardian angel but she now has
reason to doubt this. He leaves behind a mysterious pendant that belonged to
Shirin's mother (Nicole Chamoun).
Essie's friend Professor Linnaeus (John Waters) helps to further uncover the
mystery of the Crypt of Tears, a tomb dating back to the time of Alexander the
Great and from which a priceless emerald was stolen some years before thus,
according to legend, unleashing a terrible curse.
On a fact-finding mission to the desert site of the village and the discovery
of the ancient tomb at the centre of the curse, Shirin begins to piece together
what really happened all those years ago.
There are also two murders to solve and a family secret is revealed in the marvellously
tongue-in-cheek period adventure with a very original glamorous flapper detective,
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears. Great Fun!
Following three series of the internationally-acclaimed hit detective drama
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, which saw her strutting her stuff on
the back streets of Melbourne brandishing a pearl-handled pistol and her razor-sharp
wit, the fabulous Miss Fisher returns for a feature-length adventure.
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears also features: John Stanton as Crippin;
Hugo Johnstone-Burt (San Andreas; Home and Away) as Constable Hugh Collins;
Ashleigh Cummings (NOS4A2) as Miss Dorothy "Dot" Williams; Travis McMahon
as Bert; and Anthony Sharpe as Cec.
Composer is Greg J Walker; Director of Photography is Roger Lanser ACS; Writer
is Deb Cox; Executive Producers are: Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox; Producer is Fiona
Eagger; and Director is Tony Tilse.
*
Based on the Phryne Fisher Mystery books by Kerry Greenwood and following
its British premier on UKTV's Alibi, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears
is released on DVD by Acorn Media International in the UK on 4 May 2020.
"Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears… marvellously tongue-in-cheek period
adventure with a very original glamorous flapper detective… Great Fun!" —
****
Maggie Woods, MotorBar
"Indiana Jones meets Miss Marple" — Daily Mail
"A complex serio-comic caper involving toxic toffs, stolen jewels and the sole
survivor of a massacred Bedouin trible" — Critic's Choice, The Sunday
Times
"Essie Davis: the best actress you may never have heard of… fans will be delighted"
— Pick of the Day, The Sun TV Magazine
“A
long way from her native Australia,