Sharpe's Revenge (1997)

I'll admit I'm a sucker for the Sharpe books and films. Both strands excellent.Sharpe's Revenge is a little more complex than usual; the English and French combining to sort out a problem?.As with most comments here, this episode belongs to Philip Whitchurch as Frederickson, and, yes, Cécile Paoli as Lucille is captivating.But Abigail Cruttenden as Sharpe's wife really started to rankle me in this and following episodes. Could be good acting, but I just don't find anything fanciable in her - somebody else said "airhead" - exactly. Mind you Sean Bean might agree in retrospect - how long did their real life marriage last?.Spare a thought for Féodor Atkine as Ducos. Excellent slimy character throughout. The running gag in the series of his stamped on set of good glasses is his undoing here.Now - to all other viewers in the UK and Ireland - watch the US population react with a few "no"s to "was this comment useful". Everything has to be positive over there.

Capt Fredrickson is a standup guy. Competent, loyal, unafraid. Maj Sharpe breaks his unspoken bond with Fredrickson. Too bad. A double heartbreak for the good Captain. He was a strong character, played well. It seems he will remain in France,post Napoleon. Sharpe's wife is a classic nit-nat who cannot make up her mind. She's also a fool to let others convince her to play games with her husband. So be it.

By now, we know the drill, Sharpe gets into trouble, and he and Harper have to fight to get out of it. It could start to get formulaic, but somehow it never does. The writers did an admirable job of editing Sharpe's fortress out of this one, although Wigram's reasons for calling Sharpe out are somewhat spurious. Fredrickson stomps all over Harper as sidekick-the-audience-most-wants-for-themselves, and Lucille is just lovely - although I don't think I can forgive her for not being straight with Fredrickson - she's a lot nicer in the book. Maillot deserved a bit more character development than he actually got too, but overall, not a bad effort. I really don't know what to make of Jane - she seems to have some weird deranged schizophrenic thing going on where one minute she's evil and the next confused. As much as I love Richard, I have to say he was outshone by Fredrickson in this one.

As usual , Sharpe shows up a senior officer at the start of the film , and get into a duel .The slimy Ducos makes another appearance , schemeing as always , with a plan to get Sharpe into even more trouble . Sharpe is arrested , and ends up on the run until he can prove his innocence .Capt Fredrikson and Sgt Harper seem to be the only people who Sharpe can rely on , although Sharpe gets some unexpected allies !Alexis Denisoff ( Lord Rossendale ) makes his first appearance in the series , in a role far removed from Wesley in the Buffy TV series .