Writer/producer Tom Dalton’s speculative fiction about the real-life 11-day disappearance of mystery book doyenne Agatha Christie, well enough received to generate two follow-ups (AGATHA AND THE CURSE OF ISHTAR/’19; AGATHA AND THE MIDNIGHT MURDERS/’20 - each with a different Christie, neither seen here), is pretty bad, even amateurish.* The main idea has Christie, suffering writer’s block as her husband moves for divorce, working her way thru the crisis by taking on an unsolved murder case which she handles (surprise, surprise) as if it were one of her novels. Dalton largely follows the general pattern of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, inviting all the likely suspects to an isolated spot in hopes of gaining an inheritance, leading to deaths & investigation until the murderer or murderers revealed. Nothing wrong there, it’s execution, clues & logic that go missing. One misperception that is cleared up is the idea of a limitless pool of great British character actors. Starting from the top, with Ruth Bradley’s Christie coming across as a sort of Michelle Dockery stand-in. (And why go for Dockery? Christie famously big-boned, tall & horsey.) Everyone else also subbing for some better/better-known Masterpiece Theatre regular. Add in a lack of period flavor & style (cars & clothes not bad, but ‘20s attitudes & speech completely missing) and it becomes hard to even call this one a missed opportunity.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: An alternate solution to the disappearance in AGATHA/’79; Michael Apted directing the Mutt & Jeff team of Vanessa Redgrave and Dustin Hoffman (not seen here).
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID/LINK: As mentioned in the credits, this was made without input or approval from the Christie Estate. And they approved Kenneth Branagh’s ORIENT EXPRESS/’17 and DEATH ON THE NILE follow-up? Yikes! And that cutesy misguided MISS MARPLE series for Geraldine McEwan & Julia McKenzie? Best head back to the great Joan Hickson, given Agatha Christie’s personal imprimatur to play Marple. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2015/10/agatha-christies-miss-marple-1984-92.html
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