Ordeal by Innocence
                                                                                                               
Director: Desmond Davis
Year: 1984
Rating: 6.5
Agatha Christie is up to her old tricks. Murder. Within a wealthy family. That was often her preoccupation. Those were the kind of people she knew and were interested in. And perhaps wanted to kill. This family is the Argyle's living in an isolated country area outside of a small seaside town where the fog covers the streets at night and the streetlights throw shadows of loneliness. This is a production by Cannon Films and it seems an odd choice compared to most of their fare. It takes it seriously though - well with one topless scene near the end - and shoots it in lovely surroundings. It is a good cast but till I saw the topless scene, I was assuming this was a TV film but it got a real theatrical run. Donald Sutherland (RIP) has the main role but he gets help from Faye Dunaway, Christopher Plummer, Ian McShane and Sarah Miles. It is a decent mystery, the murders begin to multiply and good luck guessing the killer.  Christie's book was published in 1958.



Two years earlier the mistress of the house and the mother to a number of children that she plucked from orphanages is murdered by a hit to the head by a poker. The dead woman is Faye but we get a few flashbacks as we go on. She is married to Plummer. One of her sons is found guilty and hanged. His alibi was that a man picked him up hitchhiking during the time period when the mother was bashed. Now suddenly a stranger (Sutherland) shows up at their door saying he wants to give a contact book back to the owner. The owner had left it in his car two years ago right before he went away. The owner is the hanged man of course. Everyone wants him to leave it alone.



"Don't you want to know who killed her". Not really as she was hated by one and all. "Don't you realize that means one of you is a murderer?". But he won't leave it alone and others have to die. Sutherland is great as it finally dawns on him that he has brought death and not justice.  There was a three-part version of this produced in 2018 that I thought was terrific. This is fine with good performances from all.  The film's score was composed by none other than Dave Brubeck. It often seems to clash with what is happening on the screen but he only had two weeks to do it. It might be worth listening to on its own. 90-minutes directed by Desmond Davis (Clash of the Titans).