Mystery Movie Review - Murder Is Easy

This is based on the third of Agatha Christie's lesser known Superintendent Battle books (4 in series).  There was a 1982 adaptation made with Bill Bixby starring as an American in England. Also a 2009 TV version that changed it up to have Miss Marple investigate, which wasn't part of the original book, but features a young Benedict Cumberbatch.  This 2023 adaptation is in two "episodes."  When I saw this advertised I couldn't wait to see it on BritBox.  Full disclosue, I haven't read the book.

Movie Blurb:

Based on the classic Agatha Christie mystery, "Murder Is Easy" follows the story of Luke Fitzwilliam who finds himself on the trail of a serial killer after meeting Miss Pinkerton on a train to London.

What's It About?:

  How can three people be murdered in an English village and nobody notice?  Miss Pinkerton (played by Downton Abbey's Penelope Wilton) is on a train to London with the sole purpose of getting Scotland Yard to investigate three deaths in her village that are all being dismissed as accidents.  She shares her concerns with fellow traveler Luke Fitzwilliam. Fitzwilliam is relocating to London for an aid job in the British government.  Shortly after exiting the train, Miss Pinkerton is run over on a London street and Fitzwilliam goes to the small town to investigate. 

Released: March 2024

Director: Meenu Gaur

Writer: Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre and Agatha Christie

Starring:

David Jonsson as Luke Fitzwilliam 

Mathew Baynton as Dr. Thomas

Nimra Bucha as Mrs. Humbleby

Morfydd Clark as Bridget Conway 

Penelope Wilton as Miss Pinkerton 

Phoebe Licorish as Rose Humbleby

Douglas Henshall as Major Horton

Reviews:

"What the writer Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre has done well here is to create the strange eeriness of an insular community, ostensibly genteel and polite but in other ways hostile."  Carol Midgley Times UK

"Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre’s adaptation of Murder is Easy falls between two stools. Too bland to excite the violent impulses of the Line of Duty generation, yet insufficiently zippy or playful to stir Christie aficionados."  Nick Hilton

Independent UK

"It's hard to take the novel seriously, and it’s impossible to take this silly... adaptation at its own estimation." Melanie McDonagh London Evening Standard

Trivia (From IMDB):

Filming locations: Sorn Castle, Sorn, Ayrshire, Scotland, UK (Lord Whitfield's House)

Title comes from Miss Pinkerton saying "Murder is easy for a certain type of person."  Another version has it "Murder is easy when nobody thinks it's murder."

Douglas Henshall (playing Major Horton) and Mark Bonnar (playing Rev. Humbleby) appeared together for 7 seasons as key characters in the crime drama Shetland

Tom Riley (Lord Whitfield) previously appeared in episodes of Miss Marple and Poirot

My Thoughts:

David Jonsson's acting as the lead character is stellar and I'll be watching for more from him!  The story is modernized a little by Fitzwilliam being from Nigeria and the remaining prejudices that come with that.  With that said, I hadn't read any of the reviews included here prior to watching, which I'm glad I didn't.  Critics said it remained fairly close to the book, which many didn't like the book to begin with so there wasn't much chance they would like the movie then anyway.

This had wonderful cinematography with great countryside views and interesting camera angles.  Acting was well done.

There are two criticisms I have.  One is the director's vision for Luke Fitzwilliam, actually all the characters, was clearly reserved and lackluster when the actor was giving so much more in the simplest of scenes.  You shouldn't cast fine actors and then hamstring them.  Secondly, there is a lack of zip for the storyline and it's the screenwriter's fault.  This could have been combined and shortened into one feature-length movie and accentuated the danger of a murderer among them to heighten the suspense. 

But with that said, I did enjoy it and was entertained.  That's more than I can say for many movies I ended up wasting time on.  I recommend with caveats that you know what to expect and take it in stride.

 

Thank you for reading this blog and please recommend to friends and family who will enjoy it.

Trailer

Mystery Movie Review-A Haunting in Venice vs Hallowe'en Party

A Haunting in Venice (2023) is very loosely inspired by the 1969 book Halloween Party by Agatha Christie, her 31st novel to feature Hercule Poirot.  The only other adaptation/filming of the book was for the Hercules Poirot series in 2007-released 2010 (Season 12 episode 2).

What's It About:

In 1947, post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, while employing ex–police officer Vitale Portfoglio to act as a bodyguard. On Halloween, mystery writer Ariadne Oliver convinces Poirot to attend a Halloween party and séance at the palazzo of famed opera singer Rowena Drake and to expose Joyce Reynolds, a World War I army nurse turned medium, as a fraud. The palazzo itself is claimed to be haunted by the spirits of children who, when the palazzo was an orphanage, were locked up and left to die when a plague swept through the city, with rumors that the spirits torment any nurses and doctors who dare to enter.

Rowena has hired Joyce to help her commune with her daughter Alicia, who reportedly died by suicide after her fiancé, chef Maxime Gerard, broke off their engagement. Among the guests in attendance are Maxime, Rowena's housekeeper Olga Seminoff, Drake family doctor Leslie Ferrier and his son Leopold, and Joyce's Romani assistant Desdemona Holland.

Director:  Kenneth Branagh

Writers: Michael Green and "Agatha Christie"

Stars:

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot

Michelle Yeoh as Joyce Reynolds

Jamie Dornan as  Dr. Leslie Ferrier

Kelly Reilly (Pride & Prejudice) as  Rowena Drake

Jude Hill as Leopold Ferrier

Tina Fey as  Ariadne Oliver

Dylan Corbett-Bader as  Baker

Amir El-Masry as Alessandro Longo

Riccardo Scamarcio as Vitale Portfoglio

Fernando Piloni as Vincenzo Di Stefano

Reviews:  Rotten Tomatoes: 76% 

The film received generally positive reviews from critics.

"The film resonates with qualities found in classics of the genre by Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles, and is simultaneously reminiscent in its aggressive theatrical approach to Branagh’s own neo-noir thriller “Dead Again” from 1991." Lee Zumpe of Tampa Bay Newspapers

"A Haunting in Venice is an adequate mystery, with shadows, mystique and a plot with twists and turns." Marie Asner of Phantom Tollbooth

"It's beautifully shot, perfectly set, and filled with great actors - and it's even mercifully under 2 hours. So if you want a good pre-Halloween snack with some chills and thrills but isn't too much, this is a fun one for you."  Paul Salfen of AMFM Magazine

Trivia 

The film had its red carpet premiere at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square at the West End London on September 11 with none of the cast members in attendance due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.

Clinched No. 1 on its opening weekend in the UK, Spain and Italy, but not in the USA.

Filmed on location in Venice. Branagh wanted to use as many physical sets possible for filming.

Released on September 15, 2023, Dame Agatha Christie's 133rd birthday.

Michelle Yeoh dropped out of The Electric State (2024) to star in this movie.

As of November 2023, this is the least successful Poirot movie by Kenneth Branagh on the box office world wide.

Sir Kenneth Branagh worked with the technical department to cause surprises for the cast. The actors were not warned about lights going out suddenly, or gusts of wind and slamming doors on the sets in which they worked, causing genuine confused and startled reactions from the actors to appear in the film. Kelly Reilly confirmed that filming the seance scene was a terrifying experience saying in an interview, "It scared the bejesus out of me."

Dr. Farrier mentions that medical staff accidentally killed the starving concentration camp prisoners they had liberated with milk. This is actually possible, and is caused by a condition known as "Refeeding Syndrome."

Bergen-Belsen, mentioned as the source of Dr. Farrier's trauma, was a real concentration camp during WW2, and was the camp Anne Frank died in.

Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill previously played father and son in Belfast (2021), also directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh.

My Thoughts:

Plot is nowhere near the same plot as Christie's book, things are so changed around that it is a different story all together than Agatha Christie and I don't think the changes made the mystery any better.  The characters may have had the same names but were completely changed and the motive and setups of murder and even killer were all different.  

The acting had some shining stars, in particular Michelle Yeoh as the medium and twelve-year-old Jude Hill as the boy Leopold Ferrier gave outstanding performances.  Jamie Dornan as  Dr. Leslie Ferrier and Kelly Reilly as Rowena Drake gave a good performances as well.  The music was particularly well done and added to the near horror mood.  Cinematography was dark (everything is dark, darker than the prior two) but intense and has the signature Branagh camera angles and style.

If I look at this as a mystery in the tradition of Christie only, I would consider it an entertaining and spooky movie, not necesarrily great, but enough.

Original "Halloween Party" Season 12 Episode 2 July 2007

During an English village's Hallowe'en party held in a mannor home, a young girl boasts of having witnessed a murder from years before. No one believes her tale until her body is found later on in the evening, drowned in the apple-bobbing bucket.

The popular author who was at the party contacts Poirot to rush to the village and solve the young girl's murder. He believes the girl's death is because she claimed to witness a murder several years prior and sets about to discover who was murdered years before (probably what was thought a suicide) and uncover who killed the young girl to keep the murder she claimed to witness quiet.  

David Sucket is the epitome of Christie's character and brings some humor to Poirot in this movie as well as his sensitivity to young people.  The story follows the book pretty closely.  The story is a little dark and has gothic/spooky touches but not bordering on horror atmosphere.  At no point in the story is Poirot disturbed by the deaths, mystery, or "haunted" by the spirits like the 2023 version.

Filmed at: Beckley Park, Beckley, Oxfordshire, England, UK (In particular: Topiary garden of the Drake residence) 

My Thoughts:

I really enjoy the original for its being close to the book.  It is a classic British mystery with plenty of twists upon twists in the plot.  David Suchet is the embodiment of Hercules Poirot-full stop. Although I enjoy Peter Ustinov's portrayals, David Suchet became Poirot completely and his acting is nuanced.  For this reason I always enjoy watching his portrayals of the greatest detective.  This version isn't as flashy or fast paced as Haunting, but I find it more entertaining since I enjoy British paced mysteries.  I will probably watch this version again and again, but not the 2023 Haunting.

DID YOU SEE BOTH?  What did you think of them?  Leave a comment please.

Mystery Movie - Crooked House

This is an Agatha Christie mystery without Miss Marple or Hercules Poirot and I think it is the best of her works.    “Writing Crooked House was pure pleasure and I feel justified in my belief that it is one of my best.” (Agatha Christie)

The 2017 movie of Crooked House is a mystery film directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, based on Agatha Christie’s 1949 novel of the same name.  The movie stars Glen Close and Gillian Anderson.

"In this classic Agatha Christie detective story, former diplomat Charles Hayward has returned from Cairo to London to become a private detective. When Aristide Leonides, a wealthy and ruthless tycoon, is poisoned in his own bed, Detective Hayward is invited to solve the crime. As the investigation deepens he must confront the shocking realization that one of the key suspects is Aristede's beautiful granddaughter, his employer and former lover; and must keep a clear head to navigate the sultry Sophia and the rest of her hostile family."

This film has lots of atmosphere combined with a secretive and eccentric family for a creepy feel.  The conclusion is a bit of a shock.  It is well done and reminds me of some of Hitchcock's best work. A must see for Christie fans, and mystery fans in general.

If you have seen this movie, please share your thoughts.

Here is the movie trailor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfLpwich4AE