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Ordeal by Innocence (1984)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 4/25

OrdealI
4/25: There was a huge run of murder mystery films based on Agatha Christie's books in the 80's, and Ordeal by Innocence was among them.

This time, it doesn't feature Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple but a paleontologist for a detective. For the role, Donald Sutherland is chosen. Neo-noir fits him well, and he has the perfect demeanor for it. The cast is strong: Christopher Plummer, Faye Dunaway, Ian McShane, Sarah Miles, Annette Crosbie, and Diana Quick, among others.

The case is impossible, taking the longest time to unravel. That's because the good old paleontologist was taking notes the entire time and comparing everybody's account against each other until he found a conflict. When the result was announced, it didn't make sense, so I had to rewind some parts and thus came up with two issues: why the heavy resistance, and why kill Ian McShane's character? If they were all protecting the murderer on purpose, well...two people died for nothing. At the end, when the paleontologist told the detective in charge, "You were right," he shouldn't blame himself. There was enough suspicion that the cops didn't correctly solve the murder on top of the proven alibi. It happens.

Anyway, the performances are sound with some lovely shots of Dartmouth, Devon, England. In the place of voice-over narration, the flashback technique is effective, often reminding me of Dead Again. Apart from the inappropriate music score, some viewers found pace too slow, but I was more frustrated with the mystery aspect. Maybe I had become like Donald Sutherland at the end, too, by saying instead, "I shouldn't have bothered with the movie."

All in all, Ordeal by Innocence isn't that bad, having been largely buoyed by the distinctive Agatha Christie feel.