People like to badmouth Christie for writing "cosy" mysteries set in English villages where everyone has servants and all the characters are made of cardboard. She wrote some in that genre, but also subtly sent it up, and Miss Marple always said that if you really wanted to see life in the raw you should live in a village. Man in the Brown Suit is NOT a cosy village mystery, but a thriller of the type Christie wrote from time to time. In the book it's quite clear that it's a take off of The Perils of Pauline. Christie also used a trip she'd made round the world with a larger than life character that she turned into Sir Eustace Pedler. (PS her husband went too.) She even manages to get in her favourite sport - surfing. (Bet you never knew Agatha was a keen surfer.) I'd love to see this film again. The makers don't seem sure whether or not it's a spoof, and spoof Christies never work. (There's an awful version of the ABC Murders - and didn't that star one Tony Randall?) Tony Randall is awful in this. The character should be able to convince whatever getup he is wearing. The film is saved by sticking to the book and by casting actors who do a good job whatever they're asked to do (Edward Woodward, Rue McLanahan step forward). The stuffy secretary Padgett is brilliantly played by Nickolas Grace, miserable in an Elvis costume that was the only fancy dress in the shop that fitted.
Review of The Man in the Brown Suit
The Man in the Brown Suit
(1989 TV Movie)
Fun adventure based on very early Christie
1 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers