Ordeal by Innocence

1984

Mystery / Thriller

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 19% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 19%
IMDb Rating 5.1/10 10 1378 1.4K

alibi ferry boat paleontologist adopted address book literary adaptation

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Plot summary

Dr. Arthur Calgary visits the Argyle family to return an address book lost some time ago by Jack Argyle, only to find out that Jack has been executed for the murder of his mother. Calgary can prove that Jack was innocent. In spite of opposition from a hostile family, he is determined to solve the crime.

Director

Alan Birkinshaw Photo
Alan Birkinshaw

Top cast

Ian McShane Photo
Ian McShane as Philip Durrant
Diana Quick Photo
Diana Quick as Gwenda Vaughan
Kevin Stoney Photo
Kevin Stoney as Solicitor
Michael Elphick Photo
Michael Elphick as Inspector Huish
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
830.28 MB
1280*694
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 30 min
Seeds 1
1.5 GB
1920*1040
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 30 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Coventry 5 / 10

Agatha Christie's own favorite book, but the movie... ?

As a massive, in fact - borderline obsessive, Agatha Christie fanatic, I am particularly interested in reading the books and watching the film versions of the stories that she herself loved the most. "Crooked House" was a personal favorite of hers, and it was indeed a terrific book and got turned into a very enjoyable movie recently (in 2017). "Ordeal by Innocence" is another favorite of Mrs. Christie, and while the book is a masterpiece, this 1984 film-version was quite a disappointment.The plot, of course, remains genius. The convoluted and twisted, but simultaneously highly original murder mystery is one that only could have come from the brilliant and practically inexhaustible mind of Agatha Christie. It's the tale of the noble Doctor Calgary who travels to a remote British island to return an address book to a young fella named Jacko Argyle whom he gave a lift two years earlier. When Calgary finds out Jacko got executed for the murder of his adoption mother, while he could have confirmed his alibi and save his life, Calgary insists on reopening the case. However, the rest of the entire family, as well as the local police inspector, are very much pleased how the case got resolved with Jacko's hanging, and Calgary's persistence and intrusion leads to new crimes.Once more, the story is great and the denouement - albeit reasonably simple for a Christie mystery (which is perhaps why she loved it so much) - is marvelous, but the rest of the production is heavily flawed and poorly handled. The pacing is often too slow, the camerawork and editing are monotonous and dull, and then there's the misfit music. I'm glad to read I'm aligned with all my fellow reviewers around here who also state that the moody jazz-soundtrack (by Dave Brubeck) was a terribly wrong choice. The cast looks impressive, but notably the acclaimed names (Plummer, Dunaway, Sutherland) deliver the most underwhelming performances.
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Reviewed by gridoon 5 / 10

Lifeless, low-grade tale.

This is indeed one of the weakest films based on Agatha Christie's work, a lifeless, muddled mystery that clearly lacks the grace (and the budget!) of its predecessors ("Death On The Nile", "Evil Under The Sun") and Donald Sutherland is a pale shadow of Peter Ustinov as far as screen detectives go (of course, he is playing a character much less interesting than Poirot). The film manages to coast as far as it does on the strength of Christie's plot alone (all her plots have a certain amount of inherent interest), but the direction is hopelessly flat. (*1/2)

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