The Man in the Brown Suit (1989) (TV)

Director:

Alan Grint

Writers (WGA):

Agatha Christie (book)
Carla Jean Wagner (teleplay)

Release Date:

4 January 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Plot:

Bit of an Indiana Jones type film, with an American woman getting involved in a diamond theft in South Africa...

Plot Keywords:

Diamond | Murder | Based On Book | Based On Novel

Cast

Rue McClanahan	...	Suzy Blair
Tony Randall	...	Rev. Edward Chichester
Edward Woodward	...	Sir Eustace Pedler
Stephanie Zimbalist	...	Anne Beddingfeld
Ken Howard	...	Gordon Race
Nickolas Grace	...	Guy Underhill
Simon Dutton	...	Harry Lucas
María Casal	...	Anita (as Maria Casal)
Federico Luciano	...	Leo Carton
Rose McVeigh	...	Valerie
Jorge Bosso	...	Businessman
José Canalejas	...	Arab #1 (as Jose A. Canalejas)
Robert Case	...	Ship's Captain
Tibi Costa	...	Arab #2 (as Tiby Costa)
James Duggan	...	Steward

Also Known As:

Agatha Christie's 'The Man in the Brown Suit'

Runtime:

USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:PG | South Korea:12 (2006)

Filming Locations:

Spain

Company:

Alan Shayne Productions

Superb fun

The advantage of seeing this film in 2005 is that although it isn't the the 1930s period piece it should be, it's so screamingly outdated 1980s through-and-through that you still enjoy quite a "vintage" feel.

Various plot details have been adjusted, but it's still fairly true to the text. The back-story is properly there, nicely simplified. Zimbalist (Anne Beddingfeld) isn't quite gamine enough for Beddingfeld, she looks rather motherly against Dutton (The Man in the Brown Suit) in several scenes, but all in all gives a solid performance. Dutton is good eye-candy and is properly brooding, like his book version, but his voice is disappointingly light and he's not the most credible action hero. You can't really imagine him doing it tough in the Brazilian jungle, at any rate. Pedants will note that he is also not "markedly brachycephalic".

McClanahan (Suzy Blair) is basically replaying "Blanche" from the Golden Girls here, and as such is outstanding, possibly the most enjoyable thing in the film. Ken Howard (Gordon Race) isn't quite what one imagines from the book, and his romantic intentions have also been realigned, but in a way that makes for a more satisfying ending.

No surprise they change the ending vis-a-vis The Man's inheritance to please an American audience, however. It is arguably more fairy-tale like the way the film has done it.

Getting hold of this film was a nightmare, after having only seen half of it on TV years back. In the end I got it via Sendit.com, but it took nearly a year on their Search list before a copy came in, and then was only available in VHS format. I actually had to go and buy a player just for this film, (which luckily was worth it). It would be brilliant if some company could start printing DVDs-on-demand for minority interest/cult films such as this.