Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1980)

While golfing on the Welsh coast, Bobby Jones apparently hits a stranger who falls off the the sea cliff. His enigmatic last words are "Why didn't they ask Evans?"

Directors:

John Davies, Tony Wharmby

Writer:

Agatha Christie (novel)

Stars:

Francesca Annis, John Gielgud, Bernard Miles

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Francesca Annis	...	Lady Frances Derwent
John Gielgud	...	Reverend Jones
Bernard Miles	...	Dr. Thomas
Eric Porter	...	Dr. Nicholson
Leigh Lawson	...	Roger Bassington-ffrench
James Warwick	...	Bobby Jones
Madeline Smith	...	Moira Nicholson
Connie Booth	...	Sylvia Bassington-ffrench
Robert Longden	...	Badger Beadon
Doris Hare	...	Rose Pratt
Joan Hickson	...	Mrs. Rivington
Rowland Davies	...	Dr. George Arbuthnot
James Cossins	...	Henry Bassington-ffrench
Mitzi Rogers	...	Mrs. Cayman
John Pennington	...	Mr. Cayman

Storyline

While out playing golf with his friend Dr. Thomas, Bobby Jones finds a man who has apparently fallen over the side of a cliff onto the seaside rocks below. His dying words are "Why didn't they ask Evans?". The dead man is identified by his sister Mrs. Cayman as Alex Pritchard, who had recently returned to the UK from abroad and was on a walking tour. Bobby and his friend Lady Frances Derwent soon conclude that illicit drugs are at the core of the mystery and suspicion falls on a certain Dr. Nicholson who runs a country clinic for drug addicts. The mystery revolves around a will and numerous false or stolen identities. But just who is Evans and what should he/she have been asked?

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Plot Keywords:

drug addict | last words | dying words | whodunit | wales | 

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 May 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Почему не спросили Эванс?

Company Credits

Production Co:

London Weekend Television (LWT), ITV - Independent Television

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was Joan Hickson's third appearance in forty-three years in a screen adaptation of a Dame Agatha Christie story or novel, following A Night of Terror (1937) and Murder She Said (1961). Hickson subsequently played Christie's character Miss Jane Marple twelve times in eight years in a series of television movies, including Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: 4:50 from Paddington (1987).

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Quotes

Dr. Nicholson: Drugs always end in tragedy... always!

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Connections

Version of Marple: Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (2009)

User Reviews

Slow and unengaging

This movie adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel is similar in feel to "The Seven Dials", and has a number of the same actors in it, but I found it inferior. The movie is quite long, but it still manages to leave several things unexplained by the end. The traditional "explanation" scene at the end, where the devious plans of the criminal(s) are laid bare, is oddly uninvolving, despite the fact that the heroine is alone in a big house, at the mercy of the killer. It seems to go on forever, and seems to be answering questions that no one really bothered to ask. Besides, there is one outrageous piece of information provided at this moment that the viewer could not possibly have known, and which is thrown in just to make things easier for the villains. I suspect this is the fault of the original book (Christie was not above tossing in a sort of deus ex machina, especially in her early books) but it leaves the viewer feeling cheated.

Francesca Annis is a touch too smug and smooth in her portrayal of Frankie, and I found her "bright young thing" character grating after a while. Eric Porter, as the suspicious Dr. Nicholson, gives the best performance of the movie, both affable and alarming.