Murder Is Easy (1982)

An American computer expert meets a distraught old lady on a train and she tells him that a homicidal maniac is stalking her quiet little village.

Director:

Claude Whatham

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel), Carmen Culver (teleplay)

Stars:

Bill Bixby, Lesley-Anne Down, Olivia de Havilland

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bill Bixby	...	Prof. Luke Williams
Lesley-Anne Down	...	Bridget Conway
Olivia de Havilland	...	Honoria Waynflete (as Olivia De Havilland)
Helen Hayes	...	Lavinia Fullerton
Patrick Allen	...	Maj. Horton
Shane Briant	...	Dr. Thomas
Freddie Jones	...	Const. Reed
Leigh Lawson	...	Jimmy Lorrimer
Jonathan Pryce	...	Mr. Ellsworthy
Ivor Roberts	...	Vicar
Trevor T. Smith	...	Rivers
Anthony Valentine	...	Abbot
Timothy West	...	Lord Gordon Easterfield
Carol MacReady	...	Mrs. Pierce
Diana Goodman	...	Rose Humbleby

Storyline

A mathematician and author, Luke Williams, is travelling up to London on a train when he meets a old lady, Lavinia Fullerton, who is also going to London, to Scotland Yard. Lavinia tells Luke that in her small village several people have died. The local police are certain that it was all accidental and are taking no action but Lavinia isn't convinced. In London Luke watches, horrified, as Lavinia is run over in a hit and run and he becomes convinced that she was telling the truth. He travels down to the village and with the aid of a local girl, who is also convinced that the deaths were murder, sets out to solve the mystery...

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Plot Keywords:

reference to agatha christie | reference to samuel taylor coleridge | reference to doctor john watson | train | computer | 

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 January 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agatha Christie's 'Murder Is Easy'

Filming Locations:

Marylebone Station, Marylebone, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Entertainment Production, David Wolper-Stan Margulies Productions, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Luke's book is "Probability and Chance".

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Goofs

At the beginning of the film Luke Williams is seen aboard a loco hauled train. The shots of the train on the journey alternate between this train and an Inter City 125.

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Connections

Version of Marple: Murder Is Easy (2008)

User Reviews

Decent, helped by the cast

This is not an outstanding film by all means, but it is a very decent one, that is faithful in story, tone and dialogue to the book. The story is compelling and interesting, hindered only really by the nonsense with the computers which was underdeveloped and added very little to the story.

The pace starts very briskly, and Helen Hayes brings a lot of charm to her brief role, but once more in the story unfolds it gets slower up to the conclusion, which is well-paced and rounds things off nicely as it should do. Bill Bixby starts off rather wooden and dull, but gets better.

That said, the production values are excellent, the photography is pleasing on the eye and the costumes and scenery are beautiful. The music has some nice parts as well, the direction is decent and the dialogue is charming, controlled and witty. The cast do do very well, while some of the characters could have been developed a tad more, the cast do great jobs especially Lesley-Anne Down, Olivia DeHavilland and Timothy West.

All in all, a decent film and adaptation. 7/10 Bethany Cox