- Actors: Donald Sutherland, Faye Dunaway, Sarah Miles, Christopher Plummer, Ian McShane
- Directors: Desmond Davis
- Language English
- Studio: MGM/UA Home Video
- Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000PTCTXC
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 11,606 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Ordeal By Innocence based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name concerns Arthur Calgary (well played by Donald Sutherland)who returns to England after being away in the Antartic for 2 years. He goes to visit Jacko Argyle to return his address book and discovers that he has been hung the the murder of his mother. The problem is when he was supposed to have committed the murder he was in fact getting a lift from Dr Calgary. Calgary now realises he was Jacko's alibi and sets out to find out who the real killer is.
This is one of the best Agatha Christie adaptions superbly shot around Dartmouth,Devon. The cast is excellent and features such great names as Ian McShane (Lovejoy), Christopher Plummer, Sarah Miles and Faye Dunaway (Columbo It's All In The Game). In fact the only thing that lets the film down is the awful music score by Dave Brubeck which is better suited for a Jazz club. Still this is a minor gripe and should not put you off this otherwise excellent film. The print is pritty good and is presented in 1.85 ratio. There are no special features on the dvd which is a shame. All in all an excellent dvd and well worth buying if you enjoy a good mystery.
This is one of the best Agatha Christie adaptions superbly shot around Dartmouth,Devon. The cast is excellent and features such great names as Ian McShane (Lovejoy), Christopher Plummer, Sarah Miles and Faye Dunaway (Columbo It's All In The Game). In fact the only thing that lets the film down is the awful music score by Dave Brubeck which is better suited for a Jazz club. Still this is a minor gripe and should not put you off this otherwise excellent film. The print is pritty good and is presented in 1.85 ratio. There are no special features on the dvd which is a shame. All in all an excellent dvd and well worth buying if you enjoy a good mystery.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Thankfully they've got the sound balance right and the (excellent) Brubeck score doesn't swamp the dialogue like it did in the tape I recorded from the telly. Tight pace and excellent flashbacks to the (black and white, of course!) past. A great film to have around for an evening in with a bottle of Bell's (I bet they were appreciative of the product placement). Even when you know the story, you can enjoy an excellent and reliable cast.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is rather a frustrating movie because I kept thinking that it could have been so much better than it actually is. 'Ordeal By Innocence' is one of the best of Agatha Christie's 'non-series' books - a dark and claustrophobic tale with interesting characters and that includes the victim, a complex and flawed woman but not entirely unsympathetic. This mid eighties adaptation manages to capture the rather dreary, ordinary setting. This is no celebration of the Devon coastline - the colour palette is muted, the weather harsh and inhospitable. I liked that the flashbacks were in black and white and the very 'real' feel of the whole thing. The cast is very good on the whole and arguably deserved a better script. They deliver what they have been given admirably. I am no great fan of Donald Sutherland but he makes a pretty good job of the idealistic Calgary, Christopher Plummer is very good as a rather frightening and harsh Leo Argyle and his household includes the elegant and cool Gwenda of Diana Quick and housekeeper Kirsten, very well portrayed by Annette Crosbie. Sarah Miles is fabulous but given too little to do as Mary and Ian McShane gets even less to do as Philip. The younger Argyles are all well acted too. Faye Dunaway is also very effective in flashback as Rachel although her accent wanders a bit (very American at the start turning to clipped English towards the end).
The script is OK - it follows the novel quite carefully (with a few changes) and does what it needs to do in order to tell the tale but its a little lacklustre at times and I kept wanting more! I wanted them to expand on Mary and Philip, I wanted Rachel to interact with all her children - showing her for what she was, I wanted to feel for all the family - not just Mickey and Tina. I wanted a clearer narrative line; it is terribly chopped about. I don't mind flashbacks but here its all done rather messily. Then there's the music! That's a very subjective thing; I'm not a lover of jazz and I found it inappropriate but also too invasive. I can appreciate however that there will also be those who love it.
So, an excellent cast, an atmospheric setting, an acceptable if unexciting script! Its worth watching and is a nice alternative to the more recent 'Marple' version. Still, it had the potential to be much better!
The script is OK - it follows the novel quite carefully (with a few changes) and does what it needs to do in order to tell the tale but its a little lacklustre at times and I kept wanting more! I wanted them to expand on Mary and Philip, I wanted Rachel to interact with all her children - showing her for what she was, I wanted to feel for all the family - not just Mickey and Tina. I wanted a clearer narrative line; it is terribly chopped about. I don't mind flashbacks but here its all done rather messily. Then there's the music! That's a very subjective thing; I'm not a lover of jazz and I found it inappropriate but also too invasive. I can appreciate however that there will also be those who love it.
So, an excellent cast, an atmospheric setting, an acceptable if unexciting script! Its worth watching and is a nice alternative to the more recent 'Marple' version. Still, it had the potential to be much better!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
What went wrong
I am a fan of the Agatha Christie movies and have many in my DVD collection and usually I enjoy them a lot however Ordeal By Innocence was a bit of a let down. Read more
Published 2 months ago by winged avenger
Terrible
This has to be one of the worst films I have ever seen, and I have seen a few turkeys. Lots said about the appalling soundtrack but I can only emphasise how wrong it is. Read more
Published 4 months ago by kerry catherine
Oh my -- some good but lots of bad
I got this after watching ITV's Marple: Ordeal by Innocence which was interesting but not true to the Agatha Christie's book (Miss Marple is in the movie but not the book is the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by talmy
Dreadful!
You would think with a cast including Donald Sutherland, Faye Dunaway and Christopher Plummer that you can't go wrong. Boy did they go wrong. Read more
Published 6 months ago by shaz
It has its moments, but probably best avoided
The first thing I feel compelled to say about this film is the music by Dave Brubeck is just awful - it really ruins the film, and this is a film that isn't great to start with. Read more
Published 13 months ago by downkiddie
Dismal Agatha Christie adaptation
When a paleontologist (Donald Sutherland) returns to England after a two year expedition, he attempts to return an address book to a hitchhiker (Billy McColl) that was left in his... Read more
Published 17 months ago by The CinemaScope Cat
rare christie
Excellent adaptation of one of Agatha's most underrated novels - no Poirot, no Miss Marple, but plenty of tension and intrigue. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Howard Atkinson
no subtitles
ok, this is the well known classic - HOWEVER there are no subtitles whatsoever, which is disappointing in this day and age... other than that you get what you see
Published on 5 Feb 2010 by Petros Tsonis
Ordeal by... DVD
There are a few good film adaptations of Agatha Christie novels and, unfortunately, a lot of bad ones. Ordeal by Innocence regrettably falls in to the latter category. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2010 by Kevin Gascoyne
.....AN ALL STAR CAST
.......AGATHA CHRISTIE HAS DIFEFERENT FORMATS OF HER NOVELS - THIS COMES UNDER THE HEADING OF 'FILM WITH AN ALL STAR CAST' - THIS STORY IS A BIT BACK TO FRONT AS IT STARTS WITH A... Read more
Published on 1 Sep 2009 by Mr. Ashley Briscoe
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