"THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD" (2000) Review

 

"THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD" (2000) Review

As many fans of Agatha Christie are aware, one of her most highly acclaimed and controversial novels is "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd". I had checked the Internet to see how many adaptations had been made from well-regarded tale. I was surprised to learn there were at least seven adaptations, considering its difficult plot twist. The third to the last adaptation proved to be the last adaptation was the 103-minute television movie that aired on ITV's "AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT" in 2000.

"THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD" seemed like your typical Christie novel. After retiring to the small village of King's Abbott, Belgian-born detective Hercule Poirot stumbles across a mystery in which an old friend of his, an industrialist named Roger Ackroyd has been murdered. Sometime earlier, another friend of Ackroyd, a widow named Mrs. Ferrars, had committed suicide when she is suspected of killing her husband. Another murder occurs before Poirot, with the help of Chief Inspector Japp and local physician Dr. James Sheppard, solves the murder.

Screenwriter Clive Exton made some changes to Christie's novel. He deleted a few characters, changed Poirot's relationship with Ackroyd from simply neighbor to old friend, and added Chief Inspector Japp to the cast of characters. This last change greatly affected the story's narrative. Christie's novel was narrated by the Dr. Sheppard character. By having Japp replace him as Poirot's closest ally, Exton nearly made Dr. Sheppard irrelevant. Exton ended up doing the same to a character in 2001's "MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA", when he added Arthur Hastings to the story, allowing the story's true narrator, Nurse Amy Leatheran to become irrelevant. However, the addition of Japp to "THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD" transformed Christie's story from a unique tale, to something . . . well, rather typical. With the addition of Japp, the story became another typical Christie murder mystery set in a small village. Pity.

I also believe that Exton damaged Christie's original narrative even further with other major changes. One, he revealed major hints of the killer's identity before Poirot could expose the former. And once the killer was exposed, audiences were subjected to a theatrical and rather silly chase scene throughout Ackroyd's factoy, involving the police. And if I must be honest, I found myself wondering why on earth Poirot had decided to retire as a detective and move to the country in the first place. How long had he been gone before his reunion with Chief Inspector Japp?

Was there anything I like about "THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD"? I thought it was a tasteful movie, thanks to Rob Harris' production designs that beautifully recaptured rural England in the mid-1930s. His work was ably complimented by Katie Driscoll's art direction, and Charlotte Holdich's costume designs. In fact, I can honestly say that the latter did a first-rate job in not only creating costumes for that particular era, but specifically for each character. Although some of Exton's narrative changes robbed the story of its famous plot twist and featured a badly-handled revelation of the murderer, I will give kudos to the screenwriter for creating a plausible murder mystery that made it somewhat difficult for any viewer not familiar with Christie's novel, to guess the killer's identity . . . to a certain point.

The movie also featured some solid performances. David Suchet gave his usual competent performance as Hercule Poirot. He had one rather amusing scene in which the Belgian detective struggled with the vegetable marrows in his garden. I could say the same about Philip Jackson's performance as Inspector Japp. Both Oliver Ford-Davies and Selina Cadell were amusing as the much put upon Dr. James Sheppard and his very nosy sister, Caroline. I read somewhere that the Caroline Sheppard character may have been a forerunner of the Jane Marple character. Malcolm Terris gave a very emotional performance as the story's victim, Roger Ackroyd. Both Daisy Beaumont and Flora Montgomery were also effectively emotional as Ursula Bourne and Flora Ackroyd (the victim's niece) - the two women in the life of Ralph Paton, Ackroyd's stepson and major suspect. Speaking of the later, Jamie Bamber gave a solid performance as Ralph. But honestly, he did not exactly rock my boat. However, I was impressed by Roger Frost's portrayal of Ackroyd's butler, Parker. I thought he did a very good job in portraying the different aspects of the competent, yet rather emotional manservant.

Looking back, I really wish that Clive Exton had maintained Christie's narrative style for this television adaptation of her 1926 novel. I believe it could have been possible. By changing the narrative style and adding the Chief Inspector Japp character to the story, Exton transformed "THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD" from a unique story to a typical Christie murder mystery. Pity.