Ordeal by Innocence

This was one of those quasi-prestige pictures released by the schlock-meister at Cannon Films. The only movie adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1958 novel, which was also made into several TV movies and episodes of TV series. Donald Sutherland plays Dr. Arthur Calgary, a paleontologist who visits the wealthy Argyle family to return an address book one of them lost two years ago, only to learn that the owner of the book has been executed for the murder of his mother and Dr. Calgary could have given him an alibi. Feeling responsible, Calgary tries to prove the dead man's innocence, but the family and the local authorities are hostile to his efforts.

Filmed in Dartmouth, England, the picture has a lovely, foggy atmosphere captured by cinematographer Billy Williams (Women in Love, Sunday Bloody Sunday, On Golden Pond, Gandhi). The cast is first-rate—Faye Dunaway, Christopher Plummer, Ian McShane, Sarah Miles—but we don't really get to see enough of them for a proper Whodunit. The jazzy score by Dave Brubeck is cool but feels totally out of place for this setting. The opening credits seem to last the full duration of Sotherland's ferry ride from his hotel to the island where the wealthy family lives. It's one of the longest opening credits I've ever seen in which nothing happens except scenery, music, and titles.)