Lucan

There's a lot of detail omitted from this two-part melodrama. Given its length, I would have thought it would have packed in more. Lord Lucan's colorful background and activities before this incident are omitted, so this becomes just a simple story of how a compulsive gambler, after a bitter divorce, plotted against his wife. But for the stately homes and tuxedos, it's a Lifetime movie about a woman in an abusive relationship.

The crime itself was not that complex, and the theories about what may have happened fairly obvious and not very numerous, so I'm not sure why they had to drag this out for as long as they did. I appreciate their faithfulness to the materials, but if they weren't going to do more with them, they could have at least made the film shorter.

The acting is excellent, and the posh British interiors include some great upholstery, but I'm not sure this is a good investment of movie-watching time. You could spend five minutes reading about Lord Lucan online and then pick a different film.