Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Bobby Attfield is walking along a cliff top when he spies a body at the foot of the cliff. He rushes down to the man, whose dying words are "Why didn't they ask Evans?". He is convinced that something nefarious has just occurred and his suspicions are heightened when he misses the man's inquest, due to being sent the incorrect time and location for the inquest. In his corner is Frankie Derwent and an old friend of the family, Miss Marple.

Started well. The murder was intriguing and the relationship between Bobby and Frankie, solidly played by Sean Biggerstaff and Georgia Moffett, was a great sub-plot. However, the mystery seemed to get overly complex, simply for complexity's sake, after a point and the climax, and back-story, is quite far-fetched. Not all bad, but could have been so much better.

Some big names in the supporting cast but they aren't all used well. Natalie Dormer is fine in her role but Warren Clarke overdoes the alpha male routine, resulting in him shouting almost all his lines. Rik Mayall is wasted in his part, and doesn't have much screen time anyway. Hannah Murray is incredibly irritating.

Agatha Christie's original novel was a light read, and above all, fun. Its plot was great as it was— a light romantic comedy/thriller, with enough plot to make it absolutely perfect for translation onto the screen. Unfortunately, Patrick Barlow, the screenwriter, decided he could out-Christie Christie. He can't.

I'm not a completely conservative Christie fan. If a book won't translate well to the screen, then some changes may be in order. I support that. But here, the plot changes don't work in the least— they subtract from the plot instead of adding. We now have a rather strange assortment of guests, a rather weird family history (which makes the odious move to constantly emphasize mysterious happenings in China), and a convoluted plot that leaves the audience spinning. Either way, it feels out-of-place in the fifties; the story belongs in the thirties. Besides, the climax is unrealistic— I would be amused to attend the trial that resulted.

Agatha Christie's novel was a fun read: not as compelling as, say, "And Then There Were None", but one where the characters rang true and the reader *wanted* to know the solution. The film feels strange— none of the characters feel like characters. They feel like dreadful cardboard caricatures who solely exist to scream or act suspiciously, ringing false. The only worthwhile characters are Bobby and Frankie, as well as Miss Marple.

Where acting is concerned, we have a case of a few strong cast members wading through weak material. Julia Mackenzie is absolutely stellar as Miss Marple: she is shrewd, but conceals this with a "harmless old lady" charm. Watch as she talks to a doctor, trying to get more information about a photograph. She transitions perfectly from the photograph to discussing a flower, then right back to the photograph. She puts on a perfect act that would fool mostly any murderer, and indeed, Mackenzie turns out to be the best actor of the piece. In fact, it is solely due to Mackenzie that the ridiculous climax turns out amusing-to-watch.

Two more actors stand out: Sean Biggerstaff (Bobby—Attfield? Would it have killed the producers to use "Jones"?) and Georgia Moffett (Frankie Derwent). The two have some veritable chemistry between them, and play their roles perfectly.

And now, I must mention the film's weakest actors. The first is Samantha Bond as Sylvia Savage. She exists solely to stare blankly, exclaim "Shut up!" every once in a while, and be a pathetic nuisance to all those around. Freddie Fox as Tom Savage is a particularly poor actor. His idea of acting suspiciously/mysteriously involves perpetually crouching in shadows while caressing a snake. Then, we have Commander Peters, played by Warren Clarke, who either has a serious anger management problem or has gone quite deaf—his role involves screaming, shouting, and a touch of yelling. And last, but not least, we have "Dottie", played by Hannah Murray. She remains a gawky, two-dimensional caricature wearing glasses, whose sole purpose is to loudly disclose embarrassing secrets at the dinner table. (Personally, I much prefer Aunt Cora from "After the Funeral".) By the end, I was hoping she "knew too much", and the killer would make her the next victim.

One last word: this barely felt like a TV movie. The direction was wonderful! And while we're at it, let's mention the music: although these films range in quality from "poor" to "excellent", Dominik Scherrer's music is consistently brilliant. If a CD of his compositions for this series is ever released, I'll be at the front of the line.

So, let's review, shall we? "Why Didn't They Ask Evans" has been altered beyond recognition for its TV adaptation. The acting is often poor, although the leads are phenomenal. The direction is top-notch, as is the music. But overall, "Evans" fails, due to the plot changes that only detract from it.

So the question I want answered is this: why didn't they leave "Evans" alone?

I struggle a little with this one, as it's one of the novels I really like, it's a book that draws you in, builds the characters and has a really satisfying conclusion.

Bobby Attfield hears a dying mans last words while out walking, 'Why didn't they ask Evans?' With the help of friend Frankie Derwent and later Jane Marple's the lead takes them to the family home of the dysfunctional Savages, as they try to uncover the cryptic message and uncover dark secrets.

I'm a really easy Agatha Christie fan to please, it doesn't take a huge deal to make me happy, this one fails pretty much, the characters are almost made into caricatures, they're all a little bit over the top and unbelievable. Apart from Miss Marple and Bobby Attfield most of the others are just a bit too much.

There are some nice elements to this story, Julia McKenzie drives the story, she literally is too good for the material and script she's given. Georgia Moffett and Sean Biggerstaff both give fairly good performances. It looks really nice, there is some gorgeous filming, the music also is brilliant, it's really melodic.

For the first time in a Marple I actually find some of the acting a bit weak, I have always loved both Samantha Bond and Warren Clarke, but both are below par, Hannah Murray is either poor or dreadfully written, I can't distinguish, but Freddie Fox is abysmal, he looks like he's just going through the motions. Some of the dialogue is quite dull and uninteresting.

The ending verges on Melodrama, it's like something you'd expect an am dram group to put on, it just didn't work.

I've watched it a few times, on occasion I quite like it, but in comparison to others in the series it is the ugly duckling. 5/10

For those who have read the book as it's almost totally different. Georgia Moffett and Sean Biggerstaff do a decent job as the main characters as do the rest of the cast. It was , however, a very strange part for the excellent Warren Clarke.

On occasions I thought I was watching a comedy and this was in scenes which were supposed to be a bit nasty.

I understand that it was done a lot better in 1980.

Just once I'd like to see an actor look at a script and say something like, "I'm not appearing in this! It doesn't make any sense. Go back and rewrite it and then I'll have another look at it." Certainly that's the look Richard Briers has all over his face throughout this nonsense; he really gave the impression he'd rather have been somewhere else throughout. Warren Clarke looks confused about why he's even in this farcical nonsense. Rik Mayall was just going through the motions. Samantha Bond wasn't sure how to portray her character and I can't say I blame her the way her lines had been written.

A better title might have been "Why didn't they stick to the plot in Agatha's novel?" as at least the book was readable and could be enjoyed. This portrayal was just a painful way to spend an evening.