Amazon.com

Brew some tea and curl up by the fire for murder, intrigue, and madcap upper-class high jinks in Agatha Christie's Why Didn't They Ask Evans? James Warwick and Francesca Annis play plucky amateur sleuths Bobby Jones and Lady Frankie Derwent (and yes, you've also seen them paired as plucky amateur Christie sleuths Tommy & Tuppence). In the very opening scene, Bobby happens upon a dying man who whispers the mysterious title question and we're off. Why Didn't They Ask Evans? has everything one looks for in an old-fashioned bloodcurdler: murder, false identities, a mysterious institution, and even morphine addiction. Warwick and Annis have the light touch of seasoned pros and slide with ease into the period setting. The rest of the cast dives into the fun and includes such noble veterans as Sir John Gielgud and Joan Hickson, herself one of the more memorable incarnations of Christie's Miss Marple. --Ali Davis ... Read more

Reviews (4)

For Tommy and Tuppence Fans!
If you like the Agatha Christie Partners in Crime Tommy and Tuppence series, you're going to love this story! Actually, it doesn't matter because this is an enjoyable 1920s mystery romp with just enough humor and romance blended into the more serious goings-on to please most everyone. It's amazing how complex and LONG a story this is. I checked the online description and the back of the box, but I couldn't discover if this had been a television mini-series or just a lengthy made-for-TV movie. Even though it's lots of fun, it does seem to go on forever!

The lead characters, played by Francesca Annis and James Warwick, are just as attractive a couple as they are in Tommy and Tuppence, except they don't seem to realize it until they've both had romantic "flings" with other characters in the cast. The sets and costumes look authentic 1920s, and the cars are particularly interesting, especially in the used car lot.

The only reluctance I had for giving this DVD release 5 stars is because of the uneven look of the movie itself. Sometimes this looks like sharply focused videotape, and at other times it looks like fuzzy film. This is probably because of the source material from 1980 rather than the fault of the DVD production, but it still should be noted. This is the same "look" as on the earlier Upstairs, Downstairs programs.

Nit-picking aside, this is a thoroughly worthwhile DVD that should appeal to most mystery and Agatha Christie fans in particular.

A Fun Mystery Movie
And why indeed didn't they? While this long, made for T.V. movie could have been much shorter if they simply had asked Evans, it would not have been nearly as enjoyable. The script, adapted from an Agatha Christie novel of the same name, mimics the pace and rythem of the original quite well. While the quality of acting was good, the picture quality of the DVD was grainy and the sound faded in and out at times. The attempts at action and/or suspense via fights or late night escapades also did not come off very well partially due to the bad picture quality. These scenes did not in any real way hinder the movie since the real fun is trying to solve the mystery before Bobby and Frankie do. (If you find out who Evans is before they do, my hat is off to you!) The last scene with the villain is a clumsy and implausable plot device (how many times is Frankie going to fall for the same ruse?) to the viewer to get a detailed description of the plot from the villain himself but if you like mysteries in the Agatha Christie style, then you will enjoy this movie.

Nice
As an Agatha Christie fan, I love the story. You do not know the murderer till the end. The acting is wonderful, typical british. Costume and sceen is beautifully selected. The only pity is the DVD effect is not obivious, maybe because the movie is comparably old - 1981

Top notch Agatha Christie mystery thriller.
Why Didn't They Ask Evan's? is a terrific Agatha Christie mystery story (based on Christie's novel The Boomerang Clue) made into a terrific mystery movie. The plot, though a bit convoluted, is well developed and the excellent cast carries it out superbly. Although this is not one of Agatha Christie's biggest hits, it definitely is one of her best stories and as fine a Christie-based movie as I've ever seen. Now that it's available on DVD I hope it will achieve the recognition it amply deserves. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Roy Marsden returns for another of his ever-deepening performances as Inspector Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard, the protagonist hero of a series of much-honored, P.D. James mystery novels. A perfect match of procedural deduction, horrifying but imaginative crimes to solve, and James's familiar embrace of resonant characterization, A Taste for Death finds Dalgliesh investigating twin murders in a London church: one victim a beleaguered, former minister of the Crown and a man of Dalgliesh's favorable acquaintance, the other a homeless man accustomed to finding shelter in the vestibule. Dalgliesh, a perfect and perhaps unique blend of humble compassion and take-no-prisoners probing mind, becomes the thread in a complex tale of multiple motives, seething emotions, unusual suspects, and such puzzling clues as a burnt diary, all in the effort to find an elusive link between two dead men of very different breeding and destinies. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Why not all ?
A Sherlock Holmes turn of the century series from the 1960s but a gentlemanly pair with a twist - Raffles is the gentleman thief and Bunny, his sidekick, is the bumbling accomplice.

Lovely sets, wry humour, Anthony Valentine at his best - he IS Raffles.

I waited many years for this to come out on DVD and my only complaint is that this 2 volume set does not have all the episodes of the Raffles saga - but only 6 episodes! And episodes seemingly chosen at random!

We await the full set of this series. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Roy Marsden returns as Scotland Yard's Adam Dalgliesh in a richly plotted mystery from P.D. James. Dalgliesh and his team are investigating an international drug ring when a major player turns up dead. The only witness, pretty single mother Sally Jupp, turns out to have some dark secrets of her own. Cover Her Face is an immensely entertaining mystery. The characters lead rich emotional lives, it seems like all of them and none of them could have done it, and the solution is genuinely satisfying. As is always the case in this series, the cast is excellent and Roy Marsden is a standout. His Dalgliesh is a beautifully subtle blend of cold manipulation and a poet's humanity. DVD special features includes career and awards highlights for author P.D. James, a biography of Roy Marsden, and information about the gorgeous old house used in the production. --Ali Davis ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Blood Flies Up and Bejewels the Heavens
Young single mother Sally Jupp meets an old friend, Stavros, on the streets of London. They know each other from having worked together at a bookstore. Sally returns to the bookstore, goes into the basement, and finds Stavros on the floor - murdered. Then she hears the footsteps of the killer as he ascends the stairs.

So begins "Cover Her Face", the British television adaptation of mystery writer P.D. James' first novel. As the story unfolds we find out that Stavros was using the bookstore as a front for drug smuggling. Sally Jupp and her baby take a job at the country mansion of the Maxie family. Stephen Maxie, the doctor of the family, is keen on Jupp, but no one else in the family, or on the staff, are that fond of her. Some of them absolutely despise her. It is no wonder, then, that Ms. Jupp is soon found, sprawled across her bed, having been strangled in the night.

Adam Dalgliesh and John Massingham of Scotland Yard soon arrive on the scene to investigate Ms. Jupp's murder, and believe that there may be some connection between her death, and the murder of Stavros weeks earlier at the London bookstore. There are numerous suspects to choose from, false alibis aplenty, and secrets that are just crying out to be unearthed. The mystery deepens greatly before it is finally resolved.

This show is from the mid-eighties, and the production values tend to show it. The DVD looks splendid, but it can only be as good as what it has to work with, and sometimes the 80's videotape "look" is readily apparent. Overall, though, it looks pretty good. The acting is great all-round, as you would expect from a group of well-seasoned British actors. The story itself is relatively coherent, although sometimes things were brought up and then not necessarily followed through with - a distraction when dealing with a 5 hour mystery that makes your mind click back & forth as to what's going on. I spent a great deal of time thinking about different aspects of the case, only to have some of those aspects not be addressed as much as I'd hoped. This adaptation definitely made me want to read the book upon which it was based, if only to get a slightly clearer idea as to what had transpired.

"Cover Her Face" is, despite a few flaws, a solid mystery, with complex characters and motives, and an engrossing plot. I liked the country mansion location, and there is a nice bit of real-life history about it in the special features section on the DVD. If you like British television, and you like British mysteries, then I hardly see how you could go wrong here.

Excellent convoluted plot.....
COVER HER FACE is probably one of the best PD James novels...oh well, I say that about every novel she writes, but the book is great and the DVD transfer by Lance Entertainment of the BBC dramatization of the story is also excellent.

The cast of characters includes Mel Martin whom you've seen in other mystery tales shown on PBS. Martin plays the daughter of a dying man and his devoted wife (Mr. and Mrs. Maxie) who live in a wonderful old house built in the Jacobean era in East Anglia. The interior tour of the house is worth the DVD (wainscoting, carved doorway arches, bosses abide). You can almost feel the Cavalier ghost. Mrs Maxie volunteers as a member on the Board of Directors of a home for unwed mothers in the nearby village.

As the story begins, a young woman who has recently given birth to a child (in the home for unwed mothers) travels to London to visit her old work mates. The firm where she was previously employed is a book-mail-order business the police suspect may be mailing something other than books. On the street outside the building, she encounters a former workmate whom she later finds dead in the "stacks" -- the book storage area in the basement. Dalglish appears on the scene and interviews her.

The young woman leaves London, and whom should she meet on the train--the young Maxie heir. He invites her to work in the Maxie home as a maid. Another murder occurs in the village and once again Dalglish encounters the young woman. What is going on? Are the murders connected? Is she being stalked because the killer in London thinks she saw him. Dalglish will get to the bottom of the case but not before bodies are strewn left and right. "Cover her face" is a line from the stage play 'The Duchess of Malfi', written around the time the old house was constructed. You will get the connection when you see this wonderful DVD. ... Read more

Description

Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgliesh investigates the bizarremurder of a man with his hands cut off found floating in a dinghy out at sea. ... Read more