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Agatha Christie's Partners In Crime - The Secret Adversary [VHS] [1983] starring: James Warwick, Francesca Annis, Reece Dinsdale, Arthur Cox

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Rating: - Who is Mr. Brown?

After the Great War, out of work Captain, Tommy Beresford (Tommy Beresford) accidentally comes across his lifelong friend and pal Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley. Tuppence is also out of work. Over their sparse meal they speculate on doing any job of anybody for outrageous fees.

This speculative talk was over heard and the wheels are set in motion when Tuppence is given the opportunity and gives what she thinks is a false name. This sets off a series of events that employs them to find a missing girl and the identity of a mysterious Mr. Brown.

Made for TV and fairly transparent, this film still has all the ambiance of a BBC Agatha Christy production. It is a period piece and employs many major English actors. One actor you can recognize right off is Honor Blackman who played Pussy_Galore in "Goldfinger" (1964).

Rating: - An enjoyable romp through the swinging 1920s' London.

"The Secret Adversary" and the short story collection "Partners in Crime" (both from 1922) were Agatha Christie's second and third-ever book, but their quirky protagonists, Tommy and "Tuppence" (Prudence) Beresford, were not to share the eventful career of their colleague Hercule Poirot, who had debuted two years earlier with "The Mysterious Affair at Styles;" nor that of Christie's almost equally well-loved (and personal favorite) village sleuth Miss Marple, whose first adventure ("Murder at the Vicarage") would not be published until 1930. Christie only authored three more Beresford mysteries: 1941's "N or M?" (a WWII spy thriller set in a coastal guesthouse), 1968's "By the Pricking of My Thumbs" (where a visit to a nursing home prompts them to track down the real-life object of a painting, only to find themselves hunting for a child murderer) and "Postern of Fate" (1973), the last book written by Christie (although not the last one published); more a postscript to the superior earlier stories.

Not as eccentric as Poirot and Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence are nevertheless immediately likeable, and perfectly cast with Francesca Annis and James Warwick, who reprised their successful collaboration from the 1980 realization of Christie's "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?" Taking the series's title from the second entry in the Beresford cycle, originally only the short stories contained in "Partners in Crime" were developed for television (between 1980 and 1982); "The Secret Adversary," although set earlier in the literary originals' sequence and providing critical background information on the couple's friendship, was only adapted as a feature film two years later.

Although "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" had already proved Christie to be a writer of exceptional talent, her first Tommy and Tuppence adventures - penned for financial reasons as much as out of a desire to write - still show her style as a work in progress, sometimes lacking certainty as to what exactly works in terms of characterization and storylines. While she succeeds, like in the first Poirot mystery, to immediately draw in her audience, and the Beresfords are presented in as much detail as the little Belgian with the many gray cells, the plotlines - particularly that of "The Secret Adversary" - sometimes stretch credibility and have a whiff of the kind of story that Arthur Conan Doyle could get away with 20 years earlier, but which Christie herself (wisely) only took up infrequently later (and generally with more solidly constructed plotlines and often with Poirot as the main character). Thus, if this early Tommy and Tuppence story appears somewhat less convincing than the subsequent, more acclaimed adaptations of Christie's Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries, this is at least partly owing to the literary original itself: The creators of the TV series reproduced the mystery's "swinging Twenties" setting successfully and with a fine eye for detail; and Francesca Annis and James Warwick give terriffic performances as the vivacious, hat-loving Tuppence and her (almost) equally witty, slightly more settled husband-to-be.

"The Secret Adversary" sees Tommy and Tuppence after the end of WWI, both out of work (Tommy has been an intelligence officer, Tuppence a nurse) and looking for adventure. That opportunity presents itself when, as a result of two newspaper ads, they are sent on the hunt for a lost treaty which, if published now, would cause a general strike and throw the country into turmoil, thus playing into the hands of a mysterious criminal known only as "Mr. Brown," and set on nothing less than the attainment of absolute power. The key to the treaty is believed to lie with a young American woman named Jane Finn, who has likewise disappeared and whose cousin Julius P. Hersheimer (or is he really?), Tommy and Tuppence learn, is "the third richest man in America." - Further notable appearances here include those of Alec McCowen (influential barrister Sir James Peele Edgerton), Gavan O'Herlihy (Hersheimer), Peter Barkworth (intelligence chief Carter) and Honor Blackman, as well as George Baker of "Inspector Wexford" fame, as members of "Mr. Brown"'s gang.

Rating: - Not one of the best.

Fans of Joan Hickson and St Mary Mead will be disappointed here. Not only that but the lack of any memorable background music is sad, while the action is frequently stilted (probably because of the need to introduce commercial breaks originally). To be fair most of the faults lie with the original book. I was quite unable to believe the underlying thesis that the disclosure of a secret wartime treaty would bring about instant revolution and anarchy in between-the-wars Britain. There have been many such nine-day wonders and the Stately Homes of England still stand! Neither could I believe that a (presumably Irish origin) American could convincingly fake both amnesia and being French - at least not to the extent that a criminal anarchist mastermind would be taken in. And the bad guys can never shoot straight ... The redeeming quality is the light and lively portrayals by the two lead actors.

Rating: - I think that it is an excellent film, and faithfully adapted

The Secret Adversary is in my opinion the best Agatha Christie book. I was pleased when I found out that there had been a TV adaptation of it, and that it had just come out on video. The film remains true to the book, and Francesca Annis and James Warwick portrayed them well. I would recommend this film.

Rating: - Amazingly faithful to the novel

There has been a trend of late with Christie adaptions to move dramatically from the novel's plot and even setting and characters (The Pale Horse anyone?) But the producers of this film are to be commended for the way in which they've stuck religously to Christie's novel not only in the ways mentioned above, but also in its light hearted tone which is at times almost laugh-out-loud funny (and intentionally so). So now hear are two instructions for you: 1) read the other review on this page (below mine) which tells you everything I've missed out. 2) For God's sake buy Why Didn't They Ask Evans? as well; it's even better than this film!

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