Agatha and the Midnight Murders Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Agatha and the Midnight Murders Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 8, 2022

Some fans of a certain iconic British mystery writer who have been watching a series of "updated" scenarios featuring the writer as a veritable sleuth, a series of which the title currently under review is a part, might joke that the real mystery in these tales is "who's going to play Agatha Christie this time?". Agatha and the Truth of Murder featured Ruth Bradley as a younger Mrs. Christie, in fact on the verge of becoming the ex- Mrs. Christie. Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar then offered Lyndsey Marshal as the legendary author, in a rather abrupt change in casting since this second outing ostensibly took place just a bit after Agatha and first husband Archie had divorced. This third saga was reportedly filmed back to back with Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar which perhaps makes this feature's casting of Helen Baxendale as the future Dame Christie even more of a head scratcher, though at least in this case the film is set a bit later in Christie's life, in the tumultuous days of World War II, the blitz on London, and Christie's rather dire financial straits, despite her enormous success, or perhaps more accurately stated because of her enormous success, and the fact that British revenue agents wanted their piece of the royalty pie.

Of the three "Agatha as investigator" made for television films, I'd rate this as the most interesting in some ways but also the most frustrating in others. First of all, only those who have watched the previous two outings will understand that the putative "bodyguard" Christie has hired to squire her through a secret licensing deal is Travis Pickford (Blake Harrison), who was in fact one of the "usual suspects" in the first in this series, Agatha and the Truth of Murder. Some of his backstory is briefly alluded to in that opus, but really only comes into play in one of what I would argue is this telefilm's major missteps, a ludicrously overwrought coda-esque series of developments that is both patently absurd and frankly more than a bit illogical. Suffice it to say that when you hire a suspected murderer (even if that suspicion was ultimately dismissed) to be your bodyguard, unexpected things can happen.

Agatha and the Midnight Murders actually opens with a chilling vignette which really has little if any connection to the actual story, other than getting things off to a disturbing start. In the rubble of a Nazi bombing attack on London, a shrouded figure wearing a gasmask stumbles through piles of ruin and sees a hand sticking through the debris. It's gloved, but it's also obviously alive, and this masked figure bends over, takes the glove off and sees a rather large diamond ring. The figure tries to pull it off, but it won't come, and there's a somewhat discursively presented but still obvious depiction that this "scavenger" is resorting to a quick amputation to get some riches.

The tale then segues to Christie and Travis arriving at a hotel in order for Christie to secretly sell a manuscript which revolves around the death of Hercule Poirot (the horror!). The hotel is kind of weirdly deserted, though there are a few random characters hanging around, and when an air raid siren goes off, all of the group is ushered into a kind of quasi-bomb shelter in the basement of the facility. That then offers a decent enough take on a "closed door mystery", as the sequestered folks discover there's a murderer in their midst, and at least a couple of people fall prey to the villain. Oh, and just for good measure, Christie's prized (and valuable) manuscript goes missing to boot.

The previous two Agatha and. . . telefilms did a sometimes fun job of working in "meta" references that might be best understood by diehard fans of Christie, and without posting any actual spoilers, those fans will no doubt wonder whether an increasingly agitated female policeman named PC O'Hanaouer (Jodie McNee) might be a "callback" to Christie's most famous stage success, The Mousetrap. Suffice it to say O'Hanauer's ulterior motives are just one of several questions alert viewers will have about a handful of people trying to survive not just an ostensible bombing but each other, and Tim Dalton's teleplay at least gives passing lip service to some character beats along the way.

But ultimately I'd argue that Agatha and the Midnight Murders is undone, at least in part and maybe totally, but its closing. It's already become obvious that, in true Christie fashion, not everything is as it seems, but after a series of almost comical deaths, Agatha then settles down for a long chat with Travis with a dead body lying right next to them (see screenshot 2). The upshot of their discussion won't be disclosed here, or the increasingly hyperbolic events that ensue, but the mere fact that all of this plays out with a freshly minted corpse just lying there bleeding may strike those with jaded temperaments (ahem) as being just a bit on the funny side, if only because it goes on so long.

There's probably still enough here to attract Christie fans' attention, but aside from recasting the role of Christie every time, the creative types behind this apparent "franchise" might want to concentrate on more Christie-like plot machinations.

Agatha and the Midnight Murders Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Agatha and the Midnight Murders is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Dazzler Media with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.98:1. There's no authoritative technical data about this shoot that I could find online, but I'm assuming a digital capture and 2K DI. This is in some ways the most traditionally "filmic" in appearance of the three Agatha and. . . made for television films, with a subtle but noticeable layer of digital grain that can be especially apparent in scenes with better lighting. That said, as can probably be gleaned by parsing through the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, this is often a very dark, almost sepia toned, presentation a lot of the time, and there can be deficits in shadow detail and especially fine detail in general in some of the most dimly lit material. Still, there's a rather evocative mood that's offered courtesy of kind of yellow tinged lighting choices and a cloistered environment. I noticed no major compression issues and the interlaced presentation didn't offer any big anomalies either.

Agatha and the Midnight Murders Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Agatha and the Midnight Murders features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that has a few moments of nice surround activity, including the opening vignette, but which can't escape the fact that the bulk of this film plays out in a couple of smallish rooms in a basement. As such, while there is decent directionality at times in terms of both sound effects and even on occasion dialogue, this is not a "showy" surround track in terms of constant immersive activity. That said, fidelity is fine throughout, offering secure support for dialogue, effects and score. Optional English subtitles are available.

Agatha and the Midnight Murders Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As with the two other Agatha and . . . made for television movies offered on Blu-ray by Dazzler Media, this disc has no supplements.

Agatha and the Midnight Murders Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The "closed door" aspect of this mystery is kind of fun, though the "reveal" toward the end of the second act of who at least two of the ostensible suspects are is beyond ridiculous, and then the over the top finale may just kind of scuttle things irreparably for some viewers. Technical merits are generally secure for those who may be considering making a purchase.