Agatha Christie is most famous for her novels and stories starring the detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, but she also wrote a few non-series stories. Some of these have become famous both in their original form and on the screen, such as And Then There Were None. Others are more minor works that have not weathered the passing of time quite so well, such as Endless Night and the subject of this review, Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Based on Christie's 1934 novel of the same name, Why Didn't They Ask Evans? mixes a slightly comic approach with a convoluted mystery plot. The end result is best described as simply "uninspired." It's watchable, sure, but somehow it just plods along, never really involving the viewer in the events on screen.

At over three hours in running time (188 minutes), the plot is fairly complicated. Unfortunately, it's the kind of plot that best appeals to people who have very good memory. The film seems to operate under the assumption that once a character has been introduced and given a name, the viewer will flawlessly remember both the character and the name for the rest of the film. If there were only a few characters, this might not be too difficult, but as it happens, there are a lot of characters... some of whom appear to be minor characters at first, but then turn out to be quite important later on. Furthermore, much of the exposition of the mystery happens with the protagonists talking about the other characters, rather than dealing with them directly, which doesn't do much for jogging a viewer's recollection of the characters in question. Between my less-than-perfect memory for names, and the film's extremely careless method of introducing characters, it was rather difficult to keep track of who did what to whom and why.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? is similar in tone to the Tommy and Tuppence series, which is really no surprise since the principal actors are the same. James Warwick and Francesca Annis went on to co-star in Tommy and Tuppence, probably on the strength of their performances here, since the characters are strikingly similar to the later detective pair. The overall feel of the film shares the light touch of the Tommy and Tuppence episodes. Though the humorous angle isn't played up as much in Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, there are still many instances of scenes having humorous elements included. The dramatic scenes also have a slightly soap-opera, melodramatic feel to them, as if they're being played from an ironic point of view.

Overall, it's not terrible, but it's far from one of Agatha Christie's great mysteries. The best part, in my opinion, is the opening half hour or so, which sets up a genuinely interesting situation. However, this promise is never realized; from there, the story plods onward, but never manages to get the viewer truly interested in the resolution of the overly long and overly convoluted plot.

The DVD

Video

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? offers a mixed bag of image quality. The indoor scenes are adequate, considering that this is a 1980 television production. Edge enhancement is apparent, and some odd colored halo effects pop up here and there on the edges of objects, but on the whole it's watchable. The outdoor scenes, on the other hand, are very poor. Colors are washed out, and the image on the whole is grainy and noisy, with a liberal helping of print flaws to boot. Unfortunately, there are quite a few outdoor scenes throughout the film, enough to constantly remind the viewer of the uneven image quality of the overall production.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is adequate, but no more. The actors' voices are presented fairly naturally, without any distortion, though at times some of the dialogue is slightly unclear. A slight background hiss is noticeable in the quieter scenes as well.

Extras

A text biography of Agatha Christie is included, along with a fairly comprehensive section of cast biographies and filmographies; all the major actors and most of the secondary actors have information provided about them.

Final thoughts

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? is, in my mind, evidence that even the greatest authors have their off days; it's certainly not one of Agatha Christie's all-time great stories. With its excessively long running time and less than compelling story, I wouldn't recommend this film in general; however, fans of the Tommy and Tuppence series (also based on Christie's books) may want to check it out, as Francesca Annis and James Warwick went from co-starring in Why Didn't They Ask Evans? to co-starring in similar roles in that series.