Agatha Christie Focus: Murder Is Easy (1982)

I’ve recently discovered that YouTube is an absolute treasure trove for lovers of Agatha Christie. You can find all manner of oddities on there, from 1930s adaptations of her early books and stories, to more obscure versions of some of her best known books. Murder is Easy is a book that that has very recently been adapted by the BBC, and was shown during Christmas 2023, to some controversy, so I decided now was the perfect time to visit a little known, America version of the book that was made in 1982, and was shown on CBS.

This version of Murder is Easy is interesting when we look at the controversy of the most recent version, which changed the lead protagonist Luke, into a black civil servant recently back from Kenya. I personally really enjoyed the version and thought it worked really well, but many commented on what they believed to be ‘wokeness’ being worked into Agatha Christie classics, which were written of a time, and for a time. The funny thing is that it seems that most versions of Agatha change ‘something’- in the 1982 version Luke is an American, a computer genuis played by none other than Dr David Banner himself, Bill Bixby. This version is set in 1982, with everything from 80’s fashions (actually quite tasteful when worn by Leslie Anne Down), to flicky men’s hair styles, and an emphasis on using one of those new fangled computers to try to solve the crime – something Agatha clearly did not have in mind when she wrote the tale in the 1950’s.

I actually really enjoyed the movie, which moves along quite nicely for 90 minutes. There is much to admire, not least two true Hollywood greats in Helen Hayes as Miss Lavinia Fullerton, whose brief conversation on a train with Luke is the trigger that leads him to murder, and Olivia De Havilland as Honoria Waynefleet. (You can read about Helen Hayes later playing Miss Marple in Murder With Mirrors here.)There are also great roles for Timothy West as the self made man Lord Gordon Easterfield and an early role for Jonathan Pryce as the strange antiques dealer Mr. Ellsworthy. The leads are fine, Bill Bixby is always likeable, and Lesley Anne Down is cool and stunningly beautiful as Bridget Conway, always one of Agatha’s feistiest heroines.

Murder is Easy is proof that Agatha’s novels transfer perfectly to any time, with any lead, they are truly modern and timeless.

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