MOVIE PREMIERE: The latest import from Acorn TV is this new British version of Agatha Christie’s durable courtroom drama,. In England, this latest version was shown as a two-part TV tale. For the States, it’s reconfigured slightly as a one-shot movie, but the real reconfiguring comes from writer Sarah Phelps, who aggressively updates some of the dialogue, sexual situations and other elements. Kim Cattrall plays a voracious cougar who pounces on a young WWI vet named Leonard (Billy Howle), but doesn’t survive the night. He’s accused of her murder, and his significant other, a chorus girl named Romaine (Andrea Riseborough), provides the testimony that may prove crucial to whether or not he’s found guilty of the killing. The 1957 movie version of this Christie classic, featuring Charles Laughton as the lawyer defending the accused murderer, was perfect – but this new approach to the story, starring Toby Jones (pictured) as the persistent defense attorney, is very entertaining, too, and preserves the key twists and turns that made the original story, and movie, so much fun.
For a full review, see Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes and
David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower.