"Crooked House" is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, published in 1949. It was a book she personally loved the most, and she steadfastly refused to change the ending, despite the insistence of her publishers. Nowadays, I suppose, we're more used to this kind of story.
The film has a great cast - Glenn Close, Mox Irons, Terence Stamp, Gillian Anderson, Christina Hendricks, and Stefanie Martini. A detective, Charles Hayward (Irons) is asked to look into the death of an old girlfriend's (Martini) grandfather, which she thinks may be murder. It's a wealthy family and not all that anxious for publicity.
The house has several discontented generations under one roof, including the victim's late wife's mother (Close), his young, beautiful wife (Hendricks), his sons, their wives, and another younger granddaughter. The will the family thought was in effect was never signed, and there's plenty of disappointment when the family learns about the heirs. Everyone is at each other's throats.
There are plenty of suspects and more death in this dark story that contains some excellent performances. I found the second half much more exciting than the first; the movie is slow in the beginning, but the characters make it interesting enough.
I read all of Agatha Christie's books probably 50+ years ago, so it's hard for me to remember if this story stuck to the book or not. Some producers have taken a lot of liberties with Christie's works, sticking Miss Marple in when she wasn't in the novel, etc., but this one is probably pretty straightforward.
The film has a great cast - Glenn Close, Mox Irons, Terence Stamp, Gillian Anderson, Christina Hendricks, and Stefanie Martini. A detective, Charles Hayward (Irons) is asked to look into the death of an old girlfriend's (Martini) grandfather, which she thinks may be murder. It's a wealthy family and not all that anxious for publicity.
The house has several discontented generations under one roof, including the victim's late wife's mother (Close), his young, beautiful wife (Hendricks), his sons, their wives, and another younger granddaughter. The will the family thought was in effect was never signed, and there's plenty of disappointment when the family learns about the heirs. Everyone is at each other's throats.
There are plenty of suspects and more death in this dark story that contains some excellent performances. I found the second half much more exciting than the first; the movie is slow in the beginning, but the characters make it interesting enough.
I read all of Agatha Christie's books probably 50+ years ago, so it's hard for me to remember if this story stuck to the book or not. Some producers have taken a lot of liberties with Christie's works, sticking Miss Marple in when she wasn't in the novel, etc., but this one is probably pretty straightforward.