Product Details

• Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Vanessa Redgrave, Timothy Dalton, Helen Morse, Celia Gregory
• Directors: Michael Apted
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: May 4, 1999
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 079074144X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,656 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

What really happened to mystery writer Agatha Christie when she vanished for 11 days in 1926? Dustin Hoffman and Vanessa Redgrave star in this ingenious solution to an enduring mystery. Year: 1979 Director: Michael Apted Starring: Dusin Hoffman, Vanessa Redgrave, Timothy Dalton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 11 days of amnesia, August 17, 2001

By	Peter Shelley "petershelley" (Marrickville, New South Wales Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Agatha [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In 1926 acclaimed English mystery writer Agatha Christie disappeared after her car was found in the countryside. She later reappeared at the Harrogate Spa claiming "amnesia" and unable to explain what had taken place. The screenplay by Kathleen Tynan and Arthur Hopcraft constructs a solution to Christie's real life mystery by suggesting that she followed her husband's mistress to Harrogate Spa. What is intriguing about this idea is the way the treatment has Christie use the skills she presumably used to create her novels, to investigate the potentially lethal electrical apparatus used at the Spa as slimming devices. However outweighing the thriller elements of the film is the romantic approach by director Michael Apted, represented by the casting of Vanessa Redgrave as Christie, Dustin Hoffman as an American journalist following her, the lighting by Vittorio Storaro and the production design by Shirley Russell. Redgrave encapsulates the shy genius Christie who hides in her clothes and her partnership with the dandy played by Hoffman is both the coming together of two oddballs, and the excitement of seeing two great actors complement each other. Hoffman is as aware that Redgrave is Christie though she uses a false name as much as Redgrave is as aware of his awareness. Apted uses this double act of voyeurism of Hoffman spying on Redgrave and Redgrave's Christie spying on her husband's mistress as a demonstration of the public's fascination with celebrity, even celebrity as unwilling as Christie is - at a launch of her book at the film's opening, Christie can barely speak to say thank you for the attention. Redgrave and Hoffman have a delicious moment when she stoops to kiss him in profile, and Redgrave's tear as she half sings They Didn't Believe Me is memorable. Also good are Timothy Dalton as Mr Christie - a role drenched in irony given Dalton's then real life relationship with Redgrave - and Australian actress Helen Morse, radiant as someone who befriends Redgrave at the Spa. As Pauline Kael points out in the review in her collection, When the Lights Go Down, there can be no substance to the mystery theory since it is known Christie was found and her days accounted for - therefore she cannot be seen to harm anyone and particularly not herself. The plot then is about a death scheme that is foiled. And though we know Christie will divorce the husband she returns to, giving him what he wanted all along, and we know that she will not rush to Hoffman because his role is fictional, we question Redgrave's final gift to Hoffman because there is no way it can be used other than as a personal rememberance. Perhaps, as Kael, suggested it would make more sense if Hoffman's role were more the yellow journalist or envious writer, but then that would be a different movie. As it is, it appears merely the parting gesture of people that we don't want to see part.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing but Hollow..., April 27, 2004

By	T. George "anne-with-an-e" (An American city) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Agatha [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As an Agatha Christie fan, I was very curious when I happened upon this video recently. As Christie always seems so cool, collected and in control as the voice behind her mysteries, I assumed that that was how she was in real life. Thus as I read the video description and learned that she was a painfully shy woman who clung to her husband for support, I was very interested in learning more.

What made this film even more intriguing is that in writing a screenplay about Christie, the minds behind this film did so playfully. They focused on an 11 day period when Christie disappeared, and set the whole thing up as a mystery plot...in classic Agatha style...

Or so they thought. The mystery part of this movie left no real mystery to solve. The "surprise twist" at the end was a minor twist that didn't really fulfill expectations. Otherwise, everything was painstakingly clear.

If you can leave aside the whole mystery story as a bold but ultimately doomed attempt (doomed simply by the confines of reality), the rest of the story did hold its own. The plot moved slowly, dialog was sometimes hard to understand and minor characters were hard to keep track of...all of which are typical of older films. However, the characters were engaging and the plot kept things moving along.

The build-up of the relationship between Christie and Apted is fully believable, except they don't get together in the end. This is not a "Roman Holiday" situation where they can't because of circumstances. Rather, it is because Apted is fictional and therefore not true to Christie's real life story. Thus, you are left emotionally baffled.

All that said, the greatest value I personally received from the film was a MUCH BETTER understanding of Christie herself and also of England in the 1920's. Additionally, I enjoyed Hoffman's character thoroughly. He really shone in his role.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Agatha's portrayal of someone who tastes loss, July 29, 2001

By	Miguel Moura (Coimbra, Portugal) - See all my reviews

The title of this English movie refers to one of the world's most famous writer, Agatha Christie, who, in 1926, left her home without warning and created a public speculation about her fate. The director, Michael Apted, gives us a great amount of solemnity, using it to balance with the most trivial of human behaviors. Dustin Hoffman is rather theatrical in his portrayal of a famous journalist that falls in love with the fragile and dependent writer and Vanessa Redgrave captures perfectly the loss and solitude of the character. And suddenly, when the movie itself was imbued in its quietness, becomes something close to a thriller, a race against time, and its cleverness never compensates the unexpected loss. But it is a beautiful film, carefully constructed and with some good dialogue. Victorio Storaro's cinematography is excellent as usual and Timothy Dalton probably gives his finest performance as a rigid and paternal husband who doesn't allow his wife to act as one.