The Murder Room

Famed mystery writer P.D. James spins an intricate tale of deception and murder in this classic style whodunit story, converted to TV movie, set at a spooky old museum in England. Three wealthy siblings in charge of the Dupayne Museum are at odds over its future. One wants to close it down for financial reasons; the other two want to keep it open, presumably for posterity. One of its rooms is dedicated to infamous murders that occurred between WWI and WWII. When a murder occurs at the museum, the MO closely resembles a murder described in the murder room.

The plot contains ample red herrings, and just the right number of suspects. There's some good spine-tingling suspense, especially toward the film's end, when the murderer dressed in black and concealed by darkness prowls around in the building at night. The story reminds me, in some ways, of Agatha Christie's novel "Cat Among The Pigeons"; indeed, in "The Murder Room" an old tomcat figures into the story's conclusion.

As with the best whodunits, the plot leads viewers down the garden path; what seems important is not; what's seemingly irrelevant may be very important. If there's a theme to the story, it's spoken by one of the suspects: "The past isn't so easily shaken off; old sins return".

As engaging as the film is, it's not perfect. I did not care at all for the romantic subplot of the lead detective. With a runtime of three hours, this subplot not only unnecessarily prolongs the movie, but it also intrudes into the whodunit puzzle. In addition, the film's editing at the beginning is too frantic. Viewers must endure a barrage of too many new characters and too many flashbacks. As a result, the first thirty minutes present a chaotic jumble of confusing images. All these images make sense on a repeat viewing; but I almost gave up on the film, at first. Finally, the film's ending, as regards the explanation of the killer's motive, seems rushed. A couple of key questions are never answered.

"The Murder Room" is made to order for viewers who like classic whodunit puzzles. There's plenty of time to sink your teeth into the story and get to know the suspects and their potential for being the killer. Casting and acting are quite good. And for a TV movie, production design and sets are surprisingly detailed and lavish. The only real weaknesses are an unnecessary subplot, and an intimidating thirty-minute intro. Given those constraints, this film offers some terrific whodunit entertainment.

Dame P.D. James is one of the most respected and revered mystery writers of our times. At ripe age of89 she still writes marvelous books. I saw the other TV adaptations of her novels made on BBC, and they were done with great flair and creativity. Unfortunately, this TV movie wasn't done with the same flawless style as the previous installments. The script was very disjointed and hard to decipher. The editing was jerky and illogical. All in all a puzzling experience. Luckily, the saving grace was as usual a great cast of brilliant British actors. Martin Shaw is a good actor, but like most of the other fans I prefer Roy Marsden.

As always, P D James has written a very good and intriguing story. The adaptation is faithful to the book: nothing much is added or taken out. However maybe the explanation of the murderer's motives was glossed over a little.

I actually prefer Martin Shaw rather than Roy Marsden as Adam Dalgliesh. Martin Shaw's portrayal is arguably less faithful to the character as P D James writes it, but portrays him as a more human, likable character. I always found Roy Marsden's portrayal (and his description in P D James's books) to be stern, humourless, aloof, distant and with no likable qualities or little human failings that I could identify with.

I liked the subplot about his girlfriend. It showed his vulnerability and his awkwardness with women; the letter that he wrote to her at the end (I won't spoil it by mentioning the subject) was very moving.

I agree that characters of Dalgliesh's two inspectors weren't really developed properly (they aren't in the book either). One of the slight failings of the Dalgliesh books and TV series are that the relationship between Dalgliesh and his sidekicks isn't strong enough that they can confide in each other, in the way that Morse and Lewis or Wexford and Burden do. The acid test of a "good" TV detective, aside from their deductive qualities, is whether you like them as a person and could imagine yourself discussing a case with them over a pint. With Morse, Frost or Wexford, this is easy to imagine; with Dalgliesh, especially as portrayed by Roy Marsden, I suspect that the conversation would be a bit tense and there would be lots of long silences! At least it is easier to imagine having a drink and a chat with Martin Shaw's version of Dalgliesh.

Old P D James keeps the books coming and in no time they are on TV. This is a gripping story and is as good as her others.

It's all about a privately run museum, which has a room about murders of the past. People start getting bumped off in ways which resemble some of the earlier crimes.

It's well acted, but I found it hard to accept Martin Shaw in the lead role as Dalgleish. He seemed physically wrong for it -- too much of an ox for the poet Dalgleish. His two assistants also appeared to be lightweight and rather too young to be inspectors. They had to do mundane work that I would have thought would be done by lower ranks.

The subplot about Dalgleish's attempt to woo a girlfriend is a bit of a distraction and not well integrated into the rest of the story.

40 minutes in....all characters present but not one of them likeable. all "self obsessed" with themselves and with little concern for anything else but "me". Dalgleish is completely uninteresting and this needed a Roy Marsden without which, simply find something else to do