The Murder Room

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.

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.

"The Murder Room," from a novel by P.D. James, is an excellent whodunit starring Martin Shaw as Adam Dalgliesh, and that's the problem right there. Though a fine actor, he just isn't Dalgliesh for me. I remember the old series starring Roy Marsden as being more exciting.

The story concerns a lease about to expire on a family museum, and there is one holdout, Neville Dupayne, who does not want to re-sign. The museum features a Murder Room, which displays information on notorious murders that took place between World War I and World War II. Neville, a doctor, thinks the money could be put to medical use.

When Neville dies in what appears to be a copycat murder of a display in the Murder Room, Commander Dalgleish is brought in. He has a lot of suspects to choose from -- the victim's brother and sister, museum employees who stood to lose their jobs, his secretary who is also his ex-mistress, and others. The solution, however, won't be found by investigating only the present day.

Though a good mystery and well-done, it was too long, in part because a subplot dealt with Dalgleish's love life, which I, for one, couldn't have cared less about. I didn't even understand why this woman was so interested in him, as the character was emotionally very uptight and a workaholic.

I found Dalgleish's relationship with his associates unpleasant, and both of them uninteresting.

I can only ask, where's Roy Marsden when you need him. He's only four years older than Shaw.

This is a great murder mystery story about a museum which is having problems among its administrators and there is a possibility it will be closed. The main attraction to the museum is a room dedicated to murders which were committed in a brutal and horrible fashion. For example, a person being stuffed in a trunk and a mallet that crushed in a skull and the list goes on and on. Martin Shaw, (Adam Dalgliesh) plays the role of a stuffed shirt uptight investigator who is told to his face he is hard to communicate with. Adam has his hands full trying to investigate various murders which were being copied from murders committed in the Murder Room of the museum. Adam meets up with a pretty female he knew in the past and his character seems to change after this girl hits on him for romance. Great Mystery story and a great film to view. Enjoy.

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