Teresa Reviews “Jane in Search of a Job” (1982)

Teresa reviews “Jane in Search of a Job” (1982) and finds its an amusing adventure that needed a bit more froth.

Fidelity to text: 3 thieves

The film is greatly expanded over the story. In particular, the rescuing hero gets a name and a backstory. Other characters grow, and still more appear to flesh out Jane’s world.

Quality of movie on its own: 3 1/2 thieves

Romantic escapades should be frothy, madcap, comic soufflés. This one didn’t get its eggs beaten high enough.

Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press.

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Agatha was never one for pure, straight, undiluted genre writing and her non-mysteries were even more so. She wrote many short stories at the beginning of her career that were romances at heart, with criminal or supernatural trappings to enhance the story.

In this case, every element of a typical lady’s magazine romantic short is present. The ingenue is desperate for money. The long-suffering landlady is sympathetic but wants to get paid. The handsome young man across the hall is interested in her, and he’s even more interested when he glimpses her in her pajamas (so shocking!). Oh wait. That’s in the film.

One of the many improvements was making our hero into a fully realized character. Instead of a stranger showing up in the nick of time, Jane has a neighbor in the boarding house. He’s Nigel Guest; tall, blond, handsome, and on his way up the ladder as he’ll attend Hendon College to become a police inspector. He’s leapfrogging over the usual way of starting as a beat constable in some quaint but miniscule village in the middle of nowhere. That fancy degree will move him up several rungs, and he’ll start his career in London at Scotland Yard.

Chief Inspector Japp would be impressed — not necessarily favorably — as he had to pound a beat while college boy skips over those tedious steps. The local bobby in the quaint, minuscule village near Orion House (where the impersonation takes place) knows exactly how Japp would feel. He’s nonplussed, not terribly impressed, but his policing shows why Scotland Yard started Hendon College.

Jane is impressed by Nigel, but much more favorably. Still, she has her way to make in the world. She’s a poor vicar’s daughter and needs money. A dalliance isn’t what she has in mind — even with tall, blond, and handsome — especially when that someone is rudely telling her what to do.

Fortunately for the future of the relationship, he points out an unusual advert in the newspaper’s agony column. It’s asking for someone who looks like Jane. There’s the lure of good money but for what? Jane wolfs down her poached egg and heads out.

She soon discovers she’s one of many tall, slim, fair young ladies in London. Ah, but she has a secret weapon. She speaks French fluently, and she demonstrates her skill to the mysterious Mittel Europa gentleman interviewing her. Then it’s off to meet another mysterious Mittel Europa gentleman, a count this time, and stern Princess Anna. Then the final step. Will the Grand Duchess of Ostravia, Pauline, approve?

She does! Jane has a job! She’ll impersonate the Grand Duchess for £2,000 so that worthy lady can avoid Bolsheviks and vodka-swilling revolutionaries while raising money for the benefit of her poor, starving countrymen. Jane must endure the risks of kidnappers and bomb-throwers, so she asks for an additional £1,000 and the Grand Duchess merrily agrees. Money is no object, she likes Jane, and she admits she has no head for business.

Royalty depends on good advisors for exactly those reasons. The count is less enthused about handing over sheafs of pound notes to Jane so she can outfit herself properly for the deception but Grand Duchess Pauline insists. The Ostravians behave exactly as Jane would expect minor Mittel Europa royalty to act.

Back at her boarding house room, Jane shows off her new red dress, bag, high-heeled shoes, sharp hat, and fox fur cape to Nigel. We’ll assume she paid her back rent to the landlady before bounding up the stairs. She tells Nigel about her wonderful opportunity. Nigel, wet-blanket that he is and budding future police inspector, throws cold water on Jane. He thinks something is wrong with the situation.

Jane discounts his suspicions and heads off to the Ritz to impersonate an American journalist. She’ll interview Grand Duchess Pauline at Orion House, switch clothes, and then leave with Princess Anna, laying a false trail for the kidnappers. The Grand Duchess will pretend to be the red-clad American journalist and leave separately, safely anonymous, during the auction of the 100 donated pearls.

Meanwhile, Nigel demonstrates why he was accepted to Hendon College. He takes his motorcycle out to Orion House, checks out suspicious back roads and an even more suspicious abandoned race car, and tries to figure out what’s going on.

Unlike red-clad lady journalists from America, he’s not invited inside Orion House. He has to spy from afar.

As feared, Jane and Princess Anna are kidnapped by the chauffeur and driven to a ramshackle cottage in the middle of nowhere. The kidnappers are gracious enough to feed them and since Jane’s starving, she eats the soup. Princess Anna does not but she has a very good reason.

Then — you were expecting the twist, right? — the pearls to be auctioned off at Orion house are stolen by the red-clad lady journalist from America. Our Nigel’s fears are realized. It was a scam all along and poor, lovely, innocent Jane will be blamed. He has to save her! He has to find her first, and along the way, notify the skeptical and slow local constable.

Jane wakes up and discovers she’s back in her red dress, fur cape, and high-heeled shoes. Who changed her clothes while she was unconscious? Why is there a pistol in her hand? Could she have been … used?

Yes, annoying but handsome Nigel was correct in his suspicions. However, he turns out to not have been as smart as he thought was since the other thing Jane’s wearing is Nigel’s unconscious body stretched out over hers. He found the house, found comatose Jane, and got his head coshed for his troubles.

The gang of thieves drive off. They meet a police roadblock and pass themselves off as French citizens. Since local bobbies aren’t that bright, they’re given a pass.

Or are they? Nigel may have been dumb enough to not watch his back, but he was bright enough to call on Scotland Yard before racing off to search for Jane. Good thing the thieves didn’t murder her.

Back at Jane’s boarding house, he tells Jane how he knew something was up. It was her shoes. The Grand Duchess wore low heels. Jane wore high heels. He knew there had been some kind of switch. Does Nigel have a foot fetish? No, he’s the son of a boot manufacturer so he’s not only going to be a police inspector, he’s got money.

All ends happily, even when eggs end up broken on the floor. Still, it should have been frothier. This is an amusing diversion, but you won’t watch it twice.

Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press.