Teresa Reviews “The House of Lurking Death” (1983)
Teresa reviews “The House of Lurking Death” (1983) and found it packed full of plot.
Fidelity to text: 4 1/2 poison bottles
It’s all there, with added plot to flesh out characters, plot, and motivation, plus a school of red herrings.
Quality of movie on its own: 3 1/2 poison bottles
This should have been either longer or more tightly scripted. It dragged when it should have sprinted.
Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press.
Also, follow Teresa’s discussion of these movies on her podcast.
There’s so much going on in the decaying mansion of Thurnly Grange that the short story would have benefited from being rewritten as a novel. Perhaps not one starring Tommy and Tuppence but Agatha didn’t use them much and she sometimes used someone else to solve the murder(s). In this case, we’ve got an ideal candidate named Mary.
Let’s sink into the past, where old sins cast long shadows, while we examine the present. Feel free to use the bare bones of this criminally underwritten story and flesh out your own Agatha Christie style murder mystery.
Lady Radcliffe was an extremely wealthy widow. She’s a lady because her husband was knighted, not because they were born into the aristocracy. They bought Thurnly Grange from some impoverished peer, hubby died, and left Lady Radcliffe alone.
Lady Radcliffe had a companion named Miss Logan, similar in age. Nobody becomes a companion to a rich, unpleasant old woman if they have other choices available so why was Miss Logan her companion? Miss Logan’s father was a famous doctor, pioneering the study of serum therapeutics. This was cutting edge medicine in 1900, where blood from recovered patients was processed and used to prevent the same disease in other patients. It’s similar to vaccines in that a small dose of antibodies prevents a larger, fatal disease like diphtheria. Serum therapeutics fell out of favor with the rise of antibiotics and vaccines, but they still work today. So why was Miss Logan poor? That question remains unanswered. Miss Logan must not have gotten a bequest from Lady Radcliffe (as companions normally do) so she’s got no other place to go.
Lady Radcliffe died under mysterious circumstances, hinted at in the climax, but Lois doesn’t inform Tommy and Tuppence of this fact.
There are two other adult non-servants in the Thurnly Grange household.
Dennis Radcliffe was Lady Radcliffe’s nephew via her dead husband; Dennis was Lord Radcliffe’s sister or brother’s son. Lois is not related to him by blood although she does call him cousin. Dennis gets a life in the film and it’s a louche, ne’er-do-well one where he drinks, comes in late, seduces parlor maids, gambles, and pursues Lois’s friend. He was Lady Radcliffe’s heir but she disinherited him and left all the money to sweet naïve Lois.
Dennis is unhappy and he has no other place to go. Lois is enamored of Dennis, an emotion he should encourage because rich wives aren’t found at pubs. Lois feels so guilty about her windfall that she’s leaving her huge inheritance to Dennis.
Mary Chilcott is Lois’s best friend from school. They’re the same age but Mary comes across as being much sharper than Lois, except where men are concerned. The question with Mary is why is she living at Thurnly Grange? The answer is probably that she’s got no family, no money, and has no other place to go. Dennis may not have coaxed her into bed, but he’s trying.
The servants include Esther Quant, parlor maid. She fleshed out into a greedy, fast, painted girl who’d appreciate a fling with Dennis and is not above snacking on leftover tea sandwiches. Esther encourages Rose, the kitchen maid, to wear makeup and quit listening to her boring mother (the cook) and that elderly Jesus freak, Hannah.
Hannah, as old as Miss Logan, was Lady Radcliffe’s devoted lady’s maid. She quotes scripture at every occasion and recognizes painted whores of Babylon when she sees them. She has reasons for her resentment as we shall see, one of them possibly being that she didn’t get a bequest from Lady Radcliffe as she should have, allowing her to have a home of her own. Like everyone else at Thurnly Grange, she has no other place to go.
Dr. Burton got a makeover for the film, changing from an elderly doctor to a young one who’s obviously got eyes for Lois and not just because she’s a rich heiress. The incompetent village bobby is mentioned as are the other great houses in the district. Dr. Burton argues with Lois because of another issue she glosses over and the film doesn’t expand on.
Lois’s box of poisoned chocolates was not the first one!
Two other households also received anonymous gifts of toxic chocolate. Once is bad luck, twice is coincidence, three boxes of poisoned candy is someone’s nefarious plan. Dr. Burton suspects socialists, I assume the local bobby knows and suspects village malcontents, but Lois is conflicted because she thinks the chocolates were sent from within the house.
Add in the fact that the house itself is a crumbling pile with a rotting conservatory and no gardener to maintain it. Thus, Mary, looking for something to do that doesn’t involve Dennis, has been tending to the plants. One of the plants — Tuppence identifies it — is Castor Bean. Castor Beans are a big, lovely, showy plant grown in hothouses in northern climes and outdoors in southern ones. In addition to the castor oil that can be distilled from the plant, you can use the seeds to make your own ricin, an immensely powerful neurotoxin. There’s also a big, menacing dog who doesn’t seem to belong to the household but he’s guarding it anyway.
Got all that? Ready to write that killer bestseller?
But wait. The plot thickens. Tommy and Tuppence discover in the morning’s newspaper that Lois and Esther the maid are dead from eating poisoned fig paste sandwiches, Miss Logan is gravely ill, Dennis didn’t come home for tea, and Mary? Oh, she’s perfectly fine.
Except when Tommy and Tuppence arrive at Thurnly Grange, they discover that Dennis — who inherited a fortune the minute Lois bit into that fig paste sandwich — is also dead. Mary is healthy as ever as are the other servants.
What a great setup. All you have to do is figure out what comes next. What Agatha wrote may not be what you dream up. The scriptwriter stuck closely to her story so when the fiery climax arrives, that’s Agatha raining down the fire of the Lord upon the murderer. The ending is the weakest part of the episode and the short story. They both imply that Hannah knew Lady Radcliffe’s death was suspicious. Hannah resents and dislikes the murderer but until now, she had no proof. Sadly, not enough detail was provided, nor do we know who inherits Thurnly Grange and the fortune.
It won’t be Mary, who now has even fewer options on where to go.
Should you watch? There’s a lot going on (even if it dragged in spots) so add it to your list, but only once.
Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press.
