Teresa Reviews The Murder of Kuroido (2018)

Teresa reviews “The Murder of Kuroido” (2018) and found it an excellent adaptation of “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,” with one reservation

Fidelity to text: 4½ daggers

Allowing for necessary setting changes (Japan in the early 1950s), it’s stunningly close.

Quality of film on its own: 4½ daggers

The one major change softened Dr. Shepherd and it didn’t work. Otherwise, what a feast.

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

Also, follow Teresa’s discussion of these movie on her podcast.

As with other foreign language adaptations, I’m sticking with the familiar names that Agatha used. It avoids confusion for me and for you, dear reader.

Like And Then There Were None or Endless Night, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd will always be a challenge to film. It’s narrated in the first person by Dr. Shepherd who acts as Poirot’s Watson during the murder investigation. Since he’s telling the story and Poirot trusts him, we, the readers, believe every word Dr. Shepherd says.

As it turns out, Poirot stopped trusting Dr. Shepherd early on but he didn’t inform the good doctor. And since we only know what Dr. Shepherd tells us, we don’t know what Poirot thinks. We only know what Dr. Shepherd believes Poirot is thinking.

Dr. Shepherd is not merely an unreliable narrator on par with Capt. Arthur Hastings, who’s not that bright, tends to miss the point, and misinterprets what he sees. Dr. Shepherd is a liar, a blackmailer, and a murderer. His fondest wish is to publish his explanation of the murder of Roger Ackroyd and title it Poirot’s Failure.

The first time you read the novel (assuming no one spoiled the ending for you), Dr. Shepherd fools you completely. You can’t read the novel twice as it becomes a radically different book. The second time through, you’re searching the text for Agatha’s carefully planted clues informing you what a liar Dr. Shepherd is.

So what should a filmmaker do with an iconic story told by a liar who’s in every scene and each scene is told from his point of view? They could come up with something completely lame and idiotic like ITV did with Poirot. Poor David Suchet. He was stuck in that wonderful-looking, utterly inane film. He did his best but he couldn’t overcome the hack screenwriter.

Or, they could trust the audience, which is what the Fuji Television Network did.

They opened the film brilliantly. We meet Dr. Shepherd and Poirot. Dr. Shepherd is handing over his diary — a manuscript detailing every incident of the murder investigation — to Poirot. Poirot accepts the manuscript but declines to read it at that moment. He wants to read in private, without Dr. Shepherd hovering over his shoulder.

The clock then spins backward in time to before the murder of Roger Ackroyd. We’ve already been primed to trust what Dr. Shepherd tells us because Poirot does.

We learn about the tragic suicide of Mrs. Ferrars, the widow Roger Ackroyd loves. Dr. Shepherd confirms her death, then returns home, where his sister Caroline questions him closely about her suicide and concludes she did it because she murdered her husband the year before.

Dr. Shepherd is taken aback by Caroline’s nosiness and by how closely tied into village events she is. Caroline makes it a point to know everyone and their business. She runs her brother’s household and his life. It’s obvious he can’t hide a thing from Caroline.

Then Ackroyd invites Dr. Shepherd to dinner. Dr. Shepherd’s been close to Ackroyd’s household for years. He knows every member of the family well, including Ackroyd’s ne’er-do-well stepson, Ralph Paton, who had been carousing in Tokyo but secretly returned to the village. It appears (a minor, amusing change to the text) that Dr. Shepherd’s also interested in Flora, Ackroyd’s pretty niece.

After dinner, Ackroyd takes Dr. Shepherd into his office. He explains that, shortly before Mrs. Ferrars’ death, he had asked her to marry him. Her abusive, brutal husband’s been dead over a year, so enough time has passed to satisfy the proprieties. But Mrs. Ferrars confessed that she had a dreadful secret that prevented them marrying. He leaves, and she commits suicide but mails her suicide note to Ackroyd, explaining why she did it and who hounded her to her grave.

While the men were talking, the butler gives Ackroyd the mail. He discovers the suicide note (love that blue stationery!), opens it, but can’t it with Dr. Shepherd hovering over his shoulder.

Dr. Shepherd leaves the office, telling the butler, Parker, that Ackroyd doesn’t want to be disturbed.

Dr. Shepherd receives a late-night telephone call. To his horror, Parker tells him that the master is dead, knifed to death in his office. He races off to the Ackroyd mansion, and we’re off to the races.

The setup is perfect. You, the viewer, are primed to trust everything Dr. Shepherd sees and hears.

As the police investigate the murder, Flora Ackroyd decides to ask the great detective, Poirot, to solve the crime. She must know the truth. It’s a very funny scene, particularly when Poirot shows off his square pumpkins, each with a mustache stamped on the side. You really can grow shaped fruit and vegetables in your home garden. There are specialty molds that you place around the baby fruit or vegetable (watermelons, pumpkins, squash, and cukes willingly conform) and it grows to fit into the mold.

Meanwhile, Ralph Paton disappears. That’s suspicious because he had the most to gain by his stepfather’s death and the most to lose if Ackroyd lived. Ackroyd wanted Ralph and Flora to marry (their opinions don’t matter). Ralph’s wasted his stepfather’s money and time. Flora’s on a tighter financial leash, as is her mother, but she’s not interested in Ralph or his potential riches.

As Poirot investigates, more secrets are revealed. The housekeeper has a drug-addicted son. The butler was dismissed from a previous post because of spying and attempted extortion. A guest of Ackroyd’s, the writer (Hector Blunt) suffers from writer’s block and is as interested in Flora as she is in him. This despite Flora and Ralph being betrothed. Dr. Shepherd thinks that Flora and Ralph want to marry but Ackroyd disapproved and is startled to learn that it was the other way around. He seems very interested in Flora, possibly because marrying her would ingratiate him into the Ackroyd household still further and lead to a wealthier lifestyle.

The film takes its time unfolding, letting you feel how Dr. Shepherd and his sister live, how the community feels about Ackroyd. It doesn’t feel English, despite most of the cast wearing Western dress and sitting on upholstered chairs. The main exception is Hector Blunt. His traditional kimono probably means something to a Japanese audience, a nuance lost on me.

The flaw came at the end. It’s revealed that Dr. Shepherd had a good reason to blackmail Mrs. Ferrars, hounding her to suicide for more and more money. He murdered his friend, Ackroyd, to conceal his blackmail. Why did he do it? It wasn’t because he was speculating on the stock market as in the novel. It’s because his dear sister Caroline suffers from a brain tumor and he needs the money for an American brain specialist.

Um, no. First, if Dr. Shepherd and Ackroyd, the richest man around, are friends, why didn’t Dr. Shepherd ask for a loan? We’re never told yet this point negates everything we were told about their relationship.

The other reason this doesn’t work is that in the novel, Caroline functions as Dr. Shepherd’s conscience. He has to hide his sins from her and he speculates about what she knows or suspects. That’s a much deeper portrait of them.

But don’t let that stop you from watching this! It’s great and makes ITV’s version even more of a failure in judgment.