This could have been a lot better. Stephanie Zimbalist and Simon Dutton are good as the leads with romantic sparks. The rest of the cast is good, but the script does not give them much chance to show their talents.The main problem is with the pacing. The set-up to the story is interesting, but the action really drags at times, especially near the end. On the plus side, this is a basically enjoyable little movie, and a reminder of the now-vanished art form of the network TV-movie! I think it would have been more fun, had the producers chosen to set it in the 1920's or 1930's, prime Agatha Christie periods; but perhaps budget issues made them make it contemporary.Bottom line: a modest, fairly enjoyable light mystery with some humor, and two leads with charm. Not a standout mystery film, but not bad.

This is one of the few Agatha Christie novels that I have not read so I am not in a position to say how faithful or otherwise this adaptation is. It's a fast moving TV movie starring many famous TV faces of the time (late eighties). Although a thriller, the emphasis is mainly on comedy with Stephanie Zimbalist very likable and endearing as 'girl in search of adventure' Anne Beddingfield. She has a suitably square jawed, handsome hero to team up with in Simon Dutton and is surrounded by an assortment of rather two dimensional 'suspects' including Edward Woodward being VERY English and Rue McClanahan being VERY Southern and basically replaying Blanche from 'The Golden Girls'. Tony Randall shows that he is definitely NOT a master of disguise and there is a very funny episode towards the end when the ladies 'fail to recognise him'. There are a few moments like this (Anne escaping from the worst cell ever, the prat-fall over the edge of the waterfall etc) which one is never quite sure if they are meant to be funny or not.On the whole this is quite enjoyable fluff but I must now read the novel which I believe is a far superior tale.

People like to badmouth Christie for writing "cosy" mysteries set in English villages where everyone has servants and all the characters are made of cardboard. She wrote some in that genre, but also subtly sent it up, and Miss Marple always said that if you really wanted to see life in the raw you should live in a village. Man in the Brown Suit is NOT a cosy village mystery, but a thriller of the type Christie wrote from time to time. In the book it's quite clear that it's a take off of The Perils of Pauline. Christie also used a trip she'd made round the world with a larger than life character that she turned into Sir Eustace Pedler. (PS her husband went too.) She even manages to get in her favourite sport - surfing. (Bet you never knew Agatha was a keen surfer.) I'd love to see this film again. The makers don't seem sure whether or not it's a spoof, and spoof Christies never work. (There's an awful version of the ABC Murders - and didn't that star one Tony Randall?) Tony Randall is awful in this. The character should be able to convince whatever getup he is wearing. The film is saved by sticking to the book and by casting actors who do a good job whatever they're asked to do (Edward Woodward, Rue McLanahan step forward). The stuffy secretary Padgett is brilliantly played by Nickolas Grace, miserable in an Elvis costume that was the only fancy dress in the shop that fitted.

This is the best of the made-for-tv movies done by CBS. There is no video avaliable, but it does sometimes come on the Fox Family Channel or Encore Mystery Channel. More of an adventure story than a mystery, the action keeps up well until it lags towards the end. Randall provides comic relief appearing as an elderly vicar lugging a suit case full of bibles around and as a female secretary. 3 stars out of 4. Certainly better than any of the Helen Hayes & Peter Ustinov Tv Movies.