Viewers who had the opportunity to see Agatha Christie’s famous play ‘The Mousetrap’ will have a great advantage and probably will enjoy more watching the film ‘See How They Run‘ directed by Tom George, one among the several promising premieres of cinema autumn 2022. It is a whodunit detective mystery that begins with a murder that takes place in 1953 in the theater where the 100th performance of the play that borrows the title of the play in the third act of ‘Hamlet’ was just performed. This is the same theater where the play has been performed for the last 70 years, until today. (The war did not interrupt the performances, the pandemic did). The film is a detective story that envelops the play of the master of detective novels and theater, who also appears as a character. So here we have theater within theater and mystery within mystery, presented in a period farce approach that promises much. However, not all promises are fulfilled.
The off-screen voice is used a lot in this film, with the interesting twist that off-screen also means off-life. The film begins with the cinematic parallel of the characters list attached to classic detective novels. In movies this enumeration can be as boring as possible, and this is one of the first pretexts for comedy with literary allusions. There will be more. The celebration of the hundredth performance is spoiled by the discovery of the body of the American film director brought from Hollywood to London to adapt to screen the play, in a version ‘something less boring than the play’. The characters that could be involved are the actors who play in the play and the theatrical crew that had participated in the production and staging. A pair of policemen appear – an alcoholic, disillusioned and war-invalid commissioner and a policewoman who is attached to him to learn the trade. In a short time they will discover that each of the characters would have had a reason or more to have committed the crime. Everyone is therefore a suspect.
The script is meant to be very smart. Each character is related to the role in the play or production. The problem is that most viewers have little or no familiarity with Agatha Christie’s play. Tom George has experience in television, but for the big screen he is a newcomer. And here, the keys to success are different. I am convinced that those who are well acquainted with detective literature in general and with the play in particular have many reasons to be satisfied and will enjoy the play. Speaking for myself, I’ve seen the play and read a few of Agatha Christie’s novels, but that was many decades ago, so I felt like I’ve lost about three-quarters of the jokes. Worse, the detectives’ suspicions and the solution of the mystery are also quite tied into the play, so that even the detective part may be obscure to the less initiated viewers. And yet there are plenty of reasons for interest in ‘See How They Run‘ even for viewers without a Ph.D. in Agatha Christie. First of all, I found the recreation of London in 1953, with its streets and theaters, its people and their clothing, delicious. The allusions to the film world of the ’50s are interesting. The two actors cast in the detectives roles – Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan are delicious, have great chemistry and achieve beautiful comic moments with romantic tension and with minimal means. There are some bizarre casting decisions, but I also enjoyed the presence of Adrien Brody, with a small role but which he plays with visible pleasure. Agatha Christie fans and those who have recently seen ‘The Mousetrap’ will enjoy this film. The rest of us are more likely to leave the screening with a smile on our faces.