"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" (2011) Review
"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" (2011) Review
Roughly five years ago, a relative of mine had suggested I watch a BBC television movie about a Victorian-era murder story. Although it aired on the Amazon Prime Video streaming channel (and still does to this day), I had assumed it was a documentary. To my surprise, it turned out to be a television movie called "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE".
Before watching the movie, I had quickly discovered that the production was an adaptation of Kate Summerscale's 2008 non-fiction book, "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House", winner of Britain's Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction for that year. Hence, the reason why I had initially assumed this was a documentary. The book was an account of the real-life murder of three year-old Francis Saville Kent in 1860 Wiltshire. Francis, the three year-old son of a "Factory Commissioner" for the Home Office named Samuel Saville Kent, was found murdered on the Road Hill House estate in Wiltshire, leased by his father. The child's nursemaid, Elizabeth Gough, had announced his disappearance. Two estate hands eventually found Francis' body inside a privy-house, with knife wounds on his chest and hands, and his throat deeply slashed. Outrage over the brutal murder of a prominent man's child, Scotland Yard had dispatched Detective Inspector Jack Whicher to solve the case.
Whicher's assignment to the case proved to be a godsend for Gough, who immediately fell under the suspicions of Police Superintendent John Foley of nearby Trowbridge. The latter would have pressed for her arrest if Whicher had not cleared her of any further suspicions. However, the Scotland Yard detective's suspicions rested on another member of the household, namely Kent's sixteen year-old daughter, Constance Emily Kent. Whicher also began to suspect Constance's brother, fifteen year-old William Saville Kent. The detective believed Constance (with her brother's help) had sought revenge against their former nanny, Mary Pratt Kent, who had married their father following the death of their mother. There had been suspicions that Kent and his second wife had an affair during his marriage to Constance and William's mother. Since young Francis had been conceived during their father's second marriage, Whicher suspected Constance or both of them of murdering the three year-old boy.
"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" did not strike me one of the most fascinating murder mysteries I have seen on film or television. This did not surprise me, considering the television movie proved to be more of a fictionalized account of an actual case that had been solved over 160 years ago. I would say "THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" was more of a historical drama or a "true life" crime movie than a murder mystery. After all, it did not take the protagonist very long to produce a believable suspect, halfway into the narrative. The movie eventually became a mental tug-of-war between Whicher and Constance, in which the former struggled to convince the latter to confess to the murder. At the same time, Whicher and his close friend and colleague, Adolphus "Dolly" Williamson, raced to find physical evidence to support his suspicions. Despite their success in discovering hard evidence against Constance, the pair's efforts ended up being stymied or sabotaged by Superintendent Foley, head of the local police. Not only did Foley resented an outsider becoming the lead investigator in the Kent case, he seemed offended that any working-class man would accuse the sixteen year-old daughter of a respectable, middle-class citizen like Samuel Kent, of murder. What made this even worse for Whicher is that many of the locals and the media seemed to share Foley's class bias.
I have to give kudos for the movie's production values. I believe David Roger's production designs really captured the look and style of 1860s Britain. And I believe he did so without being either extravagant or cheap. Roger's work was ably assisted by Jo Kornstein's set decorations, Kate Evenden's art direction and Matt Gray's photography. Lucinda Wright's costume designs managed to perfectly captured Roger's balanced look for the movie's setting. Were her costumes accurate for 1860s Britain? I honestly cannot say so. Regardless of accuracy, I do believe Wright's costumes managed to perfectly captured the essence of the movie's characters across both gender and class.
"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" featured some solid performances. At least from the supporting cast. Performers like William Beck, Emma Fielding, Kate O'Flynn, Tim Piggott-Smith, Ben Miles, Donald Sumpter, Charlie Hiett, Julian Firth, Sarah Ridgeway and Antony Byrne all gave competent and solid performances. However, I believe a few did give what I consider to be the movie's best performances. Naturally, I felt Paddy Considine was sensational as the solid, yet intelligent Jack Whicher. I thought he did a superb job of conveying Whicher's growing frustration of the impediments that made his investigation to reach a successful conclusion. Equally sensational was Alexandra Roach, who gave an enigmatic and skillful performance as the cool and supercilious Constance Kent. Peter Capaldi's portrayal of Constance's father, Samuel Savill Kent, struck me as surprisingly complex and ambiguous. Capaldi did a great job of conveying hints that the public's suspicions of his character might be justified. I also found myself very impressed by Tom Georgeson's performance as the narrow-minded Superintendent Foley. The actor did an excellent job of portraying his character's class bigotry and resentment toward Whicher's role in the investigation.
As murder mysteries go, "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" seemed like an ineffectual effort. When the main protagonist manages to discover the true culprit halfway into the production, it seems a waste of time to label the movie as a murder mystery. However, "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" proved to be a very effective and well-done historical drama about a famous murder case, thanks to a skillful direction from James Hawes, a first-rate adaptation written by Neil McKay and superb performances from a cast led by Paddy Considine. As a fictionalized account of a famous true crime, the television movie proved to be quite fascinating.